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abc athens
museums
National Archaeological Museum
With some 8,000 square metres of exhibition space, it’s hard to take in this panorama of Greek civilisation and achievement in a single visit. So it’s best to either stick to the most celebrated exhibits or focus on a single gallery or theme.
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Beyond the obvious reason that it houses the treasures of the Acropolis, the museum has also consistently featured on lists of the world’s top 10 museums, both for its content and its design.
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After the extensive remodel, the nation’s most important art gallery welcomes the public again from June 2021 with the largest single collection of Greek modern art and sculpture, dating from the post-Byzantine era to the present.
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National Museum of Contemporary Art
The emblematic building belonged to the Bavarian Fix family and from 1893, it housed the first Greek brewery. The building was abandoned in the late 1970s and a prolonged debate took place over subsequent decades on its preservation and utilisation. Meanwhile, EMST was founded in 1997 and bought its first artworks in 2000, which were exhibited in various locations around Athens, such as the Athens Concert Hall, the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Athens Conservatory up until 2020.
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On the site of a former car dealership and repair shop, the Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 has come to symbolise the modern dynamic of Athens, and especially the gentrification of the neighbourhoods west and south of Omonia.