Goulandris Natural History Museum, Natural history museum in Kifisia, Greece.
The Goulandris Natural History Museum is a natural history museum in the Athens suburb of Kifisia, housing collections of insects, mammals, birds, reptiles, shells, rocks, minerals, and fossils gathered from Greek territories. It is set in a neoclassical mansion and combines exhibition rooms with active research work.
The museum was founded in 1965 by Angelos and Niki Goulandris, who chose a neoclassical mansion built in 1875 as its home, converting a former private residence into a research and exhibition space. Over the following decades, it grew into one of the leading natural science institutions in Greece.
The museum takes its name from the Goulandris family, who founded it and continue to support it. The displays show animals, plants, and rocks from across Greece, giving visitors a direct encounter with the country's natural world.
The museum sits in Kifisia, which is well connected to central Athens by metro line 1. Opening hours differ on weekdays and weekends, so it is worth checking before you go.
The museum's herbarium holds more than 200,000 plant specimens, many of them collected through the institution's own field expeditions across Greece. Some of these plants were first described by the museum's own researchers, adding new species to the scientific record.
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