European Heritage Days (EHD) is a major cultural event co-organized by the European Union and the Council of Europe since 1985.
The initiative was based on the original idea launched in France in 1984 with “La Journée Portes Ouvertes” (Open Doors Day), supported by the French Ministry of Culture. In 1985, at the 2nd European Conference of Ministers for Architectural Heritage in Granada, Spain, the French Minister of Culture proposed that this initiative be internationalized under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The European Commission has been involved since 1999, while the first countries to participate were the Netherlands (1987), Sweden, and Ireland (1989), followed by others. Greece has been participating in the celebration since 1996, with the Ministry of Culture as the national coordinator, which organizes events and opens monuments to the public.
As a platform that promotes the preservation and enjoyment of common European cultural heritage through accessibility and public awareness, European Heritage Days aim to raise public awareness of the richness and diversity of European cultural heritage, informing them about the need to protect it, as well as promoting tolerance and combating racism and xenophobia in Europe.
This fall, from September 26 to 28, Greece will once again participate in an “opening” of museums and venues to the public, following the central theme of this year’s event, entitled “Architectural Heritage – Bridging the Past with the Future.”
The Acropolis Museum
As part of this year’s European Heritage Days celebrations, the Acropolis Museum is participating on Sunday, September 28, 2025, with the program “The Erechtheion and the Acropolis Museum: an unusual ancient temple in a modern building.” This is a tribute to the unique monument of the Acropolis, the Erechtheion, in dialogue with the modern building, the Museum, highlighting hidden analogies. On the same day, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., admission to the exhibition areas of the Acropolis Museum will be free for visitors.
The Erechtheion stands north of the Sacred Rock and is distinguished, among other things, for its inventive architecture, through which it managed to combine cults, host mythical sacred sites, and accommodate local traditions of the Athenian past. The Acropolis Museum has followed a similar path in our time, an iconic public building constructed to protect, house, and showcase the masterpieces of the Acropolis and the ancient neighborhood that was uncovered on the site. With a contemporary architectural design that was imposed in this case by the circumstances, it highlights the timelessness of history, reflecting ancient routes and topographies of the Sacred Rock, bringing the ancient gods and people closer to the modern visitor.
Information:
Day: Sunday 28 September 2025
Times: 10.00 (English) & 13.00 (Greek)
Duration: 70 minutes
Participation: Up to 30 visitors per program. Registration is available via online booking at events.theacropolismuseum.gr (registration opens Friday, September 19).
Cost of attendance: To secure your participation in the presentation, you must purchase a day ticket by showing your reservation code at the ticket office up to 20 minutes before the start of the program.
National Historical Museum
The National Historical Museum will celebrate European Heritage Days 2025 on Saturday, September 27, with free admission and free guided tours by curators of its collections in the permanent and temporary exhibition “From the Great to Modern Greece (Part B): The Refugees.”
At the Lazaros Kountouriotis Historic House, an annex of the Museum in Hydra, free guided tours will be offered in Greek and English of the temporary exhibition “Advertising Greece. The Beginnings of Greek Tourism.”
The schedule for guided tours in Athens is as follows:
- 11:00 – Permanent exhibition focusing on the architectural history of the building (Philippos Mazarakis-Ainian)
- 12:00 p.m. – The temporary exhibition “From the Great to … Modern Greece (Part II): The Refugees” (Niki Markasioti)
- 12:00 p.m. – The permanent exhibition of the NHM with an emphasis on art (Anastasia Kouli)
- 13:00 – The permanent exhibition of the NHM, focusing on the parliamentary history of the building (Nikoleta Zygouri)
To participate in the guided tours, it is necessary to make a reservation by phone with each curator from Tuesday to Friday between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Tel: 210-3237617 / 210-3237315, intern. 115 (Mazarakis-Ainian,) 215 (Kouli), 205 (Markasioti), 220 (Zygouri)
National Gallery-Alexander Soutsos Museum
The National Gallery – Alexander Soutsos Museum presents its architectural heritage through the building that houses it. In the central building, on the mezzanine floor, a three-dimensional printed model will be exhibited, depicting the spatial and temporal additions that shaped its course.
