Benaki Museum & Benaki Museum Pireos Annexe

Lonely Planet review

Greeces'finest private museum contains the vast collection of Antonis Benakis, accumulated during 35 years of avid collecting in Europe and Asia. In 1931 he turned the family house into a museum and presented it to the Greek nation. The Benaki Museum Pireos Annexe hosts regular visual arts, cultural and historical exhibitions as well as major international shows.

The impressive former industrial building has a café and excellent gift store. It's the oldest museum in Greece and ranks among its best. More than 20,000 items are on display chronologically over four levels, beginning with prehistory to the formation of the modern Greek state. It has an excellent Byzantine collection and a gallery focusing on the development of Hellenism during foreign domination. The spectrum of Greek cultural history is covered, including Karaghiozi shadow puppets, a stunning array of costumes, jewellery, textiles, and paintings, including early works by El Greco.

The collection includes Bronze Age finds from Mycenae and Thessaly; two early works by El Greco; ecclesiastical furniture brought from Asia Minor; pottery, copper, silver and woodwork from Egypt, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia; and a stunning collection of Greek regional costumes. The Egyptian collection includes fayum Greco-Roman funerary portraits. Benaki's heart is immured inside the Museum's entrance, but the soul of Greece is well-enshrined in his gift to the country.