The Museum of the City of Athens

The Museum of the City of Athens is on Klauthmonos Square. It's housed in two of the capital's oldest buildings. 

The Stamatios Dekozis-Vouros  mansion was home to Greece's first king, Otto, and his bride, Amalia, while a more spacious royal palace (now the Parliament) was being built. They lived here between 1836 and 1843.

 The second building, was built by Gerasimos Metaxas, the architect, in 1859

and is connected to the Old Palace via a covered bridge.

We were able to have a look at both houses which are kept as close to their former glory as possible. We also looked at a temporary exhibition on the top floor of the second building.

The dining room of the Metaxas building

the music room

the drawing room

figurines in a glass-fronted cupboard

another figurine

and candelabra

We then moved on to the Old Palace via the covered bridge

the breakfast room

the study

ornate clock and candelabra

the throne in the reception room

the games room

the music room

with the piano






another ornate clock on the landing

we took the stairs down

stopped to have a look at a copper engraving of the Tower of the Winds by Andrea Gasparini

On the ground floor we found a portrait of Lord Byron - the painter unknown. Lord Byron is a national hero in Greece due to the fact that he fought with the Greeks against the Turks during the War of Independence

Another portrait of Lord Byron by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake

The Temple of the Wingless Victory, Nikolas Cheimonas

The Black Duck, the Museum's bistrot, is a delightful place. The passageway between the two buildings is the entrance

It rained on and off on that day, so people were not sitting in the delightful garden, but we still had a look

do not be fooled by the atmosphere of neglect - this place is buzzing when the weather is good

We went in to have a look at the interior

but the place is so delightful that we decided to stay for a drink, which turned into lunch

lots of pictures and paintings

books





antiquities

and the best bit of all - the entrance to one of the buildings is part of the bistrot now - it's stunning. It got very busy later, but when we arrived it was almost empty 

so we were told we could sit at the large table at the end, which we did. The food was delicious

We had a last look at the décor on the way out

 aren't those hat lampshades wonderful?