From May 2021, the National Gallery will once again welcome the public to its newly renovated building, an iconic example of Greek modernism that has been upgraded to a contemporary cultural landmark in Athens. The listed shell has been expanded and modernized, doubling its space to support a dynamic museum project.
The presentation of the model will be accompanied by a Digital Corner, with photographic material and information on the construction, history, and architectural phases of the building, offering visitors a journey through time and its evolution.
As part of the event, an educational program entitled “In Three Dimensions” will also be implemented. Two architecture workshops for children aged 6–12 invite young visitors to explore the three-dimensional model and create their own models and developments, learning about scale and urban planning and understanding the connections between architecture and museum design.
Educational Program “In three dimensions”
Days & times:
– Saturday 27/09/2025, 12:00 – kids, 06-08 y.o
– Sunday 28/09/2025, 12:00 –kids, 08-12 y.o
Duration : 90 minutes| Admission Free | Parent must accompany child
Venue: National Gallery – Main Building (Mezzannine & permanent exhibition)
Design & implementation: Irini – Daphne Sapka, Technical Advisor, and Christina Botsou, Museum Educator
Participants: 25 kids per lab
Reservations: edu.episkepseis@
Museum educational activities for the whole family, guided tours, discussions, and art workshops for adults at OPANDA museums and cultural venues.
Athens Municipal Gallery (Leonidou & Mylleou, Metaxourgeio)
Saturday, September 27 & Sunday, September 28, 2025
11:30 a.m. | Painting Athens from above!
Museum education activity for families with children aged 6 to 12.
Children and parents observe the urban landscape of Metaxourgeio and learn about the history of Athens through the works of architect Ernst Ziller. From the balcony of the Gallery, they draw the Metaxourgeio neighborhood and learn stories about the building itself, which was designed by Danish architect Christian Hansen. The urban landscape of the area is transformed through the artistic lens of the young painters.
*To participate in the event, you must reserve a place by calling 210 5202420, Monday to Friday, 10:00-14:00.
Digital Museum of Plato’s Academy (Monastiriou & Kreontos 1, Plato’s Academy)
Saturday, September 27, 2025
10:00 a.m. | “Plato’s Academy at the Digital Museum of Plato’s Academy: The permanent dialogues with the ephemeral in the urban landscape”
Presentation and discussion on the construction of the Museum and a tour of its exhibits.
Duration: 60 minutes
Since its construction, the Digital Museum building has been an ephemeral space accessible to all, functioning as an experiential space for the coexistence and promotion of Plato’s ideas. A powerful symbiotic relationship between the past and the future.
*Reservations are required to participate in the activity
at tel.: 210 5142138, Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Melina Cultural Center (66A Herakleidon & Thessalonikis, Thissio)
Saturday, September 27, 2025
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | “We open our doors and windows to culture”
Educational activity for families with children aged 6 to 12.
The theme of the 2025 European Heritage Days is architectural heritage. How about “opening our doors and windows” to Greek culture? How important is architectural design for the doors and windows of public and private buildings in Greece from prehistoric times to the present day? What similarities and differences are there between the doors and windows of traditional houses on the islands and mainland Greece?
Get ready to celebrate by playing educational games and creating our own “gateway” to culture!
*To participate in the activity, you must reserve a place
by calling 210 3414466, Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Angeliki Hatzimichali Museum of Folk Art and Tradition of the Municipality of Athens (6 Angeliki Hatzimichali Street, Plaka)
Sunday, September 28, 2025
11:30 a.m. | Guided tour of the building that houses the Museum, with reference to its unique eclectic architecture, which combines elements from antiquity, post-Byzantine and folk art.
In the second part of the tour, given the official designation of the mansion as a work of art and a historic monument, we will learn about its transformation from a residence to a museum, with the components that determine its new function and are related, on a material level, to its form and the folk art objects it houses, and on an intangible level, to the preservation of the memory and work of Angeliki Hatzimichali.
12:30 p.m. | Workshop for adults as part of the exhibition “Sunflowers in Darkness and Light” (YARN BOMBING—weaving sunflowers) and more… because, inspired by the unique architectural form of the Hatzimichalis mansion, we design, sew, weave, and decorate a small fabric house.
