Benaki Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Benaki Museum

Established	1930
Location	Athens, Greece

The Benaki Museum is a famous museum in Athens, Greece. It was started in 1930 by Antonis Benakis. He created it to honor his father, Emmanuel Benakis. The main museum is in the old Benakis family home in Athens.

This museum shows Greek art from ancient times to today. It also has a large collection of Asian art. The museum often hosts special exhibits. It also has a workshop to fix and care for old items. The Benaki Museum in Athens holds over 100,000 items. These items show how different cultures have shaped Greece over many years. The museum is spread across several locations. It is one of Greece's most important cultural places.

The Main Museum in Athens

Theodoros Poulakis: An icon showing the Hymn to the Virgin, from the 17th century.

The main Benaki Museum is in the Benakis family house. It is located across from the National Garden of Athens. The museum exists thanks to Antonis Benakis. His family used to live in Alexandria, Egypt.

In 1931, the Benakis family gave their Athens house to the museum. They also donated over 37,000 Islamic and Byzantine items. By the 1970s, more than 9,000 new items were added. Many other people also started donating things. Antonis Benakis worked actively with the museum until he passed away in 1954.

Later, under the director Angelos Delivorrias, the museum gained over 60,000 more items. These included books and documents. Some were bought, and many were donated. The museum likes to show donated items. This helps people feel more connected to the museum. The museum also teaches that Greek history is a long, ongoing story. It does not just start and stop with certain events.

Parts of the museum's collections have traveled around the world. In 2008, some items went to Canada. In 1959 and 2005, they visited the United States. In 2005, a very old Greek gold drinking cup left Greece for the first time. It traveled to museums in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

Big Changes in 2000

In 2000, the Benaki Museum reopened after a big renovation. The building had been damaged in an earthquake. The repairs cost about $20 million. This renovation made it the only museum in Greece that shows all of Greek culture and history. It is also special because it does not just focus on one idea of Greek identity. Instead, it celebrates how foreign cultures have influenced Greece.

The museum's director, Angelos Delivorrias, first thought of this new focus in 1973. But it took over 25 years to make it happen. This change meant moving the museum's collections of Islamic Art and Chinese porcelain. These collections went to other locations. This way, the main museum in Athens could focus only on Greece.

Other Benaki Museum Locations

Over the years, many people have given more gifts to the museum. Now, the Benaki Museum has several other locations. These are called "satellite museums."

• The seaside Kouloura Mansion in Palaio Phaliro holds the Toy Museum.
• The Benaki Museum of Islamic Art is in the Kerameikos area.
• The Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas Gallery is in downtown Athens.
• The Benaki Museum Pireos street Annex is at 138 Pireos street.
• The Penelope Delta House in Kifissia holds the Historical Archive Collection.

Benaki Museum of Islamic Art

When the main museum decided to focus on Greek culture, its Islamic collection moved. It found a new home in 2004, just in time for the Athens Olympics. This new museum also has special rooms for temporary exhibits.

The Islamic art collections are in beautiful old buildings. These buildings are in the historic center of Athens, in the Kerameikos district. Nearby, you can find ancient sites like the Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus. There is also the Museum of the ancient Kerameikos cemetery. These buildings were given to the museum by Lambros Eftaxias.

The Islamic Art Museum opened on July 27, 2004. It has over 1,000 square meters of display space. You can see many types of art here. These include ceramics, metalwork, gold, wood carvings, and textiles. There are also glass items, bone carvings, and old weapons. The museum's collection is considered one of the most important in the world. It has amazing pieces from India, Persia, Egypt, and other regions. It covers Islamic art from the 7th to the 19th centuries. It also has a rich collection of Ottoman art from the 16th century.

Gallery

See also

• List of museums with major collections of Islamic art
• Cretan School
• Heptanese School