The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
Kanellopoulos
Museum
You
will find the Museum of Paul and Alexandra Kanellopoulos in Anafiotika on the north slope of the Acropolis. It is a beautiful, small
museum where representative examples of Greek civilization are
exhibited. The collection belonged to Paul and Alexandra Kanellopoulos.
The
museum was founded in 1976 after the collection was donated to
the Greek state. It was housed in one of the most impressive neoclassical
buildings in Anafiotika. The mansion was constructed at the end
of the 19th century and belonged to the Michaleas family.
The
collection contains around 6.000 objects and works of art and
it gives visitors a good view on the entire multiformity and extent
of the Greek artistic creation from the Prehistoric period to
the Modern era. The museum’s exhibition has been organized
in chronological order and thematic units in order for visitors
to be able to follow the development and the peculiarities of
Greek art.
The
presentation of the displayed objects begins in the mezzanine
of the museum. Here, objects from the Neolithic (6800-3200 BC)
and the Bronze Age (3200-1100 BC) are shown. The cult objects
and those of everyday use offer notable images of the Cycladic,
Minoan and Mycenaean cultures.
Characteristic
of these are the famous marble Cycladic figurines representing
the human form in an abstract way, the large marble containers
(kanteles) and the male form of Minoan Crete wearing the Minoan
garment, the zoma. Geometric pottery and figurines (900-700 BC)
from Attica, the Cyclades and Cyprus, represent the next period.
Of these, an Attic prochous of the 8th century showing the characteristic
Geometric decorative motifs together with herons and horses, stands
out.
The
tour in Greek art continues on the first floor where the rich
collection of Archaic (7th-6th century BC) and Hellenistic (3rd-2nd
century BC) works are on display. Three of the Athenian 6th century
BC vases are impressive:
•
an excellently preserved black-figurine hydria with a scene
of women at a fountain house.
• two rare amphorae by the potter Nikosthenes with Dionysiac
scenes.
The
funerary white-ground lekythoi (a type of Greek pottery used for
storing oil, especially olive oil), beautifully decorated, and
a red-figure crater by the Dinos Painter, one of the great painters
of his time, mark the most important examples of Attic 5th century
pottery.
The
Tanagraias, the small, pretty and especially elegant terracotta
figurines of the 4th and 3rd century BC from Tanagra in Boeotia,
constitute a remarkable unit. The figurine of the Muse holding
her lyre still carries traces of the colors that once decorated
it.
The
sculptures, inscriptions, coins, seal stones and vases from the
Roman period complete the ancient art. The 2nd century AD marble
head of Alexander the Great with the serene expression is impressive
as well as the Egyptian Fayum portraits stand on the verge between
ancient and Christian art.
One
of the most important units of the museum is that of the silver
and gold jewelry
which contains exceptional examples from all periods. Jewels that
were put in the grave with the dead, Archaic minute plates that
decorated the garments, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and fingering
reveal their technical perfection and the love of ancient peoples
for beauty and luxury. Among the ornate Byzantine jewels, a 10th
century AD bracelet stands out bearing demonic figures while the
18th century AD silver necklaces are remarkable among the works
of folk art.
On
the ground floor and lower mezzanine rooms, visitors can view
representative art works of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods.
The collection of 270 icons is significant. A signed icon by Michael
Damaskenos of the “Decaptitation of Saint Paraskevi”
is a valuable example of one of the most remarkable painters of
the 16th century AD School of Crete.