1821 Before & After. Greeks & Greece, Revolution & State.

The Benaki Museum, in cooperation with the Bank of Greece, the National Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank, organises a major anniversary exhibition for the bicentenary of the 1821 Greek Revolution.

This publication is the catalogue of the anniversary exhibition “1821 Before and After” (Benaki Museum / Piraeus138, March – November 2021) and it is published in Greek and English.

It makes reference to one of the most important exhibitions organized and the largest ever presented by the Benaki Museum on newer Hellenism. More than 1,200 objects of the exhibition and 1,218 pages of the catalogue, present one hundred years of history of modern Hellenism, from 1770 to 1870. This is the centenary that begins with the moral and economic preparation for the liberation of the Greeks, culminating with the Revolution of 1821 and ending with the first decades of the operation and development of the Greek State.

Through rare works of art and unique items from each era, the three sections of the exhibition and the corresponding chapters of the catalogue, compose a fascinating journey of history and art, the tracks of which, explain why this prosperous century continues to touch us so intensely, even in the twenty-first century.

The colossal catalogue 1821 Before and After: Greeks and Greece, Revolution and State is one of the most important publications of recent years for modern Greece.

Luxurious items and traces of everyday life of the pre-revolutionary period, war relics of the years of the Revolution, but also written testimonials of all kinds of Greek government, along with works of urban and folk art of the first decades of the new State, combine with works of art of the 19th, 20th and the 21st century, which attest to the echo and intake of the Revolution.

Along with the works of the co-organizing banks, organizations and private collectors, are also presented, the substantial collections assembled by Antonis Benakis at the Museum that he offered to the Greek nation. All these works create an amalgam with deep content, which reflects the endearing past of the modern Greeks and highlights the reasons of our existence, our endurance and our path: the positive elements that built modern Hellenism.