*To participate in the activity, reservations are required
by calling 210 3243987 and 210 3243972, Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Historical Museum of Crete
On Saturday, September 27, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., the Educational Programs Department of the Historical Museum of Crete is organizing a walk in the center of Heraklion, focusing on buildings and ruins of the city that we may overlook in our daily lives. Through their architectural features, we will attempt to reveal different aspects of the city’s history. The meeting point with the public is the statue of E. Venizelos, and the walk will end at the building of the Historical Museum of Crete.
More Information: 2810-283219 (εσ. 101) | www.historical-museum.gr
Epigraphic Museum
Entitled “Architectural Heritage – Bridging the Past with the Future,” the European Heritage Days will be celebrated in 2025 under the coordination of the Directorate of Archaeological Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programs of the Ministry of Culture.
The Epigraphic Museum is participating in the celebration by organizing the following activities on Saturday, September 27, 2025:
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Special themed tour on “Buildings and Public Works of Antiquity.” Archaeologists from the Epigraphic Museum will present selected exhibits related to buildings and public works of antiquity to the public.
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Inscription engraving workshop by the artists of the Epigraphic Museum.
To attend the guided tours, you must register by Monday, September 15, by calling 210 8232950 (ext. 203, 205)
(Monday – Friday 09:00 – 13:00).
BOULOUKI celebrates European Cultural Heritage Days 2025
Exhibition Opening | “Burning the bones of the earth. Stories of limestone quarries on both sides of the Greek-Albanian border”
📍 Historical Customs House, Plaka Bridge, Tzoumerka
📅 Saturday 27 September 2025, at 11:00
The Regional Union of Municipalities and the Boulouki team invite you to the opening of the exhibition “Burning the bones of the earth” on Saturday, September 27, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the historic Customs House next to the Plaka Bridge in Tzoumerka, Epirus. This will be followed by a guided tour of the historic Plaka Bridge and the Kalderimi, the old path leading to the bridge, which was restored by the team in 2019.
The exhibition presents the results of three years of research by the team on the traditional technology of lime kilns, the ephemeral lime kilns that were basic dry stone structures in the mountainous areas of Epirus and Southern Albania, and functioned as combustion domes for the production of lime. Nowadays, they can only be identified by their imprint on the landscape and a few material traces, while elsewhere the perimeter structures supporting the dome have been preserved. The last unit survives in a village outside Korçë, still producing traditional lime by burning wood.
Participation in the event | “Traditional architecture as cultural heritage and a tool for a sustainable future”
📍 Museum of Modern Greek Culture, Monastiraki
📅 Friday 26 September 2025, at 15:00
The Museum of Modern Greek Culture, as part of the celebration of European Cultural Heritage Days 2025, is organizing the above event in collaboration with the Living Cultural Heritage Network. Representatives from both organizations will present their unique approaches and interpretations regarding the importance of sustainability in traditional architectural constructions. Boulouki will participate in the discussion by presenting the theme “The use of traditional building techniques in the search for strategies for sustainability and landscape protection.”
The event will conclude with a dialogue with the audience, offering an opportunity for active participation, exchange of experiences, and expression of concerns. More Information: www.mnep.gr and www.livingheritage.net.gr
Archaeological Museum of Heraklion
The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, as part of the celebration of European Cultural Heritage Days 2025 with the central theme “Architectural Heritage. Bridging the Past with the Future,” is organizing a one-day conference on the theme: “Interwar Architectural Trends in Greece” on September 27, 18:00-21:00, with Panagiotis Tournikiotis, professor emeritus at the National Technical University of Athens, and Odysseas Sgouros, architect at the National Technical University of Athens, as guests.
The interwar period will be presented, which saw an explosion of modernity in architecture and the arts, a dominance of the modern spirit and avant-garde, of which the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion by Patroklos Karantinos is a shining example. The radical approach to the new was based on a rejection of classical tradition and the historical models of the 19th century, without this being a total rejection of history. The “modernists” turned their gaze from classical antiquity to the prehistoric and archaic periods, combining them with the folk traditions that were alive in the Mediterranean at the time.
