Ancient Cretan Collection at the Athinais

• Category: News

An important exhibition of ancient Cretan works of art from the Nikolaos Metaxas Collection, on loan from the Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Crete, is on display at the Athinais Cultural Center, Athens. The exhibition was inaugurated by Karolos Papoulias, President of Greek Democracy on April, 6 and will last till December, 31.
The Nikalaos Metaxas Collection includes the most splendid examples of Minoan art and culture and it is regularly housed in a specially designed building at the renowned Heraklion Archaeological Museum. This famous collection remained for 35 years in the hands of civil engineer Nikolaos Metaxas and his wife Theano Metaxas, who donated it to the Cretan Historical Studies Company in 1997.
The Minoan works in the collection consists of about 2,300 objects, covering the period from the fourth millennium BC to the third century AD, including a distinctive group of 680 Minoan engraved stones. The Metaxas Collection also has Arabic coins from the period of the Islamic domination of Crete (828-961 AD).