The Vorres Museum is a cultural foundation that was established in 1983 by the late art collector and renowned businessman Ian Vorres, with the purpose of promoting Greek art and culture, through a broad spectrum of activities, from the organization of exhibitions in Greece and abroad, to educational programs for children.
The late Ian Vorres.
The museum which sprawls over six acres, is divided into two main sections: the museum of contemporary Greek art and the folk art museum, both of which house collections that cover at least 2,500 years of Greek history. The whole complex is laid out in a way that showcases the Greek spirit in a unique fashion.
In the contemporary part, one of the most important and representative collections of its kind in the world is exhibited, comprising paintings, installations and sculptures by leading Greek artists, displaying a Greek interpretation of most of the international artistic currents of the second half of the 20th c.
The Vorres Museum and the Spyropoulos Museum have joined forces to create a home for the unique Jannis Spyropoulos Foundation collection, which includes more than 250 works by the painter and constitutes a comprehensive record of Spyropoulos' painting career. Since October 2016 a J. Spyropoulos Wing has been created in the gallery of the Vorres Museum, where exhibitions dedicated to the work of the great Greek painter are presented on a permanent basis.
The Jannis Spyropoulos wing of the Vorres Museum.
The folk art section, is an extraordinary complex of 19th c. buildings, courtyards and gardens or rather a re-adaptation and readjustment of traditional Greek architectural features housing antiquities, icons, ceramics, popular artifacts and objects used in daily Greek life centuries ago, in a manner, revealing their inherent beauty and their practical use. The gardens, wild and consisting almost entirely of Mediterranean flora are an indispensable part of the museum being described by many as the most beautiful gardens in Athens.
Photo of the folk art section of the Vorres Museum.