Kontoglou house, Biographical museum in Athens, Greece

Kontoglou house is a biographical museum in Athens displaying the work and possessions of the 20th-century Greek painter and writer Fotis Kontoglou. The collection includes his paintings, handwritten manuscripts, and personal objects that document his artistic life and creative practice.

Fotis Kontoglou lived here until his death in 1965, creating a life's work that merged Byzantine painting techniques with contemporary expression. The building itself dates from the early 1900s and became his creative home during a pivotal period in modern Greek art.

The house reveals how Kontoglou brought Byzantine painting traditions into modern Greek art through his personal practice. His works hung here within his living spaces, showing how deeply his writing and painting were intertwined in daily life.

The museum is housed in an early 1900s residential building, so expect narrow rooms and steep stairs as you move through the spaces. Guided tours in several languages and art history workshops run throughout the year to help visitors understand the collections more fully.

Several sketches and notes on display show how Kontoglou studied Byzantine sources and developed his own artistic ideas from them. This direct documentation of his creative thinking process offers insights rarely found in traditional galleries.

• Location: Athens
• GPS coordinates: 38.01880,23.74080
• Latest update: December 14, 2025 18:06