The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) ( (ΚΠΙΣΝ)) is a cultural center complex in the municipality of

Kallithea Kallithea (Greek language, Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a suburb in Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration and a municipality in South Athens (regional unit), south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth larges ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece. It includes new facilities for the

National Library of Greece The National Library of Greece () is the main public library of Greece, located in Athens. Founded by Ioannis Kapodistrias in 1832, its mission is to locate, collect, organize, describe and preserve the perpetual evidence of Greek culture and its ...

(NLG) and the

Greek National Opera The Greek National Opera (, ''Ethniki Lyriki Skini'') is the country's state lyric opera company, located in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center at the south suburb of Athens, Kallithea. It is a public corporation under the supervisio ...

(GNO), as well as the Stavros Niarchos Park. The center was designed by architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...

and its construction was funded by the

Stavros Niarchos Foundation The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is a private, international philanthropic organization, making grants to nonprofit organizations globally in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. It was established ...

. The $861 million project was completed in 2016, and was donated to the Greek state in 2017.

Project

Plans for a big scale donation by the

started in 1998. Initially the foundation planned to make separate donations to the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

and the National Opera. In 2006 it was decided to build one complex for both organizations and after discussions with the Greek state the area of the former

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

(Hippodrome) track was chosen. In 2008 the foundation chose Italian architect

to design the complex and in 2012 construction works started.

Building

envisaged the SNFCC rising out of the ground like a dislodged piece of the Earth's crust. As a result, an artificial hill is constructed and the roof of both the library and the opera house is emerging from it maintaining the slope. The library is lower and the ‘hill’ concludes with the opera house. The roof of the library will be covered with ground material and planted with indigenous Greek plants. On top of the opera house there will be a canopy supported on thin steel columns. According to Piano, "the canopy represents a cloud hovering over the highest point of the hill". The roof of the building is covered with a 100x100 meter photovoltaic field, generating around 3 GWh per year. The roof is suspended with

damper A damper is a device that deadens, restrains, or depresses. It may refer to: Music * Damper pedal, a device that mutes musical tones, particularly in stringed instruments * A mute for various brass instruments Structure * Damper (flow), a mech ...

s to increase its resilience during hurricanes. The design for the National Opera includes a 1,400-seat opera auditorium and a 400-seat

black box theatre A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

. The SNFCC was nominated for the international prize for architecture, RIBA International Prize 2018, awarded by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

. It is the only Greek nominee among 62 buildings in 30 countries.

Governance

The SNFCC's board of directors is elected and its members are appointed by the Greek State. It consists of the Chairman, the Managing Director, the Mayor of Kallithea who is ex officio member and three more members two of which are appointed based on the recommendation by the Greek National Opera and the National Library of Greece. In 2025 the SNFCC announced the formation of an Advisory Council. Chairmans * Giorgos Kimoulis (2017) * Nikos Manolopoulos (2017-2018) * Lydia Koniordou (2019) * Elly Andriopoulou (2020-2022) * Stathis Kalyvas (2023-present) Managing Directors * Nikos Manolopoulos (2017-2020) * Elly Andriopoulou (2020-present)

Other information

During his visit to

Athens, Greece Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

(November 15–16, 2016), the former US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

gave a speech at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), covering the impact of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. Plans for the

Athens Metro The Athens Metro () is a rapid transit system serving the Athens urban area in Greece. Line 1 opened as a single-track conventional steam railway in 1869 and was electrified in 1904. Beginning in 1991, Elliniko Metro S.A. constructed and ext ...

to reach Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) were announced in 2021.

References

*Leonidas Kourmadas (7 February 2014)
"Athens building its modern-day Acropolis"
gbtimes.com. Retrieved 17 June 2014 * Γιώργος Λάλιος (10 June 2014)
"Στο μεγαλύτερο έργο της Αθήνας"
''Καθημερινή''. Retrieved 17 June 2014

External links

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center official website
{{Coord, 37, 56, 23, N, 23, 41, 30, E, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Athens Culture in Athens Opera houses in Greece National Library of Greece Buildings and structures completed in 2016 Modernist architecture in Greece 2016 establishments in Greece