The 7-story building on the corner of Eleftheriou Venizelou and Kolokotrini streets has been given an upgrade to improve energy efficiency and undergone much-needed maintenance and repairs, though the new digital catalog is, perhaps, the latest addition that will improve the visitor experience most. According to an announcement from the Municipality of Piraeus, the library’s collection has also been enriched with new titles in all of its sections. The Piraeus Public Library is open on Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.  

In the period from 1st April to 31th October the iconic archaeological sites like the Acropolis, the Ancient and Roman Agora also stay open longer, allowing tourists to explore in cooler evening temperatures. From ancient artifacts to architectural wonders, Athens offers an unforgettable cultural experience for summer travelers. On summer nights with a full moon, various archaeological sites will be open well into the night to allow visitors to enjoy this unique experience.

The 4th Century B.C. artifact is a fragment of a funerary monument found in a streambed in the Attica suburb of Menidi and was delivered to the museum in November 2008 by a scrap collector.  The fragment depicts 2 bundled twin babies in the arms of a female figure and was probably part of a tombstone that would have been erected on the grave of a woman who died in childbirth.  It is the only surviving funerary relief of the ancient Greek world depicting twin babies in the same arms, which indicates their common fate. The “stele of the twin babies” will be on display at the NAM’s Altar Hall through Monday, May 13. More specifically, the Unseen Museum is the well-known exhibition project of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens that brings to the fore antiquities stored in its vaults away from the visitor’s eyes. The Unseen Museum presents for the first time the “ stele of the twin babies”. It is a fragment of a funerary monument found in a torrent at Menidi, Attica and delivered to the Museum in November 2008 by a destitute. The fragment preserves in relief two bundled twin babies in the arms of a female figure and is probably part of a tombstone that would have been erected on the grave of a woman who died in childbirth. This is the only surviving funerary relief of the ancient Greek world depicting twin babies in the same arms, which indicates their common fate as orphans. The “ stele of the twin babies” is presented in the “ Altar Hall” (no. 34) from Thursday, March 21 to Monday, May 13, 2024. Ticket reservations are necessary in order to attend the presentations that will be held on Sundays March 31, 14 and 28 April at 13:00 and on Wednesdays 10 and 24 April and 8 May at 13:00.

Previous director Hartwig Fischer resigned in August after the museum disclosed that more than 1,800 items were missing in an apparent case of insider theft. Many of the items had been offered for sale online. Mark Jones, former head of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has served as interim director since then. Cullinan will replace him in the summer. Cullinan has been director of the National Portrait Gallery since 2015, overseeing a major refurbishment of the building beside London’s Trafalgar Square. He has previously worked at Tate Modern in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His appointment was approved by the British Museum’s trustees and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Cullinan said it was an honor to become director of “one of the greatest museums in the world.” He said he looked forward to leading the institution through “the most significant transformations, both architectural and intellectual, happening in any museum globally, to continue making the British Museum the most engaged and collaborative it can be.” The museum fired a longstanding curator, Paul Higgs, over the missing items, and is suing him in the High Court. Lawyers for the museum say Higgs “abused his position of trust” to steal ancient gems, gold jewelry and other pieces from storerooms over the course of a decade. Higgs, who worked in the museum’s Greece and Rome department for more than 2 decades, denies the allegations and intends to dispute the museum’s legal claim. The British Museum went to court Tuesday against a former curator alleged to have stolen hundreds of artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online . The museum is suing Peter Higgs, who was fired in July 2023 after more than 1,800 items were discovered to be missing. Lawyers for the museum say Higgs “abused his position of trust” to steal ancient gems, gold jewelry and other pieces from storerooms over the course of a decade. High Court judge Heather Williams ordered Higgs to list or return any items in his possession within four weeks. She also ordered the disclosure of his eBay and PayPal records. The museum says it has recovered 356 of the missing items so far, and hopes to get more back. “The items that have been stolen from the museum are of cultural and historical significance,” museum lawyer Daniel Burgess said in written legal arguments. Burgess said the defendant tried to “cover his tracks” by using fake names, creating false documents, manipulating the museum’s records and selling artifacts at less than their value. He did not attend Tuesday’s hearing due to poor health, lawyers said. A separate police investigation into the case is ongoing, and Higgs has not been charged with a crime. Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigned after the loss of the items was revealed in August, apologizing for failing to take seriously enough a warning from an art historian that artifacts from its collection were being sold on eBay. Chairman of trustees George Osborne has acknowledged that the reputation of the 265-year-old institution has been damaged by the episode. The 18th-century museum in central London’s Bloomsbury district is one of Britain’s biggest tourist attractions, visited by 6 million people a year. They come to see a collection that ranges from Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek statues to Viking hoards, scrolls bearing 12th-century Chinese poetry and masks created by the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The 18th-century museum in central London’s Bloomsbury district is one of Britain’s biggest tourist attractions, visited by 6 million people a year. They come to see a collection that ranges from Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek statues to Viking hoards, scrolls bearing 12th-century Chinese poetry and masks created by the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The museum faces growing pressure over items taken from other countries during the period of the British Empire – especially the Parthenon Marbles, 2,500-year-old sculptures that were taken from Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin. Greece has campaigned for decades for the marbles to be returned. The British Museum is banned by law from giving the sculptures back to Greece, but its leaders have held talks with Greek officials about a compromise, such as a long-term loan. Those efforts suffered a setback in November, when a diplomatic spat erupted over the marbles, and Prime Minister Sunak abruptly canceled a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. British Museum Chairman George Osborne said that with Cullinan’s appointment, the institution was entering “a new chapter in the long story of the British Museum with confidence, and back on the front foot.” 

