The Canadian Institute in Greece

05/06/2026

UPCOMING LECTURE & EXHIBITION: The Canadian Institute in Greece invites you to join us at 19:00 on June 11 for Dr. Henk Stam’s lecture, “Photographs from the Field” and the opening of a photo exhibition, “Unexpected Encounters: Roadside Shrines in Greece”.

The event will be held at the CIG’s ‘Nick Mirkopoulos Centre’, Orminiou 3A, Athens, 11528 Greece, accessible by metro stations Evangelismos and Megaro Mousikis.

Click the link for more info: https://www.cig-icg.gr/event/lecture-photo-exhibition-opening/

03/06/2026

To honour those who fought for Greece’s freedom, the Greek State established the History of War Museum in 1975, which today has several branches and Annexes throughout Greece.

The War Museum houses artifacts of war from the Paleolithic Period to the Korean War, exhibiting Minoan, Mycenaean, Persian, Japanese, and predominantly European weapons, including the garments and arms of Greek military service members and independence fighters.

More importantly, the museum displays the history behind these elegant guns and blades, showcasing the letters, sketches, photographs, and newspaper clippings containing the ideas and people for whom millions of lives were lost.

02/06/2026

Despite many of its buildings having been lost to time and to Sulla’s sacking of Athens in 86 BCE, the Lyceum—unearthed in 1996 during the construction of an art gallery—stands as a relic of its philosophical past.

Although it’s most known for housing Aristotle’s school of philosophy (funded with the help of Alexander the Great), it began as a sanctuary to Apollo Lyceus and contained a gymnasium, a palaestra (wrestling/athletic school), and an apodyterium (change room).

The Lyceum was a place of philosophical discussion for Protagoras, Socrates, and Prodicus. It and the nearby Ilissos river are the setting for Plato’s dialogues on friendship (“Lysis”) and ascensive manic love (“Phaedrus”).

The transfer of papyrus from the Lyceum to Rome and the Library of Alexandria has preserved the writings of Aristotle, which highly influenced medieval Islamic scholars, the Renaissance, and natural philosophy through his works on natural science, ethics, politics, and logic.

02/06/2026

At the reception

29/05/2026

Established in 1979 by art collectors Basil Goulandris and Elise Karadontis, the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation aims to promote the visual arts and operates two museums in Greece (Athens and Andros).

Our intern Nicole visited the Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, which features the works of Van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne, and Picasso, among many others.

The Athens museum construction was initially planned for a location in Kolonaki. However, these plans were scrapped following the discovery of Aristotle's famed Lyceum.

29/05/2026

27/05/2026

Constructed in 570 BC, destroyed in a 510 BC fire, and rebuilt between 500 and 490 BC, the Temple of Athena Aphaia on the island of Aegina stands in worship to the goddesses of the temple’s namesake.

Aphaia was a hunting and shipping goddess whose cult exclusively existed on Aegina. Aphaia was said to have vanished from the clutches of sailors and appeared on Aegina with the help of Artemis to escape King Minos.

The temple’s artifacts are primarily shared between the temple’s museum and Munich’s Glyptothek due to the influence of Bavarian King Ludwig I.

Notable artifacts held in Germany are statues from the temple’s pediments depicting the two Trojan wars, in which Telamon and his son Ajax—the descendants of Aegina—are featured.

#αρχαιολογία

25/05/2026

Beginning in 1878 as a small collection exhibited at the University of Athens, and officially opening in 1900, the National Gallery of Greece houses 20,000 works of art, showcasing the transformations in Greek and European art (and, currently, the Russian avant-garde) from medieval iconography to contemporary abstraction.

23/05/2026

Join us next Wednesday, May 27, from 19:00, for the Institute's 50th anniversary celebrations. The report of the director will be followed by the opening of the exhibition, "The Canadian Institute, 1976-2026".

For more information, click the following link: https://www.cig-icg.gr/event/annual-open-meeting/

The event will be live-streamed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGj4yoePU6I

Please note that in order to join us in person you must RSVP to [email protected]

20/05/2026

Restored for the 1896 Olympics, the Panathenaic Stadium stands as a marble preservation of 2500 years of Athenian identity and history.

In ancient times, Athenians celebrated Athena during the Panathenaia, which held footraces, boxing, chariot races, and the pentathlon in the stadium. Winners were awarded with jars of sacred olive oil—a reminder of Athena’s blessing of Athens with olive trees in her contest for the city against Poseidon.

Today, the stadium serves as a venue for tourism, sports competitions, and the finish line of Athens’ annual marathon road race, commemorating the legendary run from Marathon to Athens following the Athenian victory.