Greek Photographers 1930-1970.

The Artistic Life Archive covers written items related to the Greek theatre, cinema and music of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection comprises artists’ private archives, photographic material, programmes of events, accompanying records of ephemeral character, as well as self-contained and periodical publications of the corresponding thematic categories. The material in its entirety is a special section of the Archive Collection, the Photographic Archive and E.L.I.A.’s Library.

The digital collection consists of photographs by Greek photographers covering the period 1975-2003.

A selection of 100 posters from the collection of the Greek Film Archive was digitised, having first been preserved and restored.Especially after the Second World War, Greek film production increased significantly, with posters created from studios of artists such as Nikos Nikolaidis, Giorgos Vakirtzis, Stefanos Almaliotis, Spyros Vasileiou, Andreakos and others, which, besides their advertising and informative function, they were works of art themselves.

The digital collection contains works of Post-Byzantine art, the school of the Ionian Islands and Greek Modern and Contemporary Art (19th-21st century) and a collection of European Art.

This archive contains 2 files comprising 370 records that cover the period 1910 – 1970. The first file contains portraits of Sophocles Venizelos and his private life and the second contains his social life.

Τhe Photographic Archive digital collection covers part of E.L.I.A.’s Photographic Archive and is accompanied by 48,000 digital pictures (positive and negative).The collection extends in time from the middle of the 19th to the end of the 20th century. The following are indicative of the wide range of subjects captured in the photographs: people, social and political reportage, views, architecture and the environment, art and science, education, work, landmarks in military and political history.

In the history of the Modern Greek visual arts, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art represents a remarkable achievement of individual initiative. It is located in the centre of Thessaloniki and has been promoting contemporary art since it was founded in 1978.All these years the collection has been enriched with donations by distinguished collectors such Alexander Iolas, Franz Geierhaas, Alexander Xydis, and individual artists. The collection includes works by artists such as: A. Akrithakis, A. Apergis, C. Varotsos, Y. Zoggolopoulos, O. Zouni, V. Kaniaris, C. Tsoclis, N. Kessanlis, Y. Moralis, V. Velickovic, A. Warhol, Niki de St. Phalle, Takis. Today, the museum houses a collection of more than 1700 artworks including paintings, sculptures, video-art, constructions, installations, photographs and prints.The online digital collection is an on-going work and the online catalogue is continuously updated to reflect the museum’s latest acquisitions. Online visitors have the opportunity to get informed about exhibitions and cultural events at the museum as well as about its educational programs, and editions.

This archive contains 4 files comprising 410 records covering the period of the late 19th century to 1960. The first file contains portraits, the second contains photographs of Eleftherios Venizelos' private life, the third contains his social life and the fourth contains commemorative events in his honour as well as rich photographic material from his funeral.

This digital collection is part of the Benaki Museum’s Photographic Archives Department, which was established in 1973 to collect, preserve and document photographs of Early Christian, Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and architecture. Since then the Department’s original scope has gradually been extended to cover images of Greece and its culture, as well as its history and contemporary society. The Photographic Archives Department comprises 300,000 negatives and 25,000 original photographs dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. It was created through the purchase or donation of important collections, including those of the professional photographers Nelly's, Voula Papaioannou, Pericles Papachatzidakis, Dimitris Harissiadis, Nikolaos Rizos, Nikolaos Tombazis, as well as those of the amateur photographers Rena Andreadi, Stephanos Malikopoulos, Loukas Benakis, and Ioannis Charamis. The Department also contains the photograph collections of the Byzantinologist Laskarina Boura, the architect Maria Zagorisiou, and the writer Elli Papadimitriou. The Photographic Archives Department is open to all researchers. For their assistance a card catalogue of 50,000 prints was compiled based on subject matter and location. Moreover, there are plans create a complete electronic catalogue of the entire collection in the near future.

The digital collection consists of 250 digitised covers, from the collection of Greek cinema magazines held in the Greek Film Archive. The collection includes some of the most important magazine publications of this kind and covers a period of 6 decades, from 1925 to 1975.

The digital collection depicts part of The Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery, donated to the Benaki Museum by the distinguished Greek painter Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika during his lifetime. Since 1991 it has functioned as an annex of the Museum. The permanent exhibition of his works was selected and arranged by the artist himself, and is housed in the apartment block situated on 3 Kriezotou Street in Athens, where the artist resided for forty years.Works, representing every aspect of Hadjikyriakos-Ghika’s oeuvre, are displayed in this space. The main body of the exhibition comprises oil paintings, the earliest dating to 1930 and the latest to 1990. There are also watercolours, drawings, stage and costume designs, tapestries, manuscripts and the artist’s tools. A complete series of sculptures and reliefs inspired by Greek mythology and dating to the period 1940-1970 are likewise on display.The Gallery also houses the important photographic archive collected by Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika. This comprises a large indexed collection of black-and-white and coloured prints and negatives, which offers a valuable insight into the artist’s life and work.The artist’s library, with its rare illustrated volumes, its carefully chosen ornaments, and its antique furnishings from the artist’s ancestral home on the island of Hydra, gives a good indication of his skill and personality. Likewise, his aesthetic sensibilities are immediately obvious in the arrangement of his home and studio, both of which have been preserved exactly as they were during his lifetime.The Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery is temporarily closed to the public due to conservation and reconstruction works on the building. When these works have been completed, the artist’s residence, studio and the Art Gallery that contains his works will continue to function as permanent exhibition areas; the remaining areas will be made available to promote the modern Greek painting of the 1930s generation and to house a library specialising in art history.