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) on Panepistimiou St invites poetry lovers to participate in an open readings marathon on Thursday, March 21, on occasion of World Poetry Day. The event, organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, will be open from 10am to 10pm to all poetry lovers who will have a chance to read in any language. Athens Mayor Haris Doukas said Thursday’s Poetry Marathon marks the beginning of a series of educational, cultural, and artistic activities organized in collaboration with the NKUA. He invited Athenians and visitors to participate in the events aimed at “celebrating the wealth of human expression and honoring our cultural heritage”. On the same day at 8 p.m. in the university’s central hall, writer and artist Ioulita Iliopoulou will read poetry by Greece’s Nobel Prize-winning poet Odysseas Elytis (1911-1996) to the accompaniment of music he loved. Iliopoulou was Elytis’ partner. Interested in participating? Your poem should be no longer that 3 minutes when read and you should apply here. On the same day, Athens Friendship Centers will be welcoming seniors for a Senior Citizens’ Poetry Competition.

The decision by its new owner, Cypriot businessman Andreas Christodoulides, who bought it along with another Onassis Olympic Airways-era plane, which is now in Lavrio, where it is being restored, is to showcase an era of modern Greek history. “These airplanes are historic for Greece and Hellenism, the Olympic airplanes should be remembered by the world and our children and our grandchildren,” he says. His goal was to buy them for the public to view and appreciate. A great admirer of Onassis, Christodoulides said he bought the planes so that the Greeks would not forget – “so that the world remembers Elliniko [Athens’ former airport), Olympic and Onassis.” “I feel proud of Greece… it is as if I have bought the Acropolis, and I am putting it somewhere for Hellenism to see.” Christodoulides has for the last 18 years been the owner of Zela Aviation, while about two years ago, when he returned to Greece from London after 38 years, he founded its subsidiary, Zela Jets.

Taking on the ambitious task of identifying these needs and bridging them with educational and employment opportunities is the non-governmental organization YET (Young Entrepreneurs of Thessaloniki). Their initiative, the "Film Beyond" program, is supported by the US Embassy. During a networking event for "Film Beyond" at the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography on Tuesday, a digital platform called Reel Talent was unveiled. This platform serves to connect students and emerging professionals in the audiovisual sector with both local and international production companies seeking skilled personnel.

The 8-meter-high representation of the mythological giant Telamon once supported the temple of Zeus, one of the famed Doric constructions on the site that art historians consider the principal ancient Greek historical record outside Greece itself. “Telamon will become … the new international ambassador of an archaeological site with no equals worldwide,” said Sicily’s cultural heritage councilor Francesco Paolo Scarpinato. The stone statue returned to guard the temple on Thursday, following 20 years of restoration work. In ancient times the giant was one of numerous Telamon statues that were part of the temple’s structure. It was reassembled from 90 fragments from the fifth century BC and dug up by archaeologists over a century ago, Sicily’s regional government said in a statement. The Temple of Zeus was built to celebrate Agrigento’s victory over the Carthaginians and was irreparably damaged by an earthquake in 1401. Raiders looted the site in the 18th century and some remaining building blocks were used to build a pier at the nearby coastal town of Porto Empedocle. Since the 1800s, when experts first stumbled upon the remains of the Telamon statues, the temple has attracted the interest of scholars determined to unearth its buried secrets. The 1,300-hectare Valley of the Temples was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and is now a mass tourism destination which Scarpinato said drew over a million visitors in 2023. The Temple of Zeus will receive extensive restoration work ahead of Agrigento becoming Italy’s culture capital for 2025, said Sicily’s regional president Renato Schifani. The Telamon would be a centerpiece of the city’s year in the spotlight, promising “an augmented reality project and even special lighting to encourage nighttime visits … to promote this impressive work internationally,” Scarpinato said.

