Culture Ministry investing in artifact reproductions
An industrial monument on Athens’ central Pireos Street is being transformed into a new facility for Greece’s Cultural Resources Management and Development Organization (ODAP), the agency responsible for official art reproductions.
The 5.2-million-euro project will be bankrolled via the Recovery and Resilience Fund and is aimed at providing ODAP with state-of-the-art facilities where it can design and produce replicas of ancient and other Greek art and artifacts sold at the country’s museums and licensed souvenir shops. Including an exhibition area showcasing the agency’s work, as well as a shop and a café, the space will be open to the public
It is being developed in Building A of the now-defunct EVME SA plant, which once produced office furniture. Located across the street from another historical industrial monument hosting a branch of the Athens School of Fine Arts, the building has been slated for development since 2022. The ODAP project will cover roughly half of its total 13,200-square-meter expanse.
“Preserving the building’s character, we are breathing new life into a historical monument of industrial architecture that is of particular social and technological interest,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said on Tuesday, hailing the move as ushering in a “new era” for ODAP.
According to the design by Kokkinou & Kourkoulas Architects and Associates, the agency’s production area will take up much of the ground floor of the three-story building and will connect to the storage area. A part of the replica lab will also extend to the first floor, where it will be visible from the exhibition area so that visitors can watch the experts at work. They will also be visible from the cafe on the ground floor, which will also host the shop.
“The building is being redesigned so that it can host ODAP’s operations with bigger, modern workshops, where its craftspeople will be able to work in comfort and safety, in a pleasant and creative environment, while at the same time serving its new, outward-looking policy with the creation of a unique exhibition space,” Mendoni added.
The project is not only expected to bolster the Culture Ministry’s coffers by improving replica sales, but is also seen as an important step in the gentrification of Pireos Street, one of the key thoroughfares joining central Athens to its port in Piraeus.
