The Museum Byzantine Culture hosts the exhibition Reason VI: The telegram, with works by collection of OTE Telecommunications Museum - Donation Michalis Tsipidis / Photographic mission of Spyros Staveris.

THE
exhibition is held on the occasion of the donation of the original collection
(vintage) telegrams of Michalis Tsipidis at the Telecommunications Museum
of OTE.

They are presented approx 70 original telegrams,
mainly of a commercial nature, from the different telegraph services
based in Thessaloniki from 1870 until the 1956 (the Ottoman
Imperial Telegraph Service, the Bulgarian, the Serbian, the English
Eastern Telegraph Company and its evolution, η Cable and Wireless, or
English Cable Telegraph Company, the Hellenic Postal Telegraph
Telephone Service and OTE).

The visitor watches like this
a piece of the history of Thessaloniki unfolding through
few words, from transactions, even from the censored ones
telegrams.

These are interlaced with today's photos from Spyros
Staveri, by commission from the Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki. The
images are based on the messages of selected telegrams from the
photographer, thus bringing words and image into dialogue:
words of the past fuel images of today, always having
the same scene, the city of Thessaloniki.

The present collection
by Michalis Tsipidis includes more than 300 originals
telegrams and the 2012 donated to the OTE Telecommunications Museum.

The report also includes a film
of short length (5.30’’) with an interview of the collector Michalis Tsipidis.
Additional, four items are presented (desktop controller
telegraphy, milliammeter, telegraph table dialer,
table electromagnet) from the Museum's permanent collection
OTE Telecommunications.

THE TELEGRAPH SERVICES OF THESSALONIKI

Ottoman Imperial Telegraph Service 1870-1912

At
Thessaloniki operated a telegraph service probably for the first time
in his mid-teens 1870. It was one part of it
imperial state post and telegraph service
and was housed in the same building as the post office on Egnatias Street
with equal angle. At the beginning of the 20th century the office was fully operational
the 24 hours, and he received and sent telegrams both in Arabic and
in western languages. The Ottoman telegraph office was eventually closed
October 1912.

English Cable Telegraph Company 1880-1912

At
Thessaloniki operated an office of the Cable Telegraph Company
during the Ottoman Empire (at least from 1885). The office
stopped working on 1912. Fees for sending telegrams
via Cable cables were always more expensive than their counterparts
of the Ottoman telegraph service.

English Telegraph Company Eastern Telegraph Company Limited 1912-1937

The
1878 the English company Eastern Telegraph Company expanded
its activities in the Greek area, entering into long-term
contract with the Greek government, which ended the 1916. Ultimately due
of the first world war and after new negotiations the
contract was extended and ended definitively 1956. The 1927 the one in question
company merged with the Marconi Radio telegraph company
Telegraph Co.

A company office operated in Thessaloniki
after the liberation of the city 1912 and up to 1937 so the company
renamed Cable and Wireless Limited.

English Telegraph Company Cable and Wireless Limited 1937-1956

THE
Cable and Wireless Limited came from a rebranding of Eastern
Telegraph Company το 1937. The 1956 the said company was merged into
Telecommunications Organization of Greece (OTE) which had been founded the 1949.

Bulgarian Telegraph Service 1912-1913

According to
the period of the brief presence of the Bulgarian army in Thessaloniki
from 9 November 1912 until 16 June worked in the city Bulgarian
telegraph office. He was staying on the ground floor of a sentry
of a Bulgarian hotel which was located near his quarters
Vardariou. THE transmission messages to and from Bulgaria and the other Bulgarian-occupied areas were sent through Serres.

Hellenic Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone service (T.T.T.) 1912-1949

The
1896 three services were united the Postal Service, the Telegraphic and
Telephone in one called T.T.T. This service worked on
Thessaloniki immediately after the liberation of the city 1912 and up to
1949 which was founded by Organization
of Telecommunications of Greece. The Greek post office and telegraph office at
Thessaloniki initially operated in the corresponding Ottoman building on it
Egnatia street, which was seized by the Greek gendarmerie in the morning
of October 27 1912. At the end of March 1913 both services
were moved to a newly built building located on Megalou Street
Alexander (today's Katuni street) near the beach. The construction
of this building had already been finished during the Ottoman administration and when the
city ​​was occupied by the Greek army, the installation of
machines of the telegraph office.

Telecommunications Organization of Greece (OTE) 1949-

THE
Telecommunications Organization of Greece (OTE) established with the legislative
decree 1049 her 1 September 1949 and operated as a limited liability company
with the State as the sole shareholder. Later all the
pre-existing communication services, such as those of telephony and
telegraph of T.T.T. and 1956 the Cable and Wireless company
Company.

Co-organization: MFT, Museum of Byzantine Culture, OTE Telecommunications Museum

Conception-design-general editing: Alexandra Athanasiadou, Vangelis Ioakeimidis

As part of his exhibition cycle Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki "Glimpses of the City".