The Hellenic Museum has received a Victorian Museum Award 2015 for its exhibition ‘Gods, Myths and Mortals’, excelling amongst 1,000 museums and collecting organisations.

The ceremony, hosted by Tegan Higginbotham, was held on Thursday 6 August at the National Gallery of Victoria by Museums Australia.
Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley MP also took to the stage for a special address.

“The judges recognised the ambitious and complex undertaking of the Hellenic Museum in bringing this exhibition to Melbourne,” said John Tatoulis, CEO of the Hellenic Museum.

“The efforts of our team to mount an exhibition of this calibre is testament to their passion in delivering things at a very high quality level,” he said to Neos Kosmos, stressing that Museums Australia was impressed by the quality of the loaned objects from Benaki, the curatorial ambition, and the ingenious transformation of the interior spaces to accommodate the new displays.

In 2013, the Hellenic Museum secured a ten-year loan from the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, which allows Melbourne to host more than 150 artefacts spanning 8,000 years of Greek history and culture.

“It is worth mentioning this is the first time the Greek Ministry of Culture has allowed a collection of such historic and cultural significance to leave Greece for more than a year,” Tatoulis emphasised.

“This collaboration between the two museums offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore the developments of history, cultures and technologies of the past, moving from mythology to today’s representation.”

The partnership came about as a result of the Hellenic Museum’s initiative to develop a long-term relationship with the Benaki, which, unlike any other museum in Greece, spans the entirety of Greek civilisation from pre-history through to the present day.

“Greek language, history, art, mathematics and science have significantly influenced western civilisations through the ages,” Tatoulis added, noting that this information intersects with the national curriculum here in Australia on all levels, from primary through to tertiary.

The ‘Gods, Myths and Mortals’ exhibition is divided chronologically into four periods, presented in a design inspired by the labyrinth from the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Its main body includes findings of Neolithic pottery, Cycladic statues, Minoan figurines, Mycenaean jewellery, Hellenistic sculptures, Byzantine icons and manuscripts.

Post-Byzantine secular art and costumes and Neo-Hellenic art and weaponry, including ornate swords and pistols belonging to Greek revolutionary heroes Kolokotronis and Mavromichalis, are also amongst the exhibits.

“With Melbourne being the home for so many people of Greek heritage, we expected a great and ongoing turn-out; however, the exhibition is appealing to the broader community,” Tatoulis said.

“The numbers have steadily risen, whereas the mix is diverse and close to 70 per cent of those who visit the museum are of non-Greek background.”

In addition to the vast collection of Greek antiquities, the partnership also includes future access to the Benaki’s collections of Coptic, Chinese, Indian and African works, as well as one of the world’s most significant Islamic art collections.

* For more information head to www.mavic.asn.au or visit www.hellenic.org.au