Former head of Benaki Museum Angelos Delivorias dies aged 81

The former director of one of Greece’s most prestigious museums, the Benaki, Angelos Delivorias, passed away at the age of 81, it was announced on Tuesday.

Delivorias was at the helm of Benaki for 41 years before announcing in 2014 that he was stepping down.

He was born in Athens in 1937. He studied archeology and history at the University of Thessaloniki and the University of Athens and continued with postgraduate studies in Freiburg.

In 1965, he was appointed to the Archaeological Service from where he resigned in 1965. From 1969 to 1972 he continued his archeology studies at Tubingen with an Alexander von Humboldt scholarship.

In 1972 he received his PhD degree with Magna cum laude and between 1972 and 1973 he did post-doctoral studies in Paris, the Sorbonne and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

As head of Benaki, he organized or participated, from 1974 until 2014, in 130 exhibitions in Greece and 39 exhibitions in major cities abroad.

Delivorias is credited with establishing the Museum of Islamic Art in central Athens, as well as the museum of Greek painter, sculptor and academic Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas.