The National Hellenic Museum (NHM ) is the second oldest American institution dedicated to the cultural contribution of the Greeks , including those living in the United States . It was formerly known as the Greek Museum and Cultural Center . Located on the corner of and Van Buren Street in the district of downtown Chicago (Illinois) [1] [2] . Created to promote understanding of the rich cultural traditions of ancient and modern Greece , as well as to pay attention to the history of Greek immigrants in the United States [3] , the museum is a regular place to visit the Greek community of Chicago [4] [5] .
| National Greek Museum | |
|---|---|
| National Hellenic Museum | |
 | |
| Established | 1983 |
| Address | Halsted Street 333, Chicago , Illinois , USA |
| Visitors per year | ~ 7-11 thousand (annual average) |
| Director | Laura Kalamos Nasir (since June 2016) |
| Site | National Hellenic Museum |
The museum advocates the return of the Parthenon sculptures (the so-called Elgin Marbles ) to Greece [6] .
The museum houses the world's largest collection of US Greek history [7] [8] .
On October 15, 2017, Alexis Tsipras became the first Greek Prime Minister to visit the NHM [9] .
Content
History
In 1983, the Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center, abbreviated HMCC, was founded in Chicago.
In 1992, the HMCC opened the doors of its first museum facility on in downtown Chicago. Two weeks earlier, the Museum of Greek Culture was opened in Salt Lake City ( Utah ) - the first museum dedicated to the preservation of Greek traditions, customs, heritage, history and lifestyle.
In July 2004, the museum moved to Adams Street 801 (Greaktown).
In 2009, the museum was renamed the National Greek Museum, took a new logo in the form of a Greek key ( meander ), and also formulated a new mission, which since then sounds like “ Ensuring the communication of generations through Greek history, culture and art ” [5] .
In 2011, the museum moved to its current building, specially built on Halstead Street 333 in the center of Chicago's Greetown [10] . The new building is a modern building with an area of 3,700 m² with permanent and temporary exhibition halls, a library and a center for , a classroom for children of all ages [11] , and a center for oral history . The rooftop terrace overlooks Chicago. [12] The museum was designed by architect Dimitrios Stavrianos, a principal of [13] [14] . The grand opening took place on December 10 [15] [16] [17] .
The Oral History Project
The purpose of the Oral History Project is to document the life histories of Greek immigrants in the United States.
In the years 1890-1920, about 450,000 Greeks came to America as part of a stream of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Today, American Greeks live throughout the United States.
As of 2015, the project has over 300 separate stories spanning hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings from Greeks and Greek-Americans from all over the United States.
Collections
The extensive collection of the museum demonstrates the thousand-year history of Greece, displaying each of its period from 1200 BC. e. Until now. An important place in it is occupied by handicrafts of American Greeks, including textiles, traditional costumes and musical instruments, as well as original photographs.
Library and Archive
The library and archive of the museum are more than 10,000 books, periodicals and other documents.
The library's collection includes books on the history of Greece , its culture , language and religion , including rare manuscripts of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among the print media there are, in particular, Greek-American newspapers, magazines and archival materials.
Archival collections consist of handwritten letters, early-manuscripts, and one of the largest Greek newspaper archives in the United States.
NHM Collection and Archive Portal
In 2019, an electronic portal called NHM Collections & Archives was launched, providing access to the museum's digitized artifacts and archival materials [18] .
A digital (electronic) archive consists of five sections:
- Artifacts containing a wide variety of three-dimensional images of religious objects, furniture, textiles, etc.
- Library including books in Greek and English;
- Oral stories containing hundreds of recorded interviews with Greek Americans;
- Images , which is a large collection of historical photographs that reflect the life of American Greeks during the 20th century;
- Archives , which is a constantly growing catalog of processed archive collections donated by Greek-American business enterprises, organizations, churches and families [19] [20] .
Exhibitions
Each year, the museum hosts various exhibitions on Greek history, culture and art [21] .
- The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great [22] [23] [24] [25]
- Sweet Home Chicago: The Story of America's Candy Capital [26]
- Aegean: Creation Of An Archipelago [27] [28]
- Reaching for the American Dream: The Legacy of Greek Immigration
- Olympic Revival: The 1896 Olympic Games [29] [30]
- The story of greek independence
- Transcending Boundaries: The Art of Anthony Quinn [31] [32]
- The Street is My Gallery [33]
- The Marathon Spirit: From Phidippides to Modern Times [34]
- Monumental, a hands-on exhibit about Greek architecture
- The Periklean Akropolis: From Antiquity To Modernity [35]
- The Greek Monsters [11] [36]
- From Memory: Giorgios Rigas
- Threads of Tradition [37]
- The holocaust in greece
- Gods, Myths, And Mortals [38]
- Change: The Story of Coins [39]
- George Kokines: Layers Revealed [40] [41]
Events
Along with weekly / monthly small cocktail receptions , dinner parties, brunches , mit-and-grits, etc., the museum organizes several major annual events, including the Annual Gala ( Russian annual festival ) [42] [43] [44 ] ] and Kouzina ( Greek: κουζίνα - cuisine) [10] [45] [46] [47] .
Notes
- ↑ Tsolakidou, Stella. National Hellenic Museum of Chicago Attracts US Media Attention . Greek Reporter (December 29, 2011).
- ↑ Karamitsos, Maria A. Chicago's Greektown Showing Signs of Life . Greek Reporter (June 27, 2010).
- ↑ Tsatsou, Marianna. John Calamos of Chicago's National Hellenic Museum Tries to Make the World See the Contributions of Greek-Americans Abroad . Greek Reporter (July 23, 2012).
- ↑ Ganakos, Alexa. Greektown Chicago: Its History - Its Recipes // G Bradley Publishing. - 2005 .-- S. 197 .
- ↑ 1 2 About Us . National Greek Museum.
- ↑ Chrysopoulos, Philip. National Hellenic Museum Initiative for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Their Home . Greek Reporter (March 20, 2017).
- ↑ Smith, John. National Hellenic Museum Gala Raises Funds to Digitize Greek American History . Greek Reporter (May 17, 2018).
- ↑ National Hellenic Museum's New Exhibit Lives Afloat Opens June 21 . The National Herald (June 2, 2018).
- ↑ Chrysopoulos, Philip. Alexis Tsipras Is First Greek PM to Visit National Hellenic Museum in Chicago . Greek Reporter (October 16, 2017).
- ↑ 1 2 Carrillo, Carmel. Hellenic Museum to host Greek food, wine event . Chicago Tribune (October 13, 2014).
- ↑ 1 2 Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry. Chicago's National Hellenic Museum Presents Little Homer Story Hour for Children . Greek Reporter (June 28, 2016).
- ↑ Karamitsos, Maria A. Visitors Get a Sneak Peek at New National Hellenic Museum . Greek Reporter (November 18, 2011).
- ↑ Demetrios Stavrianos . CallisonRTKL.
- ↑ Demetrios Stavrianos . LinkedIn
- ↑ Elliott, Sheila. National Hellenic Museum to open . Gazette (December 2, 2011).
- ↑ Liebenson, Donald. New Hellenic museum to rise in Greektown . Chicago Tribune (March 17, 2010).
- ↑ Karamitsos, Maria A. The New National Hellenic Museum Officially Open . Greek Reporter (December 10, 2011).
- ↑ NHM Collections & Archives . nationalhellenicmuseum.org.
- ↑ Kokkinidis, Tasos. Chicago's National Hellenic Museum Launches Free, Online Collections Portal (video) . Greek Reporter (July 25, 2019).
- ↑ The National Hellenic Museum Launches Free Online Collections & Archives Portal . The National Herald (July 30, 2019).
- ↑ Exhibits & Collections . nationalhellenicmuseum.org.
- ↑ Zikakou, Ioanna. Chicago Subway Turned into Trojan Horse by Field Museum for 'The Greeks' . Greek Reporter (December 8, 2015).
- ↑ Papapostolou, Anastasios. National Hellenic Museum Co-Presents The Greeks at The Field Museum . Greek Reporter (December 2, 2015).
- ↑ Zikakou, Ioanna. Groundbreaking Greek Artifacts Exhibition at The Field Museum . Greek Reporter (October 23, 2015).
- ↑ Zikakou, Ioanna. “The Greeks” Ready to Take Over America . Greek Reporter (January 15, 2014).
- ↑ Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry. My Sweet Home, Chicago: Exhibit Tells History of Greek Immigrants and America's Candy Capital . Greek Reporter (June 13, 2016).
- ↑ Aegean: Creation Of An Archipelago . nationalhellenicmuseum.org.
- ↑ Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry. 'Aegean: Creation of an Archipelago' Exhibit Travels to Chicago in November! . Greek Reporter (November 3, 2016).
- ↑ Olympic Revival: The 1896 Olympic Games . nationalhellenicmuseum.org.
- ↑ Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry. Interactive Display at Chicago's National Hellenic Museum Explores Olympics of Ancient Times to Current Day Rio . Greek Reporter (August 5, 2016).
- ↑ Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry. A Must See, Anthony Quinn Art Exhibit at National Hellenic Museum Chicago . Greek Reporter (May 23, 2016).
- ↑ Chrysopoulos, Philip. Anthony Quinn Art Exhibition at Chicago's National Hellenic Museum . Greek Reporter (June 20, 2015).
- ↑ Zikakou, Ioanna. Street Art Exhibition Poses Questions on Greece's Economic Crisis . Greek Reporter (July 15, 2015).
- ↑ Tsolakidou, Stella. National Hellenic Museum in Chicago to Present Exhibition on the Marathon . Greek Reporter (March 30, 2012).
- ↑ Zikakou, Ioanna. Periclean Acropolis Exhibition in Chicago . Greek Reporter (October 29, 2014).
- ↑ Papapostolou, Anastasios. “The Greek Monsters” are coming to the National Hellenic Museum . Greek Reporter (September 23, 2014).
- ↑ Zikakou, Ioanna. Traditional Greek Costumes in Chicago Exhibition . Greek Reporter (April 1, 2014).
- ↑ Soumbasakis, Tanya. There's No Place Like Home . Greek Reporter (December 9, 2011).
- ↑ Kokkinidis, Tasos. National Hellenic Museum to Present Fascinating Ancient Greek Coins . Greek Reporter (February 24, 2018).
- ↑ George Kokines: Layers Revealed . nationalhellenicmuseum.org.
- ↑ National Hellenic Museum Presents George Kokines: Layers Revealed . The National Herald (September 21, 2018).
- ↑ Rhombotis, Demetrios. National Hellenic Museum Raises nearly $ 1 Million at Annual Gala . Greek Reporter (May 19, 2015).
- ↑ National Hellenic Museum's Annual Gala is a Great Success . Greek Reporter (June 8, 2014).
- ↑ Chrysopoulos, Philip. National Hellenic Museum Gala in Chicago a Great Success . Greek Reporter (May 19, 2017).
- ↑ Papapostolou, Anastasios. National Hellenic Museum Announces 7th Kouzina Event . Greek Reporter (September 15, 2014).
- ↑ Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry. 'Kouzina' Celebrates Greek Food and Wine at the National Hellenic Museum, Chicago . Greek Reporter (November 1, 2016).
- ↑ Kotseli, Areti. 'Kouzina' Gastronomy Event at the National Hellenic Museum of Chicago . Greek Reporter (August 10, 2012).