Zappeion Megaron Conference and Exhibition Center, or just Zappeion, is one of the most significant building in Athens and one of the oldest venues for cultural and scientific events in Greece.
The Numismatic Museum is one of the oldest state museums in Greece and was instituted in 1834. It is located in the heart of the historic center of Athens and is housed in Ilion Melathron, the mansion of archaeologist Erikos Sliman, work of the architect Ernst Ziller.
The National Historical Museum is permanently housed in the Old Parliament Building at Stadiou Street (Kolokotronis square) since 1962. It was established by the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, which since its creation in 1882 has been collecting historical items.The Museum narrates the history of Modern Greece: the period of Ottoman and Latin rule, the Greek War of Independence (1821), the liberation struggles, the creation of an independent state, the political, social and spiritual development of the Greeks up to the present day.
The Jewish Museum of Greece was founded in 1977 aiming to collect, preserve, research and exhibit the material evidence of 2300 years of Jewish life in Greece.
The idea of building a Jewish Museum of Greece was first conceived in the 1970’s by members of the Jewish Community of Athens, who offered every kind of assistance towards the realisation of this dream. The Museum was first established in 1977 and housed in a small room next to the city’s synagogue. In the years that followed the Museum activities and collection were expanded continuously.
The General State Archives (G.S.A.) was founded in 1914 with primary mission the supervision, rescue, concentration, maintenance, recording, digitization, classification, indexing of the country’s archival material as well as making it available to the general public for study. The G.S.A. collects archival material, which is an integral part of the cultural heritage of Greek nation.
The Building
Established in 2009 as a cooperative initiative of museums and cultural institutions, open to the public, active in Athens, aiming towards the creation of a common ground for communication, the exchange of expertise and the co-operation between members in addressing specialized problems and the organization of joined events and shared plans.
It is an efficient “instrument” serving educational and cultural ends by deploying contemporary strategies. 37 museums and cultural institutions are already participating in it.
The Athens Film Society organizes the Athens Open Air Film Festival (free, open air, summer screenings) and the Athens International Film Festival.
The Onassis Library is housed in a neoclassical building in Plaka (Amalias Avenue 56) and accumulates the Cavafy Archive and two large collections of books: the Hellenic Library (K. Staikos' book collection) and the Travel Accounts book collection.
The Library
The Library of the Hellenic Parliament is a general library, aiming mainly to support the parliamentary work. It especially corroborates the MPs and their assistants, as well as all the departments of the Hellenic Parliament, providing information on matters of parliamentary interest. The Library is also open to the public, which can get information on the parliamentary activities and the legislative procedure, on current legislation and records of parliamentary debates and also consult the Library’s collections at its reading rooms.
In a unique historic Art Nouveau building at the very heart of Athens, 200m from Syntagma Square you may visit two special museums. The building which once belonged to the family of Queen Aspasia Manou, wife of Alexander I, now hosts the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology and the Museum of Ancient Greek Musical Instruments and Games.
