This small museum allows to trace the history of the Jewish community in Greece, from the deeply rooted Romaniot community, which was founded in the 3rd century BC, to the arrival of Sephardic Jews, and after the Holocaust. Documents, samples of religious art and household items are widely presented here.
The Jewish Museum of Greece in Athens was founded in 1977 with the purpose of collecting, preserving, researching and displaying material evidence of Jewish life in Greece during 2 300 years. It is a historical and ethnographic organization that focuses on the life of people and their traditions during this period.
The Museum's research centre works with a number of Greek and foreign institutions and contributes significantly to the study and documentation of traditions and monuments of Romaniot and Sephardic epochs. Scientists reflect the results of their research in their publications and directly at the exhibitions themselves.
Among the many interesting facts that can be found here is the amazing story of the Zakynthos Jewish community’ rescuing from Nazi persecution during the Second World War, when bishop Chrysostom and mayor of Zakynthos Lukas Harrer managed to protect 275 Jews who were living on the island.
The idea of creating the Jewish Museum of Greece appeared for the first time in the 1970ies among members of the Jewish community of Athens, who strongly supported the realization of this dream. The Museum was founded in 1977 and was located in a small room next to the city synagogue. It contained items that had been saved during World War II, including artifacts, documents and manuscripts from the 19th and 20th centuries, or the jewelry from the Jews of Thrace that had been captured by the Bulgarians in 1943. The latter were returned to the Greek government after the abdication of the Bulgarian tsar and the establishment of a republic in the country.
During the following years, the Museum's collection has been constantly enlarging. Under the careful guidance of Nikos Stavroulakis, who had been holding the position of a Museum's director until 1993, the materials for the exhibition were collected from all Greek communities. The collection was expanded with rare books and publications, textiles, jewelry, household and religious artifacts.
Soon the Museum began to attract the attention of a growing number of visitors, researchers and sponsors. In 1981, the Association of American friends was founded, and later the Association of friends of the Museum of Greece with members of the Jewish communities in Athens and in Thessaloniki.
As the Museum's collection was growing and the scope of its activity was expanding, the Museum’s old walls became too tight for it. In 1984, the Jewish Museum of Greece moved to a new location. The exhibition was divided into thematic blocks. After the years of effort, in 1989 it acquired the legal status as a non-profit foundation, headed by a seven-person Board of directors.
During the following years, the Museum's activity has widened; it was engaged in both research and studying history, life and everyday living of Greek Jews, in collaboration with other foundations and researchers around the world, and publishing activities. At the same time, its collection was constantly enlarging with new finds from all over Greece, which exceeded the wildest expectations. The growing needs of the Museum, together with the dream of having its own premises one day, led to the obtaining of the neoclassical building of the 19th century due to the support of the Museum’s friends in Greece and abroad, the Jewish community of Thessaloniki and the Central Council of Jewish communities in Greece.
With significant financial support from the Greek Ministry of culture and the Associations of Friends, the old building was renovated. At the end of 1997, twenty years after it had first opened its doors to the public, the Museum moved to 39, Nikis street in the centre of Athens.
The Museum's inestimable collection tells about the unique Jewish heritage, which had been developing in this corner of the world for more than 23 centuries and which was almost destroyed during the terrible years of the Holocaust.
The Board of Directors, the qualified staff and volunteers who work for the success of this small but important institution consider it to be their mission to preserve folk traditions and to help the Museum fully achieve its potential.
The Museum is intended to continue documenting the past, studying the present, and maintaining the future of Jewish history and traditions in Greece. Its goal is to keep up the visitors’ interest with the help of high-quality programs and events.
The Museum's collection is constantly being enlarged. Today, it consists of more than 10 000 historical artifacts, photographs, documents and archives. The exhibition includes a variety of materials related to everyday living and religious aspects of life, as well as the history of the Greek Jews.
The original exhibits of the collections are divided into various thematic categories. One of the largest is the exhibition of books, which includes Prayer books, Psalms, Torah, commentaries on sacred texts, cabbalistic books, as well as school textbooks and other teaching manuals, books on History and Ethnography, works of literature and poetry, calendars and albums created in the 16th century.
