National Gallery – Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece

The National Art Gallery–Alexandros Soutzos Museum is an art museum in Athens devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century to the 20th century. It is directed by Marina Lambraki-Plaka.

The National Gallery was founded on April 10, 1900. Its initial collections came from the National Technical University and the University of Athens. Substantial donations came to be added to these. Today, the National Gallery collections comprise more than 20,000 works of painting, sculpture, engraving and other forms of art; this is the treasury of Modern Greek art, encompassing the period from the post-Byzantine times until today. Moreover, the National Gallery owns a remarkable collection of Western European paintings. In 1954, the National Gallery merged with the Alexandros Soutzos Estate, hence its name.

The institutional role of the National Gallery is to collect, safekeep, preserve, study and exhibit works of art aiming at the aesthetic education of the public, the on-going instruction through art and the recreation that it is able to provide, as well as the self-awareness of the Greek people through the history of art, which expresses the national history on a symbolic level.

The National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum houses an extensive library with invaluable archival material and specialized conservation studios, equipped with up-to-date scanning, examination and restoration systems. The highly specialized scientific, administrative and security personnel efficiently and selflessly responds to the demanding and diverse operations of such an important museum.

Aiming to expand its educational role and activity throughout Greece, the National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum has added two annexes to the pre-existing Coumantaros Art Gallery in Sparta: one in Corfu (Kato Korakiana), in 1993, and one in Nafplion, in 2004.

Housing the history of Modern Greek sculpture, as well as temporary exhibitions, since 2004 at Hellenic Army Park in Goudi, Athens, the National Glyptotheque, has also been founded. The Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation funded both the projects for the renovation of the two historical buildings of the former royal cavalry stables and the display of the sculpture collections in one of the two buildings as well as in a 1.5-acre outdoor display. The renovation was implemented under the 3rd CSF.

The gallery exhibitions are mainly focused on post-Byzantine Greek Art. The gallery owns and exhibits also an extensive collection of European artists. Particularly valuable, is the collection of paintings from the Renaissance.

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It was established in 1878 as a small collection of 117 works exhibited at the Athens University. In 1896, Alexandros Soutzos, a jurist and art lover, bequeathed his collection and estate to the Greek Government aspiring to the creation of an art museum. The museum opened in 1900 and the first curator was the famous Greek painter Georgios Jakobides from Munich. After World War II the works began for a new building. After relocating the sculptures in the new National Glyptotheque, there is a discussion to renovate the main building and to build a new wing.

Over the years, the need for modernization and expansion of the complex of the National Gallery building became imperative. The expansion works were in launched June 2013, and will be completed at the end of 2015.

The project adds to the existing 9,720 m2 building another 11,040 m2, more than doubling its operational area (20,760 m2 in total). The museum acquires an additional 2,230 m2 of exhibition space, 1645 m2 more of warehouses, an auditorium seating 450, an educational venue, a reception and a 910 m2 museum shop, as well as a third-floor restaurant with panoramic views of the Acropolis and all of Athens. Another
cafe will operate on the ground floor and garden.

The existing building will be strengthened with additional earthquake reinforcement.
The museum will be modernized, acquiring visitor access ramps, the required elevators and stairs, disabled access.

The inspired design of the new National Gallery changes, not only its function, but also its face, adapting it to the museological and aesthetic perception of the 21st century.

The project is carried out under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports (Directorate for the Restoration of Modern and Contemporary Monuments).

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