The National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, as it was named upon its merger with the homonymous bequest, now houses more than 15,000 works of painting, sculpture, engraving and other forms of art and it is a treasury of Greek artistic creation from the post-Byzantine period until today. It also comprises a smaller collection of important Western European artworks.
Upon the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Euripidis Koutlidis Foundation, sanctioned by the Court of Appeal of Athens, the important homonymous collection of Modern Greek art is housed under the same roof with the collections of the National Gallery. The Foundation maintains its self-sufficiency, yet it cooperates with the National Gallery in order to fulfil common goals. In its honour, the room comprising works of 19th-century Greek art of the National Gallery was named “Euripidis Koutlidis Room”.
The institutional role of the National Gallery consists in the creation of collections, the maintenance and study of artworks as well as in the aesthetic cultivation of the public, the on-going education through art and the pleasure that it offers, but also in national self-consciousness through the history of Greek art that expresses national life on a symbolic level.
Responding to this role, the National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum presents its permanent collections in a manner that highlights both the evolution of art and the parallel development of the society which it expresses. With its proficient and qualified personnel, the National Gallery organizes consecutively major exhibitions, both thematic and of individual artists, Greek and international, which keep the public interest alive.
It has developed a great publishing activity, mostly in print but also on-line, including guides to the collections, seminal scientific catalogues accompanying the exhibitions as well as educational books for young people. Approximately four million people have visited the National Gallery in the last fourteen years. Its exhibition activity has been supported by sponsorships that have covered up to 50% of its budget.
The National Gallery has a rich library of invaluable archival material, and specialized restoration laboratories, equipped with the latest detection, study and restoration systems. Moreover, it has a qualified and specialized academic, administrative and security personnel that meets the diverse and demanding operation requirements of such a large museum with adequacy and selfless zeal.
The National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, encompassing all of these artistic treasures, laboratories, the library, administrative agencies and multifarious activities, permanently housed under the same roof with the Koutlidis Foundation and Collection, is suffocating in its current facilities. A preparatory study for its expansion has already been developed, providing for an additional 6,000 m2 to the existing building. The Ministry of Culture has announced the expansion of the National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum and the inclusion of this project in the Fourth Community Support Framework.
OPENING HOURS: Monday to Saturday: 09:00 - 15:00 - Sunday: 10:00 - 14:00
CLOSED: Tuesday
METRO STATION: Evangelismos