The Old Parliament House ( el, Μέγαρο της Παλαιάς Βουλής, ''Paleá Voulí'') at

Stadiou Street Stadiou Street (Greek: Οδός Σταδíου, ''Odós Stadíou'', "Stadium Street") is Athens' major street linking the Omonoia and Syntagma Squares. It runs diagonally and is one-way from northwest to southeast. The street is named after the ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, housed the

Greek Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the Hel ...

between 1875 and 1935. It now houses the country's National Historical Museum.

History

Inside the Old Parliament House in Athens on 27 April 2019

The site was occupied originally by the house of the Athenian magnate and politician,

Alexandros Kontostavlos Alexandros Kontostavlos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Κοντόσταυλος; 1789, Chios – 1865, Athens) was a Greek banker, magnate and politician. Biography

Konstavlos was born on the island of Chios in 1789 and descended from a noble fa ...

. After Athens became the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of Greece in 1833, King Otto selected it as temporary residence, pending the construction of the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

(which houses Parliament currently). In 1835, a large dance and banquet hall was added to the house, and after the 1843 Revolution, which forced King Otto to grant a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, the National Assembly convened here. In October 1854, however, the house burned down in a fire. Construction of a new building then began in August 1858, with the foundation laid by

Queen Amalia Amalia of Oldenburg (; 21 December 181820 May 1875) was a Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavarian princess who became Queen of Greece from 1836 to 1862 as the wife of King Otto of Greece, Otto Friedrich Ludwig. She was loved widely by the Greeks due to ...

, on plans by French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. Construction was halted the next year due to lack of funds, and not restarted until after Otto was deposed in 1863; the plans were then modified by the Greek architect Panagiotis Kalkos, and construction was complete by 1871. During the interim, Parliament had been housed on the back of the square in a brick building, hastily erected in 1863, which became colloquially known as "the Shanty" (''η Παράγκα''). The Hellenic Parliament would remain in the building from 1875 until its move to its current location in the Old Palace in 1935. As such, it witnessed some of the most turbulent and important events in modern Greek history, including the assassination of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Theodoros Deligiannis Theodoros Deligiannis () was a Greek politician, minister and member of the Greek Parliament, who served as Prime Minister of Greece five times from 1885 to 1905. He led the Nationalist Party, which, alongside the New Party led by his prima ...

on the Parliament steps on 13 June 1905, and the declaration of the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

on 25 March 1924. After the parliament was moved, the building housed the Ministry of Justice. In 1961 the building underwent extensive restoration and became the seat of the National History Museum, administered by the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece.

Kolokotronis statue

200px, The old Greek flag of the First and Second Hellenic Republic flying over the Parliament. In front of the building stands a large bronze

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a d ...

of General

Theodoros Kolokotronis Theodoros Kolokotronis ( el, Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης; 3 April 1770 – 4 February 1843) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. Kolokotronis's g ...

. The bronze statue of the commander in chief of the Revolution of 1821 is a work of sculptor Lazaros Sochos (1862-1911), and was originally placed (1904) at the beginning of Kolokotronis street. It was transferred to its current location in 1954, during the restoration of the Old Parliament Building, in order to signal the link of the museum with the city. Its

pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ci ...

features bronze reliefs of the Battle of Dervenakia, and of a session of the

Peloponnesian Senate The Senate of the entire People of the Peloponnese provinces ( el, Γερουσία όλου του Δήμου των επαρχιών της Πελοποννήσου), commonly known as the Peloponnesian Senate (), was a provisional regime that ...

during the

Greek Revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

. The statue faces Stadiou Street; Kolokotronis turns his head towards the Parliament House and his hand is pointing the opposite way where, during the 19th century, the Royal

Mews A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...

were located. According to a popular joke, the hero of the Revolution was showing parliamentarians that, because of their subservience to the King, the

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

s were their rightful place.

The National Historical Museum

The museum houses the collection of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece (IEEE), founded in 1882. It is the oldest collection of its kind in Greece, and prior to its transfer to the Old Parliament, was housed in the main building of the National Technical University. The collection contains historical items concerning the period from the capture of Constantinopolis by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in 1453 to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, emphasizing especially the period of the

and the subsequent establishment of the modern Greek state. Among the items displayed are weapons, personal belongings and memorabilia from historical personalities, historical paintings by Greek and foreign artists, manuscripts, as well as a large collection of traditional costumes from the various regions of Greece. The collection is displayed in the corridors and rooms of the building, while the great central hall of the National Assembly is used for conferences.

External links

''Old Parliament: From Action to Memory'', from the Foundation of the Hellenic WorldOfficial site of the museumHellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism
{{coord, 37, 58, 39, N, 23, 43, 58, E, display=title, region:GR_type:landmark Government buildings in Athens Landmarks in Athens Government buildings completed in 1858 1858 establishments in Greece Hellenic Parliament

Neoclassical architecture in Greece