A Byzantine mosaic made from painkillers and antibiotics. A Greek flag fashioned from aluminum. An 18th-century tapestry inspired by the campaigns of Alexander the Great.
Welcome to the art collections of Hotel Grande Bretagne and King George.
The two landmark Athens hotels have filled their public spaces and guest suites with an intriguing mix of historic works, paintings by important Greek artists and contemporary commissions. Some pieces connect directly to Greek history. Others take familiar traditions and give them an entirely different treatment.
Art historian and advisor Maria Migadi oversees the collections with the hotels’ owner, Lampsa Hellenic Hotels S.A. The result is an evolving selection that gives guests plenty to look at beyond the architecture, marble and grand furnishings.
HOTEL GRANDE BRETAGNE
Hotel Grande Bretagne starts with history.
Above Alexander’s Bar hangs an 18th-century wall hanging inspired by Alexander the Great’s campaigns. The lobby has another historic work, an anonymous depiction of the abduction of Persephone. Seascapes appear throughout the public spaces, while carved marble portraits commemorate the hotel’s founders and former owners.
The suites bring in some of the major names of modern Greek painting.
Works displayed in the suites have included Konstantinos Parthenis‘s The Walk of the Caryatid and Nikolaos Gyzis‘s The New Arrival. In the Presidential and Royal Suites, paintings sit alongside parquetry, furniture and decorative objects that evoke 19th- and 20th-century Athens.
Apostolos Geralis’s Woman in Traditional Costume depicts a female figure in regional dress and reflects the artist’s interest in Greek folk traditions.
Then there is Yannis Moralis‘s Portrait of a Greek Officer in the Presidential Suite. Moralis is better known for the geometric figures that became a hallmark of his work. This painting is different: an unusually detailed, realistic portrait of an officer in full uniform.
The GB Roof Garden adds a contemporary note with ceramics by Elina Vasilaki and abstract oil paintings by Sofia Petropoulou.
KING GEORGE
Across the way at King George, things get more experimental.Yannis Moralis’s Composition (1961) occupies the reception area. At nearly two meters, it is difficult to miss. The work also offers a glimpse into Moralis’s artistic evolution, from recognizable human figures toward the geometric forms associated with his later work.Near the entrance, Spyros Vassiliou‘s Little Shop on Athinas Street takes visitors back to an earlier Athens, when neighborhood shops and their proprietors were fixtures of the city’s streets.The lobby then jumps forward.
A plaster wall work by Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, one of Greece’s best-known artists, appears beside stoneware vases by Tina Karageorgi. The pairing follows an idea established during the lobby renovation: contemporary art made with traditional materials.
That concept gets considerably more inventive with the hotel’s commissioned works.
Peggy Kliafa‘s Omphalio takes its cue from Byzantine mosaic floors. Her version replaces the traditional glass tiles with painkillers and antibiotic tablets in assorted colors and shapes.
Iliodora Margellou‘s Hope transforms embroidery into a colorful composition of lines that resemble computer code. Philippos Theodorides uses hand-painted plates to reinterpret traditional Greek patterns.
The works were created through Art Projects, the art consultancy founded by Maria Migadi, Anastasia Orfanidou and Victoria Fassianou.
Look up in the atrium and another work demands attention: a 21-meter glass installation by Lasvit, made from Bohemian glass and shaped like an enormous chandelier. It is visible from Tudor Hall and from many of the guest rooms.
Near the entrance, Zetta Antsakli‘s Hellas gives the Greek flag a modern makeover. Strips of aluminum create the flag, while the blue bands reveal printed images of Greek seascapes.
CHECK IN AND LOOK AROUND
The collections at Hotel Grande Bretagne and King George have different personalities.
Grande Bretagne draws more heavily on historic works and the canon of modern Greek painting. King George plays more freely with contemporary art, traditional materials and familiar Greek symbols.
The great thing is that none of it requires a special excursion of museum ticket. The art turns up where you actually spend time: above a bar, inside a suite, beside the entrance or overhead in the atrium.
For anyone interested in Greek art, both hotels are worth a visit, whether you’re staying the night or simply stopping in to see what’s on the walls.
Photos courtesy of the two hotels
