31Reviews3Q&A
Reviews
Traveler rating
- 7
- 9
- 5
- 3
- 7
Traveler type
Time of year
Language
More
Selected filters
- Filter
- English
Popular mentions
+1
Taking metro to Katehaki station followed by about 800m walk past the army and police installations brought us to a small unsigned gate. Entering what’s called Army Park we could see open-air sculptures so reassured that destination was imminent. We were disappointed to be told about the absence of paintings, but were delighted with the fine collection of modern Greek sculpture. In one large exhibition space sculptural styles comprised from the more classical to abstract. Amongst the former could be placed Spirit of Copernicus by Georgios Vroutos and Satyr playing with Eros. Drossis Leonidas's Penelope from 1873 is beguiling. Another fine famous work is To the Dreams Left Behind and Defeated by Konstantinos Dimitriadis. Frosso Efthymiadi-Menegaki has a couple of great pieces - Lot's Wife and Nike II. Michael Lekakis's Apantheosis is dramatic. Our final viewing was the impressive Apollon by Angelos Papadimitriou,…
Read more
Date of experience: February 2020
Helpful
I am sure, given expereince with other recently opened places in Athens such as the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre and the Goulandris hous, that his will eventually be amazing. But no date yet given for opening - try again next year!
Read more
Date of experience: March 2020
Helpful
The main location is CLOSED for renovation. The website doesn't make that clear so I went to the main location and then got a cab out to this temporary museum. Fortunately, my guide book had the name of the National Gallery in Greek as the cabbie didn't know where it was and it's a long drive to this site. His GPS did take us to the temporary site. Once we got there, we wandered around looking for the museum before we saw a sign on the low building in Greek indicating it was indeed the museum site. Doesn't look at all like a museum from the parking lot! The art that is here is lovely but limited in quantity. The curation is an afterthought--sculpture lighted by overhead fluorescent light. Very poorly done, though I enjoyed it. No one spoke any English and mostly the women stood around outside smoking. Then once I finished, I had to walk all the way around the fenced in area to get out, then a long walk to the nearest big street. Found a cab but he couldn't take me, so he flagged down another cab passing by after about 15 minutes. Don't know why the cab sitting there couldn't take me. The women told me there was a metro about "400 meters" but this area is outside any of the maps I had and their directions were wrong. Quite the adventure but that's part of travel! It was probably worth it, but as I was wandering the fence line past long abandoned buildings I wasn't sure it was really worthwhile.…
Read more
Date of experience: September 2018
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
What a sorry excuse for a museum...staffed by a bunch of clueless buffoons. We weren't planning on visiting this museum but after seeing a post on their Facebook page of one of our favourite Greek artists with a picture of one of his paintings we decided to go. The place is almost impossible to find as signage is terrible. After following directions from my iPhone we ended up in a parking lot literally in the middle of nowhere. We asked no less than five people we encountered if they knew where the museum was and no one had any idea that there was a museum in the area. We finally saw a taxi coming through a partially open gate that had a "Do Not Enter" sign and decided to drive through and explore. The gate was only partially open enough for a car to barely squeeze through. Thinking back, it was as if they were trying to dissuade people from going through the gate. Why would they not open them fully? After about half a mile we came upon 2 old buildings with absolutely no signage on them that ended up being the museum. The experience in the museum was surreal. As we entered the museum we seemed to have startled a person at a counter. I got the distinct impression that they had not had a visitor there in weeks. I asked about the artist I had seen on their Facebook page and if they could direct me to any of his works in the museum. The person at the counter didn't know that the museum even had a Facebook page and she had never heard of the artist. I asked if there was a curator or specialist at the museum that could maybe give us some insight on some of the works and was told that there was no such person. I pressed her a bit more and said that since they had posted a painting from this artist on FB two days ago logically the painting should be somewhere in the museum. She directed me to the other building that had paintings (this one only had sculptures) and told me to ask the staff over there. As we walked into that building we once again seemed to have startled two people that again seemed shocked to see visitors. They too had no idea that a Facebook page of the museum existed and had never heard of this artist I was mentioning. I asked if they could tell me what artists' works were in the museum and maybe direct us to some of the highlights. They couldn't even tell us one single artists name. Again I asked if there was a curator, specialist or just a manager that might be able to give us some insight and was told that no such person exists. This is a public museum run by the Greek ministry. I got the distinct impression that these people were relatives of some politician given a cozy do-nothing government job. There are so many people with a passion for art that would kill for a job like that. What a shame. During the hour and a half that we were there we never saw a single other visitor (this is peak tourist season). There are several beautiful pieces of art here but unfortunately not worth the aggravation of the location and completely worthless staff. PS: While walking through we noticed a computer-station set up a few locations. The kind you generally see at museums that give you information on some of the items. None of them were connected to a power outlet. Absolutely pathetic.…
Read more
Date of experience: July 2018
2 Helpful votes
Helpful