Another important and rich exhibition is the costumes’ collection. There are traditional dresses (18th — 20th centuries) and urban clothes (19th — 20th centuries): men's, women's and children's, as well as a wide range of accessories. There are also clothes for infants, for circumcision and for prayer services in the collection. A separate subcategory includes clothes that has traditionally been a part of the bride's dowry, such as hand-sewn underwear, shirts and nightgowns, dresses, home linens and textiles, such as sheets, towels, quilts, pillowcases, embroidery and lace things.
Military uniforms and memorabilia form a separate section of the exhibition, while the Holocaust collection shows the preserved uniforms of concentration camp prisoners and yellow cloth stars.
The Museum has collected a large number of synagogue textiles (Romaniot and Sephardic), which was intended either for rituals or for decoration, as well as several synagogue artifacts, such as menorot, tikkim, Rimonim, Torah scrolls, Torah indexes, tahshitim, and interior items of the synagogue of Patras.
Another category that is worth mentioning contains household items, including tableware, cutlery, bowls and bakeware, candlesticks, and other things, as well as household and worship items such as mezuzah, hannukiot, spice containers, Shabbat candlesticks, and oil lamps.
Many rare and important attributes of the people's life can be found among the manuscripts. These include circumcision certificates, antenatal contracts, personal diaries and correspondence, postcards, and 19th-century Ottoman decrees. The Museum also has a large number of documents, certificates, identity cards, passports, immigration and military documents, telegrams, exchange certificates and bonds. Many of them are the part of the Holocaust collection. The Museum also has paintings, drawings and engravings, original photographs and negatives, children's toys, various types of shoes, coins and banknotes, gift inscriptions and tombstones.
Among the Museum's collections, there are also archives of newspapers and scraps, archives of the Second World War with rare historical documents, a Bulgarian collection containing the items of jewelry, watches, lighters, personal belongings, valuables, documents and works of art.
Recently, a collection of art from the Jewish Museum of Greece was formed, which contains modern works of art by Greek Jewish and non-Jewish artists, many of which were exhibited in the Gallery of modern art. This collection was put together because the public wanted to learn alongside with the Jewish history and traditions the other aspects of its life and the achievements of Greek Jews in music, literature, or the visual arts.
The new building of the Museum offers visitors a rich exposition and has a convenient infrastructure for servicing visitors on a total area of 800 sq. m.
The Museum consists of a permanent exhibition, periodic exhibitions, a gallery of modern art, and a video room. There is also a zone for educational programs, a scientific library, a photo archive, a conservation laboratory and a gift shop.
To pay for tickets, in addition to cash, Visa, MasterCard and American Express Bank cards are accepted at the ticket office.
With rare exceptions, special exhibitions are free of charge when purchasing a regular ticket, and do not require a special ticket or booking in advance.
Free entrance days
The entrance to the Museum is free on the international Museum Day, May 18.
The Jewish Museum of Greece is located in the centre of Athens, at 39, Nikis street, close to the Acropolis and other attractions.
The renovated 19th-century building is easy to find, as Nikis street runs parallel to the very busy Filellinon street and Amalias Avenue, and at the same it is quite close to Syntagma metro station.
There are several ways to reach the Museum:
The Museum allows the use of cameras without flash.
Video filming is not allowed.
If you want to take active part in the work of the Museum, you have the opportunity to join the Association of friends and enjoy the special privileges that membership gives. Your contribution will allow the Jewish Museum of Greece to remain a worthy standard bearer of this great, unique diaspora;
You can enjoy Jewish food in Psiri, located very close to the Museum, where there is a kosher restaurant;
You are allowed to come here with bags and backpacks. Guests leave them in a small dressing room at the entrance. As for baby carriages, due to the size of the Museum, only umbrella-type strollers can be placed here;
You will have a place to park your car, as there are two car parks located a few blocks from the Museum;
If there are English-speaking people in your company, the Museum staff is ready to conduct a tour in English. To do this, contact them first by phone or email;
The building is not fully equipped for visitors with impaired mobility. Please contact the staff before your visit;
Usually, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Museum is visited by many guests. The exception is Friday: on this day, peak hours are from 10 a.m. to 12.