As for the building of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum itself, the synthetic program and abstract functional language of a unique public shell-museum in Heraklion, Crete, which would preserve and showcase the artefacts of the Minoan world, was undoubtedly an emblematic building of the interwar period in Greece, but also one of the most distinctive and influential examples of poetic rationalism in the international environment.
PROGRAM
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Presentation – Guided tour by Odysseas Sgouros, architect at the National Technical University of Athens, “The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion by architect Patroklos Karantinos – The perfection of modernity”
19.15 – 21.00 | Lecture by Panagiotis Tournikiotis, professor emeritus at the National Technical University of Athens, “Greek Modern Architecture. Avant-garde between antiquity and tradition”
Municipal Art Gallery of Karditsa
The Municipal Art Gallery of Karditsa chose to host a two-day event entitled “Sounds Meet Images” in its distinctive, yet much-suffering building (26 and 27 September 2025). Sounds Meet Images at the Municipal Art Gallery of Karditsa (September 26 and 27, 2025). To this end, it secured the collaboration of various musical groups. Choral ensembles, chamber music, traditional and folk music. A variety of sounds will meet, influence, and be influenced by the visual stimuli of the artworks on display at the Municipal Art Gallery, the photographs of Giorgos Katsangelos entitled: Women of the World and the permanent exhibition of the Gallery with works by older generation artists from Karditsa. A multitude of emotions for the friends of the Gallery, music and art in general who choose to visit the Gallery during these two days. At the same time, the choice of these events is also a statement on the part of the Gallery about its great desire to host musical events in the future. This is an experiment that it does not wish to remain inactive.
So, the afternoon of Friday, September 26, 2025, is dedicated to choral and instrumental music, with the following participants:
- Karditsa Music School Choir
(conductor: Michalis Zachartzis - Organic Chamber Music Ensemble “Parenthesis” (featuring musicians:
piano: Vasilis Kolovoscello: Haroula Safaridouble bass: Michalis Zachartzis
harmonica: Akis Kotrotsios)
- Parenthesis Chamber Choir
(conductors: Eleni Pritsa & Michalis Zachartzispiano: Peggy Kotouza & Giota Karagianni)
On Saturday, September 27, 2025, traditional and folk music will be performed by the following musicians:
vocals: Panos Barkalis
piano & harmonium: Angelos Palapelas
bouzouki: Makis Kalpias
guitar: Stefanos Gatsapostolis
clarinet: Argyris Tsakiris
Start time of events: 8:30 p.m.
piano: Zoe Athanasiou
Hestia Neas Smyrnis
On Saturday, September 27, the doors of the historic ESTIA building will open to the public, inviting visitors of all ages to learn about the history, architecture, and social role of a building that is symbolic for Nea Smyrni and the refugees from Asia Minor.
- The day will begin with a themed tour of the historic HESTIA site (10:00–12:00), where visitors will have the opportunity to see the architectural features of the HESTIA building up close, the phases of its construction and development, and hear stories that link it inextricably to the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the lives of refugees, and the formation of the Neosmyrniot identity. The tour will include references to the architects, engineers, decorators, and construction materials, the morphology of the building, and its history as a cultural institution.
- At the same time, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., visitors will be able to tour a specially designed exhibition dedicated to the history and architecture of HESTIA Nea Smyrni. Rare photographic material, architectural drawings, archival documents, posters, and evidence of the organization’s cultural activities will present a comprehensive picture of its presence over time. The exhibition will also include video and image projections documenting the foundation, construction, renovation, and ongoing operation of the building.
- A special place in the program is reserved for the photography exhibition, which presents a contemporary visual approach to the architecture of the HESTIA building through the lens of the participants in the photography training program, Mr. Theodoros Papadopoulos and Mr. Dimitris Triantos, with Ms. Athanasia Panagea as their instructor. With respect for the building’s history and an emphasis on the details that make it unique, the photographs attempt to highlight its architectural identity, inviting the public to reconnect with the ESTIA space as a living cultural organism.
FREE ADMISSION!
– The exhibition is curated by HESTIA museologist Ms. Georgia Sivri.
General Information retrieved from the sources:
https://youth.europa.eu/articles/european-heritage-days_el
https://www.culture.gov.gr/el/Information/SitePages/view.aspx?nID=5109
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