Loud, defiant and highly urbanized, today's Athens seems far from the elegant muse that inspired poets, artists and writers to immortalize it with their works.
In this thematic exhibition about the birthplace of democracy you will find photographs from the middle of the 19th century onwards, engravings by travelers and works of art from the last 200 years which illustrate the atmosphere of old Athens and its urbanization process from the early days of the nation’s independence until today.
Athens
A sweet hour. Athens sprawls like a hetaira
offering herself to April.
Sensuous scents are in the air,
the spirit waits for nothing any more.
The silver of the evening's eyelids
droops, grows heavy up above the houses.
Queenlike the Acropolis puts on
the sunset's crimson like a robe.
The first star rises with a kiss of light.
A zephyr by Ilissus falls in love with
quivering laurels, rosy nymphs.
A sweet hour of delight and love, when
small birds chasing one another raise a wind
that beats upon a column of Olympian Zeus...
The exhibition contains items from the following institutions:
