National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation 2

The Cultural Center of the National Bank of Greece in Thessaloniki (Πολιτιστικό Κέντρο του Μ.Ι.Ε.Τ. στη Θεσσαλονίκη) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( el, Κεντρική Μακεδονία, Kentrikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a populat ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It belongs to the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank.

History

The centre was established in 1989 in the restored Villa Mehmet Kapanci, which was built between 1890 and 1895, designed by Pietro Arrigoni for Mehmet Kapanci, a

Dönmeh The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The mo ...

of Thessaloniki. From 1938 to 1940 and from 1945 to 1972 the building was housed the state secondary school Fifth Boys’ Gymnasium. Eleftherios Venizelos also used the historic building when he was in Thessaloniki in 1916–17 during the

Movement of National Defence The Provisional Government of National Defence (), also known as the State of Thessaloniki (Κράτος της Θεσσαλονίκης), was a parallel administration, set up in the city of Thessaloniki by former Prime Minister Eleftherios Ven ...

and in later years it was a high school. The centre houses the collection of contemporary Greek art owned by the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank.

Description

The Cultural Centre is a department of the

National Bank of Greece The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. 85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...

, which was established in 1989 with the aim of contributing to the intellectual life of northern Greece. It mounts exhibitions, holds lectures, shows films, and liaises with other cultural institutions in Thessaloniki. It also mounts exhibitions on the history of Thessaloniki, Mount Athos and

northern Greece Northern Greece ( el, Βόρεια Ελλάδα, Voreia Ellada) is used to refer to the northern parts of Greece, and can have various definitions. Administrative regions of Greece Administrative term The term "Northern Greece" is widely used ...

in general, backed up by scholarly papers, publications, and experimental lessons in landscape painting for schools. It mounts frequent exhibitions of visual art, applied art, and architecture. The first half of 2000 saw an exhibition titled ''Likourgos Koyevinas: Drawings and Copperplate Engravings'', three exhibitions of photographs by Nick Wapplington (England), Ulf Lundin (Sweden), and Chistina Vazou (Greece) as part of the ''Photosynkyria'' festival, and an exhibition of autochrome photographs titled ''Thessaloniki 1913 and 1918: The First Colour Photographs of the Century''.

Gallery

File:Triumvirate.jpg, The "National Defence" government in front of the building File:Macedonian_Museums-69-Politistikou_Kentrou_ETE-301.jpg, View from outside File:Thessaloniki, Greece 2784990220.jpg, Side view File:Macedonian_Museums-69-Politistikou_Kentrou_ETE-302.jpg, Detail of the interior

References

Sources

External links

* Museums in Thessaloniki Art museums and galleries in Greece Bank museums Museums established in 1989 1989 establishments in Greece {{Greece-museum-stub