Benaki Museum

This jewel of a museum was born out of the private collection of Antonis Benakis, who spent years amassing Greek, Byzantine, Islamic and Persian antiquities. Continued donations over the years by other private collectors have seen the collection grow to a staggering 30,000 items

 

which present an historical overview of Greek civilization through the ages, from the Neolithic period to the 20th century. And it’s not just the collections which are growing. Various extensions have been added to the original neo-classical building; the most recent will be completed in 2004 and will effectively double the museum's exhibition space.

Koumbari & Vassilissis Sofias 1
Tel: 210 367 1000
Web: www.benaki.gr
Open: 9am-5pm Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat; 9am-12am Thur; 9am-3pm Sun
Metro Station: Syntagma, Evangelismos

 

Museum of Cycladic Art

The Museum of Cycladic Art was founded in 1986 to house the private collection of Cycladic and ancient Greek art belonging to Nicholas and Aikaterini Goulandris. The couple’s particular interest lay in prehistoric art from the Cycladic islands, notably the intriguing white marble figurines -

 

mostly female – which have played such a significant role in revealing elements of the ancient religion, cults, warfare and day-to-day life of the Cycladic people. The Ancient Greek Collection brings together art from the 2nd millennium BC to the first centuries AD, including sculpture, pottery, metal, glassware, jeweler and coins. From June-October 2004, the museum will hold an exhibition entitled ‘Athletics and Olympic Spirit in the Periphery of the Greek World’, which will explore how the ideal of athletic prowess permeated the cultures of Magna Graecia in the Classical period.
 

Neophytou Douka 4
Tel: 210 722 8321
Web: www.cycladic-m.gr
Open: 10am–4pm Mon-Sat
Metro Station: Syntagma, Evangelismos

 

Byzantine and Christian Museum

Housed in a magnificent 19th century Ilissia mansion (the former residence of Sophia de Marbois, Duchess of Piacenza) the Byzantine Museum should be the first port of call for anyone who has a passion for the history of Greek art from the 3rd to the 19th centuries AD.

 

The museum’s impressive collection includes sculptures, icons, wall-paintings, ceramics, textiles, manuscripts, drawings and engravings; the world's largest collection of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art facts. The museum and its grounds are currently undergoing a period of dramatic transformation. Visitors in 2004 will be able to see the Byzantine collection in its brand new exhibition space, although the Post-Byzantine collection will not re-open until 2005.

Vassilissis Sofias 22
Tel: 210 721 1027
Open: Closed until June 2004; call to confirm opening hours
Metro Station: Evangelismos
 

 War Museum

Mid-way along Museum Mile, the War Museum explores the history of warfare and Greek struggles for freedom from Mycenaean times to the present day. The museum’s halls are arranged thematically, taking in primitive weapons used in the Stone-Age and Early Bronze Age, classical and medieval exhibits, mementoes from the Greek War of Independence and conflicts of the 20th century, from the 1912-13 Balkan Wars to the Second World War.

Vassilissis Sofias & Rizari 2
Tel: 210 724 4464
Open: 9am-2pm Tue-Sun
Metro Station:  Evangelismos

 

National Art Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum

The National Gallery devotes itself to 19th and 20th century Greek art and Western European painting. A large bequest by lawyer and art lover Alexandros Soutzos created a museum of considerable authority, and further donations have continued to enrich its collection. Today, the gallery boasts some 9,500 paintings, sculptures and engravings, miniatures and furniture. Works on display include the ‘Concert of the Angels’ by Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), Lorenzo Veneziano's ‘Crucifixion’ and superb pieces from Greek masters such as Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas and Yannis Moralis. During the Olympic period the National Gallery will hold three major exhibitions focusing on the human form: Until March 2004, ‘In the Light of Apollo: Italian Renaissance in Greece’; from June-end September ‘Six Great Sculptures’; and from mid-June to early October a Henry Moore Retrospective.

Vassileos Konstantinou 50
Tel: 210 723 5937
Open: 9am-3pm Mon & Wed-Sat; 10am-2pm Sun
Metro Station:  Evangelismos, Megaro Moussikis