The Old Parliament House () 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 th ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, housed the

Greek Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme democratic instit ...

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 (; c. 1789, Chios – 1865, Athens) was a Greek banker, magnate and politician. Biography Konstavlos was born on the island of Chios in about 1789 and descended from a noble family that traced its origins to the Byzantine ...

. After Athens became the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

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 Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

(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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, 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, 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 Panagis Kalkos (, 1818–1875) was one of the first Greeks, Greek architects of the modern Greek state. Educated in Munich, he is a representative of a strict neoclassic style in architecture. He built some of the most characteristic neoclassic bu ...

, 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 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Theodoros Deligiannis Theodoros Diligiannis (also transliterated as Deligiannis;Konstantinos Apostolou Vakalopoulos, ''Modern History of Macedonia (1830-1912)'', Barbounakis, 1988, p. 95. ; 1826–1905) was a Greek politician, minister and member of the Greek Parlia ...

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

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

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 ...

of General

Theodoros Kolokotronis Theodoros Kolokotronis (; 3 April 1770 – ) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. The son of a klepht leader who fought the Ottomans during the Orlov revolt ...

. 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 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 civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

features bronze reliefs of the

Battle of Dervenakia The Battle of Dervenakia () was the Greece, Greek victory over the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman forces on 6–8 August 1822, an important event in the Greek War of Independence. It resulted in the defeat of a major expedition by Mahmud Dramali Pasha, ...

, and of a session of the

Peloponnesian Senate The Senate of the entire People of the Peloponnese provinces (), commonly known as the Peloponnesian Senate (), was a provisional regime that existed in the Peloponnese during the early stages of the Greek War of Independence. History On 25 Marc ...

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. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. 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 working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

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 Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

in 1453 to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 Otto of Greece Burned buildings and structures in Greece