History Museum
The Athens University History Museum is housed in a historic building which dates back more than 400 years, and is situated beneath the imposing heights of the Acropolis with a panoramic view of Plaka, the Ancient Agora, the Athens Observatory and the Lycabbetus Hill. In the 19th century the building was the home of the renowned Greek architect Stamatios Kleanthis, and from 1837 and for four years, it served as the first home of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The Museum was inaugurated in May 1987 during the 150th anniversary celebrations of the NKUA. It is one of the few Museums dedicated to the history of a higher education institution internationally, and one of the rare examples where the Museum building is directly associated with the collections on display.
First Floor
The Museum’s permanent exhibition is deployed over the first and second floors of the building. The first room –that also acts as anteroom– presents the ideology of the University’s foundation. This room contains exhibits that represent landmarks of the institution’s many years of life, such as its Banner, the seals of the Schools and the first Student Register of the University.
A special section in the second room is dedicated to the the building’s long and signiicant history. Throughout its long life, the Museum's building had many uses: private home, high school, university, infantry barracks, refugee residencies, grocery, store, tavern, and, inally, museum. The results of research into historical records and archives, visitor participatory techniques were used in the exhibition planning. From 1870 to 1970, the building had served as immigrants’ residencies and tavern; this gave us the opportunity to invite the children of past tenants who had lived in the building between 1940 and 1970 to contribute with their own testimonies on its history
The rest of the rooms are dedicated to the Law School, the School of Medice and Dentistry.
Second Floor
The rooms of the second floor are dedicated to the Schools of Philosophy and Theology and to the School of Sciences.
View from the Museum's terrace
