Museum of the History of the Greek Costume
of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women
The
Museum of the History of the Greek Costume was inaugurated in
1988 by the then Minister of Culture Melina Merkouri. It is part
of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women, a non-profit organization founded
in 1910. It is housed in a two-storey building, built in the 1920s
by the civil engineer, Elias Economou, to serve as his private
residence. It was purchased in 1985 by the Lyceum Club of Greek
Women and arranged to accommodate the Club's costume collection.
The museum's collection of Greek costumes and related accessories
was started in 1920s with the first gifts and purchases which
formed the core of the Wardrobe of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women.
Upon acquisition of the first costumes, Callirrhoe Parren, the
founder of the club, had expressed the desire to see the creation
of a "sort of ethnological museum that would complement
the official Government museums".
At
first, the costumes were used during performances of the club's
folk dance group. Very soon, however, Alexandra Wassenhoven, who
served as caretaker of the collection for 37 years, realized the
uniqueness of the material and came to the conclusion that the
items in her department deserved to be treated as museum pieces
rather than as theatrical costumes. Several years later, this
idea led to the creation of the Museum of the History of the Greek
Costume.
The
museum is dedicated to the study of the Greek costume. Its collection
comprises 25.000 items, mainly authentic regional costumes and
ornaments. Only part of the collection is displayed in the thematic
exhibitions that are periodically held on the ground floor of
the building.
•
Greek Regional Costumes
• Ornaments
• Copies of Minoan, Classical and Byzantine Costumes
• China Dolls Dressed in Greek Costumes
The
basic activity of the Museum of the History of the Greek Costume
is the setting up of annual periodic thematic exhibitions which
are organized in collaboration with the National Archive of Greek
Traditional Costume as well as following bibliographical and archival
research in the field of the Greek costume.
From
1990 on, the Lyceum Club of Greek Women has been publishing a
desktop calendar illustrated with 54 color photographs and containing
relevant introductory notes. In the last few years, these calendars
have also constituted a sort of catalogue of the exhibition, since
the theme chosen for the calendar is the same as that of the exhibition.
Opening hours and admission
7, Dimokritou Street - Kolonaki
Syntagma
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