What I can see

This building is of primary importance, not only for being an annex of the Byzantine and Christian Μuseum, but also because it is a museum of itself. The house of the architect Ernst Ziller was designed by him and is a work of late classicism. The design was based on the “purity-transparency-clarity” principles. It consists of a semi-basement, 2 floors and an attic that was added later. On the second floor, the lintels of the openings are supported by 8 caryatid busts, the facade has a tripartite layout, it does not have balconies and the overall building is governed by symmetry. Its interior is also of great architectural interest. Plaster frames, cement tiles of special value, wooden panelling, murals and ceiling paintings by the Slovenian Jurij Subic, decorative reliefs and strips, fireplaces, Ziller’s offices and workshop, wood carvings by Angeliki Hatzimichali, the Pompeian living room with many Renaissance elements, Sofia Doudou’s (Ziller’s wife) room, with the characteristic decoration and the SEZ monogram, are just some elements of the masterful decoration and the building’s long history. It was a pioneering building for the time, because it had natural ventilation through built-in air ducts. Today, in a total area of 1,000 sqm, it houses one of the largest collections of post-Byzantine Christian art with works of the Heptanese School, the Cretan School, wood carvings, manuscripts, works by artists of the 20^th century with similar influences, such as Kontoglou and Pelekasis and various other objects.

What I can't see

The building’s recent restoration respected its original form, without, however, detracting from its subsequent evolution. It is the only house of a well-known architect of the 19th century that survives to this day. On the side of Akadimias Street, the present-day apartment buildings did not exist, thus Ziller had direct visual contact with the buildings of the Athenian Trilogy, overseeing their construction from home. In modern terms, he implemented remote work back then. Sofia Doudou was the first classical piano teacher in Greece and her piano is in the Pompeian living room, where she gave lessons. Then, the building was bought by Dionysios Loverdos and a few years later, he turned it into a Byzantine Museum. The changes in the Loverdos house, as well as the subsequent conversion into a museum, were designed by the architect Aristotelis Zachos, who applied 18 representations of traditional mansions from all over Greece and we can admire the living room from Metsovo as the greatest surviving example of them. He also designed the luxurious church and the entrance of Akadimias Street with its rich decoration. The architects of the early 19th century tried to connect their works with the roots of classical Greece. Zachos, who represented a newer age and trend, turned to the newer folk tradition and was involved in interior design and furniture. Before the recent renovation, the building had fallen in disrepair. It had been looted, worn out, burned (fire marks have been preserved on the walls, as part of its history) and even satanic ceremonies had taken place. For a long period, it had also operated as a dressing room for the Greek National Opera.

Info

• Address: 6 Mavromichali St.

Bibliography