A native of Aydin in Asia Minor, Elli Souyioultzoglou-Seraidari–better known by her professional name of Nelly's–was first influenced by German trends in photography. The two main characteristics of her work, and indeed of her life, were freedom and movement. She owed her pictorial technique and her classical sense of aesthetics to the influence of her...
Antonis Benakis was born in Egypt into a Greek family with a strong sense of duty towards society. He maintained close ties with the homeland and had, as all Greeks did, a strong sense of Greek identity although he was born and raised abroad. In a time of irredentist ideas, he contributed to Greece’s struggle to...
George Aristides Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939), was a British collector of Chinese, Korean and Near Eastern art. He was born at 43 Bedford Street South, Mount Pleasant, Merseyside, the son of Aristides Georges Eumorfopoulos (1825–1897) and Mariora Eustratius Scaramanga (1840–1908). His grandparents had fled the Greek island of Chios during the massacre of its population by the...
Local Greek women’s costumes are impressive because of their wide variety and large number of local variations. A more methodical analysis can bring to the surface certain common characteristics and will help the careful observer to identify from among these varieties the basic styles and main influences that contributed to their creation. The vicissitudes of...
Christos or Christian Zervos (Argostoli 1889–Paris 1970) played a definitive role in shaping the cultural climate in interwar Paris through his journal Cahiers d’Αrt, which he founded in 1926 and published until 1960. It was one of the longest-lived modernist journals, which numbered 97 issues. As early as the first issue, Cahiers d’Αrt had focused...
The year 2021 marks the bicentenary of the 1821 declaration of the Greek War of Independence. To celebrate this major anniversary, the Benaki Museum, together with the Bank of Greece, the National Bank of Greece, and ALPHABANK are mounting a major exhibition of works of art and historical testimonies under the title “1821, Before and...
Benaki Museum curator Mara Verykokou guides us through an exhibition that includes more than 300 objects related to the Revolution of 1821 and the movement of Philhellenism in Europe and America from four important private collections: Nikitas Stavrinakis and Evangelias Stavrinaki, Petros Vergos, Apostolos Argyriadis and Stéphan Adler. We shall be asked to decide whether...
2022 marks one hundred full years in operation for the biscuit and food manufacturing company E.J. PAPADOPOULOS S.A. Through the items of the Historical Archive of the PAPADOPOULOU Company—one of the most complete and best-organized archives of a Greek company—the Benaki Museum presents for the first time all the important aspects of the hundred-year history...
The decorative repertoire of the pottery produced in Kütahya, a town in western Turkey and a major ceramic center in Ottoman times, has been influenced by events of modern history, such as the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Constitution of 1908, and the Greek-Turkish War (1919-1922). Τhe purpose of this lecture is to contribute to our...
In this lecture, part of the Hellenic Together 4.0 series held in collaboration with the Benaki Museum in Athens, exhibition curator Evita Arapoglou leads us through "Asia Minor Hellenism: Heyday - Catastrophe - Displacement - Rebirth." This program is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). About the Exhibit Visitors to the exhibition begin their...
Kilim. Tree of Life with wedding procession and initials ΓΠ. 19th Century. Exhibition Weaving Dreams Kilims from Geraki, Laconia On view from April 23 - July 26, 2026 Ghika Gallery 3 Kriezotou Street, Kolonaki, Athens The village of Geraki, located on the slopes of Mount Parnon, is renowned for its millennia-old art of weaving on...