Loverdos Museum: A remarkable collection of religious art

Captivating the eye from the very first moment, the façade of the elegant neoclassical building, with its eight relief caryatids framing its windows, cannot even begin to prepare the visitor for the sophisticated luxury inside: marble floors and columns, murals and painted ceilings (by the Slovenian Juri Subic, painter of the Iliou Melathron), fireplaces and carved wooden staircases make up the decoration of a building akin to a work of art, created by the almost coincidental meeting of two great personalities.

Designed by Ernst Ziller, it was erected between 1882 and 1885 and belonged to the architect himself, who used it as a workshop and residence for his family until 1912, when he was compelled to sell it due to financial difficulties.

The new owner, the banker and art collector Dionysios Loverdos, with the assistance of architect Aristotelis Zachos, undertook ambitious reconstructions and additions characterised by a strong Byzantine influence, including an impressive chapel in the mansion’s garden. His purpose was to turn it into a museum, in order to house his private collection, one of the most important collections of post-Byzantine religious art in Greece, which he had, in the meantime, donated to the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens.

Having since suffered severe damage from earthquakes, vandalism and a fire, the building required extensive restoration work. Some 42 years after his death, Loverdos’ vision finally came to life, as the museum opened its doors to the public in May 2021.

Safe and secure now, in a space that perfectly suits its purposes, the collection features more than 600 exhibits, among them icons by the Cretan and Ionian Schools, screens, wooden sculptures, manuscripts, miniatures and four complete carved wooden iconostaseis from the 18th century.