The institution, which is dedicated to the Greek capital’s modern history, is celebrating 50 years since its founding and launched a digital initiative on Wednesday aimed at making the visitor experience more interactive and entertaining, with holograms not just of Eutaxias, who lived in one of the buildings the museum is housed in, but also of King Otto and Queen Amalia, who lived in the other as they waited for their palace (present-day Parliament) to be built. Among the museum’s star displays are a model of Athens as it was in 1842, created by architect Ioannis Travlos, and a monumental oil painting by French artist Jacques Carrey from 1674, which depicts the Parthenon before it was blown up by Francesco Morosini. Athens City Museum is an art museum and former royal residence in Athens, Greece. It houses a collection of Athens-related items collected by art collector Lambros Eutaxias. The collection includes antiquities, Byzantine art, sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs and metal, glass and textile works. Hours:  Sunday    10 AM–3 PM Monday    9 AM–4 PM Tuesday    Closed Wednesday    9 AM–4 PM Thursday    9 AM–4 PM Friday    9 AM–4 PM Saturday    10 AM–3 PM   Phone: 210 3230168 Address: loannou Paparrigopoulou 5-7, Athina 105 61  

According to a ministry statement, the goal is to upgrade the current system and showcase the monument and its immediate surroundings without interventions or alterations to its character. The new lighting will make the  monument's size and design more perceptible and be environmentally friendly, offering significant energy savings. Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni stated: "Twenty years after the installation of the existing lighting at the Temple of Poseidon during the Olympic Games, the physical wear and tear of time, failures and alterations in the light fixtures that resulted in the alteration of the lighting, require the installation of a modern lighting system." According to the same announcement, the study for the lighting system installation will be carried out in two phases. The study has been drafted by the office of internationally acclaimed lighting expert Eleftheria Deko and her associates, sponsored by Mytilineos company in collaboration with the ministry. Deko is responsible for the new lighting of the Parthenon.

The programs will be bankrolled through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF), while just last week, the GFC approved financial support for 13 film projects to the tune of 1,262,000 euros. “Our goal is both to strengthen domestic film producers and to attract producers from abroad, as well as to promote modern Greek culture worldwide,” Hellenic Deputy Culture Minister Christos Dimas told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

The exhibition was supported by the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense and set up in collaboration with the National Historical Museum of Greece. This exhibition of Robert McCabe’s unique photos, together with a selection of Korean War photos from the archives of the National Historical Museum of Greece, will be at the War Memorial Museum until February 29th, 2024. Greece's participation in the Korean War marks a milestone in the history of the two nations  "This occurred precisely as the country emerged from a four-year Civil War  and only a few years after the devastating Second World War in Europe, that cost Greece more than half a million victims. The exhibition features 65 large photographs by Robert McCabe, captured during his time as a student at Princeton University. These images showcase Greece's untouched beauty amidst its economic challenges, are an aesthetic perfection and an important cultural and historical treasure, depicting different places of Greece, capturing moments, feelings and sensations of the 1950s and 1960s, when Greek officers and soldiers participated in the Korean War. The Ambassador of Greece, H.E. Ekaterini Loupas, in her speech, underlined that “ this exhibition stands as a testament to the enduring friendship between Greece and Korea, forged by our shared values for freedom, democracy, respect of the sovereignty of a country in a peaceful environment, where human dignity develops healthy societies. Greece participated in the Korean War with 10,824 soldiers and 9 transport aircrafts. 196 Greek soldiers were killed in action”. The President of the War Memorial Museum, Mr. Baek Seung-joo, welcomed all invitees at a beautiful reception with an impressive view of the Namsan Tower and emphasized in his speech the words of Harry Truman, that Korea is Greece of the Far East, alluding in fact to the many historical similarities between the two nations. He also pointed out that this exhibition is about the past relationship between the countries paving the way to the future close collaboration between the two countries. The Honorary President of the National Historical Museum of Greece, Vice admiral Konstantinos Mazarakis Ainian, spoke about the significance of the Greek contribution to the Korean War, which was the highest in terms of the number of soldiers compared to the population of the country, as well as the historical value of photos of the American photographer Robert McCabe. The Embassy of Greece, as a token of appreciation for the fruitful cooperation and in order to enlighten the concept of fight for freedom, offered to the War Memorial a painting of the Greek artist Angeliki Angelidis, inspired by the famous naval battle of Salamis, when the ancient Greeks thwarted the Persian invasion in 480 BC.