The new exhibition, “1821: Before and After”, brings to life a formative century of modern Greek history, beginning before the 1770 Orlov Revolt and concluding in the 1870s. Presented across 2,500 square meters at the Benaki Museum’s Pireos Street annex, it features 1,200 exhibits arranged into three sections, including paintings, sculptures, personal items belonging to key revolutionaries, historic documents, and heirlooms.

The exhibition, unprecedented in its scale and scope, explores the fascinating process of Greek emancipation before and after the start of the Revolution in 1821, and the development of the newly independent Greek state. It has gathered together exhibits from a wide range of collections, including loans from important museums and private collections abroad. It will run from March to November 2021.

Until the exhibition can be opened to the public, as soon as the restriction measures for Covid-19 are lifted, a guided online preview, in Greek with English subtitles, is available here.

A video of the first presentation of the exhibition (in Greek), live streamed in December 2020, is available here. 

An accompanying 1,218-page catalog (in Greek) is also available to buy through the Benaki Museum website here.