Museum of Byzantine Culture

Opened in 1994, the Museum of Byzantine Culture is housed in a listed monument, an edifice constructed from 1989 to 1993 and designed by the awarded architect and artist Kyriakos Krokos. The permanent museum exhibition, presented in eleven halls, was completed between the years 1997 and 2004. It showcases original exhibits accompanied by informative material and new media installations in order to unfold the various aspects of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine culture. The Museum also includes conservation laboratories and archaeological material storerooms, an area for educational programs, a separate wing for temporary exhibitions, a multi-purpose hall, two auditoria, a museum shop and a cafe-restaurant.
The total of its activities, educational, cultural and publishing, mark an exemplary center of preservation, research and promotion of our cultural heritage. It is noteworthy that the museum was awarded the Council of Europe Museum Prize for 2005, (following the concurrent recommendation of the Council’s Committee for Culture, Science and Education) – a distinction given for the first time to a Greek public museum.
Since 2012 its extrovert strategy, its collaborations and its public outreach to cultural and academic institutions in Greece and abroad, as well as its welcoming policy towards the community, the youth, people with disabilities and marginalized social groups have established the Museum as an active center of culture and education. Its 350 activities, open to the general public but also to the experts, its 23 temporary exhibitions in Greece and its 3 participations in exhibitions abroad have multiplied its visitors (120%) and prove its future potential.