Municipal Gallery of Athens
The Municipal Gallery of Athens is a museum in Athens, Greece. It houses a rich collection of nearly 3,000 works from leading 19th- and 20th-century Greek artists. Formerly located on Peiraios Street on Eleftherias (Koumoundourou) Square, in October 2010 the gallery moved three blocks northwest to the corner of Myllerou and Leonidou streets on Avdi Square in Metaxourgeio. The move added another dimension to the gallery's draw, as its current building was designed in the early 19th century by prominent architect Christian Hansen. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 21:00 (10:00 am–2:00 pm and 5:00-9:00 pm). Open Sundays from 10:00 to 14:00 (10:00 am–2:00 pm). Closed Mondays. Admission is free. (0030) 210 3243023 or (0030) 210 5202420. Collection and exhibitions "Although the Municipal Art Gallery was formerly housed in the charming building on Koumoundourou Square, designed by Panagis Kalkos - who also designed the old town hall in Kotzia Square - we decided to relocate to solve some serious problems," explains Gallery and Museum City of Athens Director Mrs. Nelli Kyriazis. "It was unforgivable, in my opinion and the opinion of many art lovers, especially foreigners, that the Gallery has not been able to accommodate both permanent collections and temporary exhibitions in parallel. There was rotation, due to lack of space, so guests regularly ask why we do not have a permanent collection". What Ms. Kyriazis finds particularly interesting are these former industrial sites now transformed into cultural sites. "Especially when hosting exhibitions of modern art, I think it fits content with container.” The gallery will host periodic exhibitions as well as permanent collections. Initially, though, it will present a permanent collection, after its first major exhibition, the gallery will then hold both permanent and temporary exhibitions concurrently. The collection was set up in 1923 by their respective mayors and enlightened managers of the Municipal Gallery, as reported by Ms. Kyriazis, referring first to Papapanagiotou Stavros the first director then to Spyros Papaloukas, who held this position from the 1940s until his death in 1957. "The collection includes poor representation of the 19th century with names such as Spyridon Prosalentis, Dionysios Tsokos and others, but great weight was given to the questionable 1930s and 1940s, and includes both present and modern manifestations and quests of artists," says Ms. Kyriazis. The big names of the collection include Georgios Jakobides, Angelos Giallinas, Nikolaos Lytras, George Bouzianis, Agenor Asteriadis, Yiannis Moralis and other "precursors" of the generation such as Gerasimos Steris. Contemporary artists include Opi Zouni- recently deceased, Chronis Botsoglou and Makis Theofylaktopoulos. Playing an essential role in this collection is a series of engravings "teachers" such as Angel Theodoropoulos, Efthimis Papadimitriou, John Kefallinos, Vaso Katraki, Tasos (Alevizos) as well as today's teachers ASFA Mihalis Arfaras and Vicky Tsalamata. "After a presentation of a representative collection and new acquisitions, the Municipal Art Gallery will then follow with its permanent collection to ensure presentation of all works, and that the permanent collection will not remain static