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Last Updated On January 24, 2023 by Dave Briggs 1 Comment

Eleftherios Venizelos Museum Athens | Daves Travel Pages

This week, the Eleftherios Venizelos Museum in Athens features as my museum of the week. This is part of an ongoing series of articles about museums in Athens, where I visit one a week. Follow hashtag #museummonday on twitter to keep track of them all!

Eleftherios-Venizelos-Museum

The Eleftherios Venizelos Museum in Athens

Before I go any further with this post, it's probably important to mention that Google maps is currently wrong as to the location of the museum.

It places it just off a road called Eleftherias. In actual fact, it is in Eleutherias Park, which is next to the large Megaron complex. I have submitted a correction to Google maps, but who knows when it will get fixed?

In order to reach the Eleftherios Venizelos Museum in Athens, take the blue metro line, and get off at Megaro Moussikis.

eleftherios-museum

Once off the metro, walk towards the Megaron concert hall, and keep your eye out for the statue above which is standing at the front of a park.

Depending on the time of day, you might find kids using this little area for skateboarding! This handsome chap is Eleftherios Venizelos himself, and the museum can be found tucked away at the top of the hill, a few hundred metres behind it.

Eleftherios-Venizelos-historical-Museum

The Greek authorities have tried their best to hide this place, and not draw attention to it in any way, shape, or form! The Eleftherios Venizelos Museum is cunningly disguised behind a profusion of ivy and colourful flowers, with just a small sign outside to indicate what it is.

And this is when I discovered that none of the exhibits are dual translated, and are only written in Greek. If you have read my recent article on how to not learn Greek in 10 easy steps, you will realise that this left me at something of a disadvantage!

eleftherios-venizelos-museum

The museum contained books, photographs, and other personal items of Eleftherios Venizelos.

eleftherios-venizelos-museum

Who was Eleftherios Venizelos? Born in Crete in 1864, he is arguably the grandfather of modern Greece. A hugely influential figure, he is responsible for the modernisation of Greece, as well as its expansion.

eleftherios-venizelos-museum

At the time though, he was both loved and loathed. He followed a pro-allied foreign policy during the first world war, which conflicted with that of the pro-German King who wished the country to remain neutral.

eleftherios-venizelos-museum

It resulted in two things – The further expansion of Greek territory, but also a situation known as the National Schism.

eleftherios-venizelos-museum

His political career ended in exile in France, where he died in 1936. Today, as the monarchy of Greece no longer exists, he is viewed in a mainly favourable light. In 2001, the newly built airport in Athens was named after him – Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”. He is quite a fascinating person to read about, so if you would like to find out more, check here – Eleftherios Venizelos.

Thoughts on the Eleftherios Venizelos Museum

My main thought on the Eleftherios Museum, is that it is a real shame that the exhibits are not dual translated. Non-Greek speaking visitors to the country could learn a lot about the history of not just the man himself, but modern Greece and how it developed. Before I visited, I didn't know much at all about Venizelos. Whilst the museum itself didn't really fill in any blanks for me, it did encourage me to find about more about him. So, the visit to this museum was well worth it in the end!

I visited the Eleftherios Venizelos museum as part of a project to visit all the museums in Athens. The next one I am visiting is the Tactual Museum in Athens.

Also read: Venizelos Museum in Chania, Crete

 

 

Filed Under: Athens

Comments

  1. Danny Rigbye says

    October 17, 2019 at 4:18 am

    Hey Dave, well done Mate ! You’ve probably saved me heaps of work as I’ve just started trawling through a map of Athens for a weeks worth of activities. We’d been there for a couple of weeks back in 1997 but we thought they’d be lots more to see after they hosted the 100th Olympics. So your research and documentation will be of great help to me and I can tell by the sample I’ve read so far that it will be a pleasure to explore your sites and comments
    All the very best in your venture, maybe you can make your web presence more visable ? I only found your link via the obscure Museum of Eleftherios Venizelos …
    Cheers

    Danny !

    Reply

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