Jewish neighborhoods of Greece
Currently the Jewish Museum of Greece is hosting the temporary exhibition "Jewish neighborhoods of Greece". This exhibition aims to explore many aspects of life within these neighborhoods. People from all over Greece speak for themselves about the neighbourhood they lived in as children or young adults, before the war and after its end. They talk about their homes, their lives, entertainment and gatherings, holidays, games, stories, characters, family and friends, their relationships with neighbors, recollections, changes brought on by the war, and several other things they wished to share.
The exhibition material includes photographs, texts and living testimonies recorded on camera. The twelve communities, on which neighborhood stories and visuals were collected, are presented by alphabetic order. Besides the printed presentation, the exhibition includes a screen, where visitors can watch the people themselves tell their stories. Perhaps that will make them think of their own neighbourhoods...
After years of efforts, the Museum acquired its legal status in 1989, as a non-profit foundation with a seven-member Board of Directors. In the following years the Museum's activities expanded; they involved both the research and study of the Greek Jews - in collaboration with other foundations and researchers from Greece and abroad - and publishing. At the same time, its collection was being continuously enriched with new acquisitions from all over Greece, greatly exceeding all expectations. The increasing needs of the Museum for more space, together with the dream of sometime having its own premises, led to the purchase of a 19th century neoclassical building, with the support of its Friends in Greece and abroad, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece.
With substantial financial support from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Associations of its Friends, the old building was renovated and, in late 1997, twenty years after it first opened its doors to the public, the Museum moved to 39 Nikis Street, its new address in the center of Athens. It is open Monday - Friday: 9.00 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. and Sundays: 10.00 a.m. - 2.00 p.m. The admission fees are: 5 euros for adults and 3 euros for students. For further information please call 210 32 25 582 or visit the museum's website.