An elegant dining table was set in the room on the third floor, which houses the B&E Goulandris Foundation’s contemporary Greek art collection. It’s like an invitation to dinner at an art-lover’s salon, on the walls of which there are works by Parthenis, Busiani, Vassiliou, Botsoglu, Rorris and sculptures by Pappas, Tobros, Parmakelis.

When the lady next to me notices that the “People’s Market”, which takes up most of one side of the hall, has a “correspondence” just a kilometer away, in the foyer of the National Gallery, the thought of enjoying a gourmet dinner in almost a moment of Pan’s color. So she becomes irresistibly charming.

“Our goal is to create a museum that welcomes all visitors and makes them feel at home,” Fleuré Caradontis, president of the board of directors, tells us. B&E Goulandris Foundation, discussing the museum’s decision to provide the opportunity to host a floor sit-down dinner showcasing new and contemporary Greek art “in a manner that is completely safe for the artworks themselves.” she emphasizes.

Already now, and even more so in the future, museums will no longer be “temples” for the initiates and teaching spaces, and therefore inaccessible.

“This is a source of income for the museum at a time when the culture is in need of support, and this is one of the many promotions we offer,” he continues. “It’s very important to us to try to make art accessible to everyone, and that’s why we plan everything from free events for people over 65 to specially designed programs for babies and children of all ages.”

Museums around the world, especially after two years of recent “dead” due to the pandemic, are looking for new ways to increase their revenues. Cultural marketing that aims to enrich the art experience provides them with the tools to improve their limited finances on the one hand and expand their visitor base on the other. Even now, and even more so in the future, museums will no longer be “temples” for the initiates and educational spaces, and therefore inaccessible. At the British Museum, children can enjoy overnight stays in rooms with Egyptian and Assyrian exhibits. The same goes for the American Museum of Natural History, where any new overnight sleep programs on specially designed lounge chairs for young and old are selling out fast.

The idea of ​​the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to allow anyone to spend an evening inside the work of renowned American artist Edward Hopper by renting a specially designed space as part of the “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel” exhibition also had a huge impact.

In Athens, in addition to the Goulandris Foundation, the Museum of Cycladic Art also offers its guests a culinary experience organized exclusively within the framework of the permanent collection, in the “Scenes from Daily Life to Antiquity” room. classical and Hellenistic periods.