Vrellis Greek History Museum, Wax museum in Bizani, Greece

The Vrellis Greek History Museum is a wax figure museum in the village of Bizani, south of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. It displays handcrafted wax figures arranged in themed scenes that cover different periods of Greek history, from ancient times to the modern era.

Sculptor Pavlos Vrellis founded the museum in February 1983, and it opened to visitors in 1995. He designed the building himself in the fortress architecture of 18th-century Epirus, with battlements, overhanging galleries and high stone walls. The displays cover 24 centuries of Greek history, from 500 BC, with emphasis on the modern history of Epirus.

One of the most recognized displays shows the Secret School, where children learned Greek in hiding during Ottoman rule, gathered around candlelight in a small chapel. The scene captures a practice that many Greeks still see as a symbol of cultural survival.

The museum sits along the main road south of Ioannina, making it easy to reach by car when traveling between Ioannina and central Greece. The scenes are arranged in a clear sequence, so following the route from start to finish gives the most coherent experience.

The museum's final theme, the 36th, is a reconstruction of Pavlos Vrellis's own workshop, so the visit ends where the figures were made. The sculptor worked on the project alone, devising the settings and building the scenes himself.