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Museum of the city of Athens Vouros-Eutaxias

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The Museum of the city of Athens has a collection of engravings, paintings and photographs of Athens of the previous century. Moreover, the visitor can wander through rooms with furniture and objects typical of the 19th century and admire some paintings of famous Greek artists. Besides the permanent collection, the museum organizes exhibitions on its third floor.

The Building and the History of the museum

Lambros Eutaxias (1905-1996) and his uncle Alexandros Vouros (1871-1959) were the founders of the museum. The museum was founded by them in 1973 and opened to the public in 1980. It is housed in two of the most beautiful and older buildings of Athens. The first one belonged to Dekozi-Vourou and was inhabited by king Otto and queen Amalia from 1863 to 1843. Therefore, it is also called “Old Palace”. The second, which nowadays is connected to the other via a covered bridge, was built by the Greek architect Gerasimo Metaxa in 1859.

The Walkthrough

1st floor
When the visitor enters the museum he sees a large room on his right. In this room there are lithographs and engravings of aspects of the city of Athens and its important monuments (the Parthenon, The temple of the Olympian Zeus and so on) around 1800. The whole room is dominates by a large oil painting done by Jaques Carrey. It presents Marquise Nointel and his entourage set against Athens’ Acropolis. The painting besides its artistic value has an historic one. Here the Parthenon is depicted intact as it was before the 26th of September of 1687 when it was damaged by cannon balls of the Venetian forces commanded by Koenigsmark. Leaving this room behind and going up few stair-steps the visitor will face a window case that contains objects of daily use of the 19th century. Many of those have the seal of King Otto. Right next to the window case there are some more engravings presenting views of the old Athens. In a room to the left several plans and models of the city of Athens are presented. The larger one was made by the famous Greek architect Travlos in 1842. The visitor can witness the enormous growth of the city in the last two centuries.

2nd floor
The stairs leading to the second floor are decorated with engravings depicting the monuments of Athens. The second floor is set as house of the 19th century. Here the visitor can walk through a living room, a dining room, a library room and so on. Each room contains chandeliers, furniture and carpets of the 19th century. There also some paintings of famous Greek artist and other interesting artifacts. For example there is a portrait of Lord Byron, a hand written copy of the constitution of 1844 that was used by King Otto himself, a map of Greece of 1838 which contains only Peloponnese and a small part of central Greece. One should not miss the portrait of Athanasios Eytaxias made by the important Greek painter Vikatos and the portrait of Kiki Papastratou created by Gounaropoulos.

3rd floor
The stairs for the third floor are decorated with photographs of Athens at the end of 19th century. This floor is transformed into an exhibition are and it is usually occupied by temporary exhibitions devoted to Greek painters.

Last modified onMonday, 10 March 2014 22:39
  • Address: 7 Paparrigopoulou, 10561 Athens
  • Admission: 3 €
  • Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 09:00 to 16:00. Saturday, Sunday from 10:00 to 15:00 On Tuesday the Museum remains closed.
  • Phone: (+30) 210.3231397, 210.3230168, 210-3246164
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