Museum of Pavlos and Alexandra Kanellopoulou

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Diachronic museum in Athens, Greece

Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum


Established	1976
Location	12 Theorias Str., Plaka, Athens, Greece
Type	Diachronic museum
Public transit access	Athens Metro stations: Monastiraki station
Website	https://camu.gr/

The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum is a museum of antiquities in Athens, Greece. It is situated in the north slope of Acropolis, in the district of Plaka (12 Theorias street). Founded in 1976, it houses the collection of Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos, which started being formed in 1923 and was donated to the Greek state in 1972. The collection features ca. 6500 items of Prehistoric, Ancient Greek, Byzantine and post-Byzantine art, spanning almost six millennia of history (from the Neolithic era to the 19th century).

The buildings

The museum is housed in two buildings, which share a common entrance at Theorias street. The chronologically older building is a neoclassical mansion constructed in 1894 as the residence of the Michaleas family. It has three floors, with beautiful paintings on the ceilings of the upper one. The Michaleas mansion was expropriated by the Greek state in the 1960s-1970s and was restored to permanently house the Canellopoulos collection. In 2007, the New Wing of the Museum was built by the architect P. Kalligas, on the initiative of Alexandra Canellopoulos and the Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation.

Archaeological excavations conducted prior to the construction of the New Wing brought to light remains of a Late Byzantine house and part of the medieval fortification of Athens (the so-called Rizokastro), which was built in the 13th century. These remains have been preserved in the basement of the New Wing, and are accessible to the public.

The collection

The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos collection comprises ca. 6500 items of Prehistoric, Ancient Greek, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art. They include Neolithic and Bronze Age figurines and vessels, Classical vases, a wide array of metal artifacts (vases, weapons, statuettes, weights, ritual equipment), marble sculpture, jewelry of all periods (gold, silver, bronze, glass), coins, Fayum-style portraits, textiles, manuscripts, early printed editions, and more than 350 icons dating from the 14th to the 19th century.

Among them, particularly notable is the large group of black-figure and red-figure vases, which depict mythological scenes, rituals and everyday activities of the Archaic and Classical periods. Also important is the large assemblage of Attic white-ground lekythoi, which depict funerary scenes imitating the style of Classical large-scale painting.

The collection is mostly renowned for the fine series of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons. Special emphasis is laid on the Cretan School of painting, which combined elements of the Byzantine tradition with aspects of the European Renaissance. The collection includes excellent works by the Cretan artists Nicolaos Tzafouris, Michael Damaskenos, Emmanuel Lambardos, Frangias Kavertzas, Ieremias Palladas, Victor, and Emmanuel Tzanes.

References

For the collectors, see https://camu.gr/en/museum/paul-and-alexandra/
Brouskari M. 1985. The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum. Athens
For the museum buildings, see https://camu.gr/en/museum/our-building/
For the Rizokastro, see Travlos J. 2015 . Urban Development of Athens. From Prehistoric Times to the Beginning of the 19th century. Athens: Capon Editions; Makri E., Tsakos K., Vavilopoulou-Charitonidou A. 1989. "Το Rizokastro. Preserved remains: new observations and redating", Δελτίον τῆς Χριστιανικῆς Αρχαιολογικῆς Εταιρείας 14, 329-366
For the collection in general, see https://camu.gr/en/art/the-collection/
For these and other ancient Greek itels of the collection, see Choremi-Spetsieri A. - Zarkadas A. 2006. The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum: Ancient Art. Athens: Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation
For the icons and other Byzantine and post-Byzantine exhibits, see Skampavias C. - Chatzidakis N. 2007. The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum: Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art. Athens: Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation

External links

v t e Museums in Athens
Archaeological	Acropolis Museum Epigraphical Museum Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art Kerameikos Archaeological Museum Kanellopoulou Museum National Archaeological Museum Stoa of Attalos Archaeological Museum of Piraeus Old Acropolis Museum Pieridis Museum Syntagma Metro Station Archaeological Collection Museum of the Center for the Acropolis Studies Athens International Airport Archaeological Collection
Byzantine and ecclesiastic	Byzantine and Christian Museum
Ethnological/historical	Athens War Museum Drossinis Museum Eleftherios Venizelos Historical Museum Goulandris Natural History Museum Jewish Museum of Greece Museum of the City of Athens National Historical Museum
Folklore	Museum of Greek Folk Art Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery Museum of the History of the Greek Costume
Art museums/galleries	Athinais Cultural Center Benaki Museum B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation Deste Foundation Emfietzoglou Gallery Museum Frissiras Museum Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art Gounaropoulos Museum Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum Marika Kotopouli Museum Municipal Gallery of Athens National Gallery (Athens) National Glyptotheque National Museum of Contemporary Art Nikos Chatzikyriakos-Gikas Art Gallery Panos Aravantinos Decor Museum Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation Museum
Industry/technology	Eugenides Foundation Hellenic Air Force Museum Hellenic Motor Museum Railway Museum of Athens Electric Railways Museum OTE Museum of Telecommunications Technopolis (Gazi)
Education/sports/ special interests	Athens University Museum Hellenic Children's Museum Hellenic Cosmos Hellenic Maritime Museum Mineralogy and Petrology Museum Museum of Anthropology of University of Athens Museum of Criminology Numismatic Museum of Athens Postal & Philatelic Museum of Greece Spathario Museum Tactual Museum of Athens Theatrical Museum of Greece Zoological Museum of the University of Athens
Museum ships	Georgios Averof Velos D16 SS Hellas Liberty Olympias

37°58′22.3″N 23°43′33.2″E / 37.972861°N 23.725889°E / 37.972861; 23.725889

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