Three-day book celebration at the Benaki Museum

At the core of this year’s Celebration, as in previous years, the big bazaar of bookson its ground floor Piraeus 138where they will be available, from a long book list220 editions of the Museum with a discount of 50%-70%, while editions of the years 2022-2023 will be available with a discount of 10%-20%.

The thematic categories of the publications reflect the personality, interests and activities of the Benaki Museum and extend from Classical Greece, Byzantine culture, Folklore, Modern Greek Painting, Sculpture and European Art, to Photography, Architecture, Modern Greek history and Philology.

The Book Bazaar will operate on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April from 10.00 to 22.00while the Sunday will end at 18.00. At the same time, it will be possible to buy books online at bazaar.benaki.org, which will last several days (from Monday 22 to Sunday 28 April). Finally, in the bazaar area there will be a section with used books at extremely low prices.

Presentations of new editions

At the same time, as part of the 2nd Book Festival, presentations of the Museum’s recent (2023) editions will take place. Specifically, on Friday April 26 (18.30-20.00) the art historians Deborah Freeman Fahid and Rosanna Ballianthe professor of Byzantine Archaeology Plato Petridisthe Mina Moraitoucurator of the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, as well as Giorgis Magginisscientific director of the Benaki Museum, will discuss recent Benaki Museum publications related to the Islamic Collection (John Carswell, Mina Moraitou, Melanie Gibson, “Iznik Ceramics at the Benaki Museum“, Anna Ballian, ““Bacini” or immured plates in Greek Churches. Iznik, Italian and local ceramics, 16th – 17th century” and Deborah Freeman Fahid, “The chess to Islamic people. The Benaki Museum Collection“).

On Saturday, April 27 (19.00-20.30) o Dimitris Arvanitakishead of the Museum’s Publications Department and Professor of Architecture George Tzirtzilakis they discuss with the art history professor Evgenio Mathiopoulos for his bookBeyond temperance and pleasure: the love that creates the world. Two studies on Yannis Tsarouchis».

Free guided tours

Finally, on Friday, April 26 (6:30 p.m.) there will be a guided tour of the exhibition “Nikos Alexiou. The Collection” by its curators, Polyna Kosmadakicurator of modern and contemporary art, head of the Paintings, Prints and Drawings Department of the Benaki Museum, and Giorgos Tzirtzilakis and on Saturday April 27 (18.00) there will be a guided tour of the “Tehom” exhibition by the photographer herself Renée Revah and the curator of the exhibition Kostis Antoniadis, professor emeritus of PADA Photography. Admission to the guided tours is free, but registration is required at the Bazaar secretariat.

In addition, on Sunday April 28 (11.00-15.00) the educational program “Stop and play!” will be held, where children of all ages will explore the museum equipment “Greek folk games”, with free participation.

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Strengthening children’s libraries

During the Book Festival, visitors are invited to donate books for children and teenagers (literary, scientific, essays, art, etc.) from the publications of the Benaki Museum and from the second hand, in order to be made available for the strengthening of Libraries of the “Ploes” Adolescent Day Center – Mental Health Unit and the “Myrsini Zorba” Children’s Library / Network for the Rights of the Child. In return, the Benaki Museum will offer them an edition of a selected book catalog.