iBenaki Museum of Greek CultureKolonaki
Grand Tour
Seventeen works lent by the UK Government Art Collection, including Thomas Phillips’s portrait of Lord Byron, hung within the permanent display.
Altro a Atene
Byron wears the traditional Albanian costume he acquired on his 1809 travels, fustanella and all. This is Thomas Phillips's original portrait: the National Portrait Gallery in London has Phillips's later head-and-shoulders version, and this one normally hangs at the British Ambassador's Residence in Athens.
It is one of seventeen works the UK Government Art Collection lent from the residence, and there is no gallery of its own. The loans hang through the Benaki's permanent display, so you come across them as you walk the collection. Joseph and Anton Schranz paint 19th-century Corfu and Cyprus, and William James Müller's 1839 watercolour shows the Temple of Minerva in Athens. The residence is in Kolonaki, like the museum, so this Grand Tour ran from one Kolonaki address to another.
Entry is in the standard museum ticket, €12 or €9 reduced, and Thursdays run to midnight. The loan, already extended, ends on 28 December 2026. Works by Ghika and John Craxton form a second part at the Ghika Gallery, ticketed separately.
Da non perdere
Byron in Albanian dress
Look for the poet in full Albanian costume with the pleated fustanella, Phillips's original; London's National Portrait Gallery has only his later head-and-shoulders copy.
Joseph Schranz's Corfu
Two oils of 19th-century Corfu: the Spianada, the town's open square, and the Palace of St Michael and St George.
Anton Schranz's View of Paphos
A watercolour of Paphos on Cyprus, dated to the day: 22 August 1837.
Ideale per
- Visite serali
- Ospiti da fuori
Lascia perdere se
You want a self-contained exhibition: the loans are scattered through the permanent collection.
Anche a Benaki Museum of Greek Culture
In corso qui vicino
Nei dintorni
Crediti fotografici
8
- Grand TourCourtesy of Benaki Museum of Greek Culture
- Eugenia Vereli, Cycladic Café Art ProjectPhoto: Yannis Kouskoutis, © Museum of Cycladic Art
- Weak Works | The Architecture of Christos Papoulias and His FriendsCourtesy of B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music
- Kylie Manning | In an Overcast SkyCourtesy of B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music
- Benaki Museum of Greek CultureGeorge E. Koronaios / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and MusicB & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- EMST National Museum of Contemporary ArtEMST Athens / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Byzantine and Christian MuseumG.dallorto / Wikimedia Commons