A new home for modern Greek art in city of Florina
The Florina Museum of Modern Art has finally found a home after some 30 years of wandering from one venue to the next in the northern Greek city. The listed neoclassical Exarchos Mansion, which dates back to the early 20th century, now holds the museum’s permanent collection of over 500 paintings and sculptures by Greek artists. The collection was started in 1997 by a group of local art aficionados with an eye to giving their city a museum of modern art. Pavlos Tetsis, Dimitris Mytaras and Nikos Hadzikyriakos-Ghika were the first artists to show their work at the then newly established museum, thus offering their support of the group’s initiative. The museum has since become enriched by additions from numerous significant painters and sculptors. The listed building has an area of 450 square meters and was recently renovated by the Prefecture of Florina. It will host the museum’s permanent collection, as well as a library, temporary exhibitions, lectures and other events. The first exhibition to be held at the new premises this summer is dedicated to Hadzikyriakos-Ghika and will comprise some 40 engravings by the celebrated artist that belong to the museum, as well as other works on loan from the National Gallery in Athens. «The new premises, along with the operation of the Florina Artists’ Gallery and the operation of the new department of applied and visual arts at the University of Florina comprise a comprehensive platform for modern art in the region,» said the museum’s president, Andreas Tsokas.