The collection covers a wide range of contemporary print works from the members of the Greek Printmakers’ Association, a non profit institution, founded in 1987 by a group of artists aiming at promoting the art of printmaking.

The Maria Argyriadi donation is the core of the Department of Childhood, Toys and Games, which was founded in 1991, and this digital collection is only a small part of it.The Department's collections include 20,000 toys, games and childhood items, from antiquity to 1970, originating not only from Greece and the broader Greek world, but from Europe, America, Africa and the East as well.The department’s primary aim is to document all aspects of the themes "childhood", "game" and "toy", by studying the history of toys in Greece and Europe, and children’s daily life in a traditional Greek context as well.The collection’s Greek section comprises infants' and children's toys spanning the classical, Roman, Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods. They include hand-made traditional Greek toys dating from the 18th to the 20th century, articles from country festivals, 20th century commercial products, team sports, board games, and seasonal games.A separate group of objects includes reconstructions of popular toys, from the beginning of the 20th century, made by members of the K.A.P.I. (Centres for the Open Protection of the Aged).The European part of the collection comprises dolls and games of urban and rural manufacture dating from the 17th to the 20th century, mainly from England, France and Germany. There is also a selection of 19th and 20th century European regional costume dolls dressed in costumes from different parts of Greece.A specialist library open to all interested parties includes 3000 books and studies relating to children and toys, archival sources, photographs, information about Greek manufacturers, and works on children's literature and education, as well as general reference works.The collection of children’s Toys and Games, as well as a rich archival material, will be housed in the Kouloura Building.

This digital collection presents part of the Benaki Museum collections that comprises many distinct categories totaling more than 40,000 items, illustrating the character of the Greek world through a spectacular historical panorama: from antiquity and the age of Roman domination to the medieval Byzantine period; from the fall of Constantinople (1453) and the centuries of Frankish and Ottoman occupation to the outbreak of the struggle for independence in 1821; and from the formation of the modern state of Greece (1830) down to 1922, the year in which the Asia Minor disaster took place.

The collection contains prints by Greek and foreign artists.

The digital Pre-Columbian Art Collection is part of the collection which was donated by Georgios Gontikas and consists of objects belonging to the "Andean Civilisations" of South America. The general term "Andean Civilisations" encompasses the many cultural groups that inhabited the Andean mountain range, and had a common worship and technology. In this extensive territory three zones can be discerned: the North Andes (Colombia, Ecuador and a small part of Peru), the Central Andes (the high plateaux of Peru and Bolivia) and, in the south, the Chilean desert.Because there are very few surviving written sources, the conclusions of archaeological research provide valuable data for forming a picture of life in Pre-Columbian societies and of their exceptional, but still unknown, civilisation. The Pre-Columbian Art Collection illuminates many facets of peoples’ lives in Pre-Columbian America: technology, ceremonies, materials, clothing, rituals, and ideology. This is the only known Greek collection of objects from Central and South America, originating specifically from the civilisations of Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico. It includes more than 200 artefacts and an impressive group of 2,355 spindle whorls.Religion was a major factor of Pre-Columbian life; it was animistic, deifying natural forces, sacred sites and objects. Many of these forces were antithetical, although supplementary, since the religion was governed by the concept of dualism. Despite their individual differences, the devotional practices of Central and South America present common features, and demonstrate the reciprocal influence of symbols and religion between these two regions.Certain ceremonies included offerings to supernatural forces, whether "blowing" the spirit by smoking coca leaves on mountain peaks, or offering corn beer libations to the "Earth-Mother", known as "Pachamana" in the "Quechua" dialect, or making burnt offerings. Shamans and priests constituted a special social group associated with the aristocracy. As intermediaries between the real and the spirit world, shamans play a significant role in native societies to this very day.The principal source for identifying characteristic features of Pre-Columbian life, as vividly depicted by the objects in the Gontikas Collection, constitutes the recurring iconographic motifs. One observes that trophy-heads and priests (and/or shamans) dominate Nasca vessels, while elements of local flora and fauna adorn Ecuadorian spindle whorls. The cultural values of daily and ceremonial life were likewise reflected in art. Moche vessels demonstrate a preference for depicting battle scenes, prisoners, animals and plant themes, to which potters would lend human and divine features. Many animals, including the jaguar, puma, eagle and owl, were dominated by human spirits and forces. Deities were portrayed superbly, such as "Lord Sicán" and the "Anthropomorphic Mythical Being" of Nasca art. The collection is supplemented by works of the Colonial Period, such as the double pitcher, on which we recognise a combination of Pre-Columbian techniques with others that were introduced by the colonialists (glazing).

This archive contains 4 files comprising 45 records on the topics: “Eleftherios K. Venizelos”, “Portraits”, “Cretan Issue” and “Various”. It covers the late 19th and early 20th century.

Ancient artifacts from Cyprus, covering a large chronological spectrum from the Chalcolithic period to late antiquity.

The collection contains drawings of Greek and foreign artists.