The Benaki Museum is the country’s oldest privately
owned museum, and it is a monument in culture and art
commemoration dedicated by the Benakis family. The
Benakis family was a prominent Greek family who maintained
their wealth after the 1921 Greek War of Independence.
The Benaki Museum Athens was
established in 1929, the year Emmanouil Benakis died.
Born in Syros, Greece in 1843, Emmanouil would eventually
become the mayor of Athens, after beginning political
life in 1910. He would ultimately end up being jailed
and then exiled for his political beliefs, and chiefly
for his support of Venizelos. Collector, and son
of Emmanouil, Antonis Benakis (1873-1954) was born during
his father’s term as a cotton merchant in the city
of Alexandria, Egypt. His love for collecting was
fostered from the time he was a youth, and his collection
grew in significance as he consulted prominent scholars
who would help him determine the importance of various
artifacts. Antonis moved to Athens in 1926, from
Alexandria, and founded the Benaki Museum three years
later.
The Benaki Museum can easily be accessed from Syntagma Square, the heart of Athens where the Parliament Building is located. From the Square, you can take Vassilissis Sofias Avenue to where the museum sits at 1 Koumbari Street. The main building of the museum is a mansion built in the neo-classical style that characterizes many prominent Athens buildings. The building was originally constructed between 1867-1868 for a successful Greek merchant, later acquired by a prominent Greek businessman, and eventually purchased by Emmanouil Benakis in 1910. The opulent building proved to be a good template for a rich, cultural museum and from 1929-1931 it would be redesigned as such.
The Benaki Museum began construction of a new wing in
1988 that was open to the public in 1997. The purpose
of the addition was to further house the large museum
collections, as well as open up space for activities as
to further establish the Benaki Museum Athens as a standard
among other cultural institutions. Added as well
during the construction of the new wing, were a library,
a coffee shop overlooking the National Garden, and additional
rooms for the housing of temporary exhibitions.
The original Benaki Museum Athens collection is found from rooms 1-36 and the sequence of room numbers follows the progression of history. The Antiquities Collection is housed in rooms 1-8 of the Benaki Museum Greece and houses artifacts from ancient times beginning with Paleolithic and Neolithic relics and working sequentially up until the late Roman Empire as it merged into the Byzantine Empire. Rooms 9-12 house the Byzantine Collection, with a focus on the civilization’s artistic development through artistic representations and the art of the period’s daily domestic items. Following along historical progression, the following rooms 13-36 reveal the artifacts of the Modern Times Collection. This collection primarily features representations of both religious and non-religious items from the 15th century to the 19th, when the Ottoman Empire reigned in what is now Greece.
The Benaki Museum Greece Modern Times Collection features
many exhibits of primary importance to Greece’s
history that are of extreme importance to Greek culture
and independence. Islamic Art is featured as well
among the original Benaki Museum Greece museum collections,
as was a collection of Folk Art. Further Benaki
Museum Athens sites in Karameikos, Kolonaki
and on Pireos Street offer an array of unique galleries
in tandem with the newer museum collections featured in
the original museum.
The Benaki Museum Greece also offers education programs tailored for teaching culture through art and history throughout Greek schools, as well as a number of special events targeted at enriching the country’s overall cultural development. Hours of operation and admission prices vary among the different museum sites and collections, and the main Benaki Museum is free on Thursdays with hours of operation from 9 a.m. through midnight. On Sundays, the Benaki Museum Greece is open from 9 a.m.- 3 p.m., and from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Cost of admission on days other than Thursday is $8.
