Benaki Museum of Toys: Sunday excursion for young and old

On the occasion of the start of this school year, a special event was held on Sunday, September 15 at the Benaki Toy Museum in Paleo Faliro. Over 140 members of the journalistic family answered the Sunday call of the Museum and the Supper Loft to the toy tower. The visitors, young and old, toured the Museum premises and children aged 5-12 participated in an educational activity and got to know the building and its collections better.

The event was a great success, bringing families together and highlighting the importance of cultural heritage through play and creativity.

In the cool garden with the canteen van and on the terrace of the first floor with the unobstructed view of Faliric Bay, the @Деипнософистирион he had prepared homemade lemonade, refreshing cocktails for the adults, “finger food”, sweets and ice cream for the children. These atmospheric and tasteful spaces are available for organizing events.
For more information about the upcoming events of the Benaki Toy Museum, as well as the possibility of renting its premises, you can contact the Banquet Catering, with which the Museum cooperates exclusively, or the Events Department of the Benaki Museum: 210 3671026, [email protected]

A few words about the Museum

The Benaki Toy Museum was created with the core collection of Maria Argyriadis, one of the best in Europe. Dedicated to childhood, it aims to study, display and present all expressions and aspects of the “child and play” theme, while at the same time narrating in an inventive way the daily life of children from the 17th century to the present day.

The Greek collection section includes baby and children’s objects and other objects from ancient to modern times, such as traditional handmade toys and objects of the 18th-20th centuries, folk festive and urban commercial toys of the 20th century, board games, as well and group street games and children’s customs.

The section of the European collection includes toys for boys and girls, urban and folk, dating from the 18th to the 20th century. and come mainly from England, France and Germany, as well as European dolls of the 19th and 20th centuries. with costumes from different regions of Greece.

Archival material, photographs, letter cards, information on Greek toy manufacturers, 3,000 children’s literature and educational or general informational books complete the collection and compose a reference collection for anyone interested.

On the occasion of the celebration of International Museum Day in May 2024, a new exhibition space was opened to the public. In one of the two towers of the first floor, which stands out for its painted interior, four dollhouses were presented for the first time. The prominent 1885 dollhouse from Belgium was placed in the center of the tower and arranged around it were an English dollhouse from the early 20th century, a broad-fronted dollhouse from 1920s Switzerland, when Art Deco met Bauhaus, and an English dollhouse from 1940s influenced by interwar modernism. The dollhouses, in addition to the tapestries and period furniture, were enriched with furniture and dolls from the collection of the Benaki Toy Museum.

A few words about the building

The Benaki Toy Museum is housed in an eclectic building built between 1897 and 1900. Its architectural morphology mainly contains elements of the Gothic style with references to the European Middle Ages, but also elements of Baroque and Art Nouveau in the interior ceilings and murals. It was donated to the Benaki Museum in 1976 by Vera Koulouras in accordance with the wishes of her husband Athanasios Koulouras.

The exclusive partner of the Benaki Museum is the Deipnosophistiorion Catering

Dining room Catering

Matsa 17, 145 64 Kifissia
T: 210 6206155
E: [email protected]
www.dipnosofistirion.gr

Benaki Museum of Toys

14 Posidonos Ave. & 1 Tritonos Ave., 175 61 P. Faliro
Benaki.org

Museum opening hours:

Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: closed