SNF Gives €3 Million Grant For Completion Of National Museum of Contemporary Art In Athens

Photo: fixit-emst.blogspot.gr

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation has awarded a three million euros grant to the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) for the immediate completion of the substantial reconstruction works at the Museum’s building, the former Fix Brewery in Athens.

Photo © fixit-emst.blogspot.gr

According to an announcement, the grant supports the update and implementation of the museological study and the purchase and installation of the necessary general and specialized equipment. It also covers the presentation costs of the Museum’s permanent collection, which include the configuration of the exhibition space and the transportation and installation of the artworks.

The EMST is the only state-run museum of contemporary Greek and international art in Athens.

The Foundation’s grant gives the EMST the opportunity, for the very first time, to fully fulfill its mission and take on its central role as the foremost contemporary art venue in Greece, encouraging, at the same time, the creation of an incubator for new ideas in the field of contemporary art.

Cultural district in Athens

Photo © fixit-emst.blogspot.gr

The grant also means the immediate addition of yet another important architectural space to the city’s urban landscape, and the development of an important cultural district, which begins from the Acropolis, continues with the EMST and the Onassis Cultural Center, and ends at the under construction Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, the announcement read.

With the completion of the reconstruction works on the Museum’s building, Athens will gain one of the most state-of-the-art and best equipped museum venues in Greece, where both the Greek public and the country’s visitors from abroad will have the opportunity to discover the history and international dimension of contemporary Greek art.

Last year, some 15,000 people visited the EMST’s exhibitions at its temporary premises. The operation of the new building is expected to boost the Museum’s popularity even further, due to its larger exhibition spaces and the additional complementary activities it will now be in a position to organize.