Greece

Nikos Kazantzakis Museum

The NKM pays tribute to the important intellectual, author, thinker, philosopher, politician and traveller Nikos Kazantzakis.
The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum Foundation, a non-profit private entity, was founded in 1983 by set and costume designer Yiorgos Anemoyiannis, a pioneering figure in Greek theatre. His fundamental aim was to preserve the author's memory and promote his work and thought.
The founder's intention was to create a museum capable of housing the numerous significant exhibits relating to author and thinker Nikos Kazantzakis. The need for a museum exclusively dedicated to the life and work of the author urged Yiorgos Anemoyiannis to choose Myrtia, Kazantzakis' ancestral village, as a satisfactory solution that linked the museum to his memory. The paternal home of Yiorgos' father Antonis Anemoyiannis, a distant relative of Nikos Kazantzakis, lay in the central square of the same village. Adding financial assistance from the Greek state and private individuals to lavish personal expense, Yiorgos Anemoyiannis set about demolishing the old building. In 1983 he then constructed what was, at the time, a modern exhibition space.
In 2002, a two-storey administration building was completed, with funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Kallimanopoulos Enterprises.

Collections

The main core of the Museum’s collections owes its existence to the indefatigable efforts of founder Yiorgos Anemoyiannis and constant donations from Eleni Kazantzaki, the author's second wife. From 1976, when he first conceived of creating a personal museum for Nikos Kazantzakis, until his life came to an end in 2005, Anemoyiannis kept in constant contact with hundreds of individuals, foundations and organizations that held any material evidence, however large or normal, of the author’s life and work. The unbounded affection and trust shown by friends, whose donations range from a first edition to an entire letter archive, have led to a thirty-fold increase in the number of artifacts since the museum opened in 1983.
The Museum now possesses over fifty thousand (50,000) objects, classified into the following collections:
  • Letter Archive
  • Manuscripts and Notes
  • Editions of works - Articles - Studies
  • Press Archive
  • Photo Archive
  • Sound Archive
  • Film Archive
  • Theatre Archive
  • Artworks
  • Personal Belongings


Contact info:
Antonis Leventis
Myrtia, 70100, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, E.U.
Tel.: (++30) 2810 741689, 742451, Fax: 2810 742232
E-mail: info(at)kazantzakis-museum.gr


National Agency for the Grundtvig Programme:
Greek State Scholarship's Foundation (Ίδρυμα Κρατικών Υποτροφιών)
1, Makri Str. & Dionysiou Areopagitou
GR-11742 Athens, Greece
Tel: (+30) 210 3726300
Fax: (+30) 210 3221863
E-mail: llp(at)iky.gr
Website: www.iky.gr


Audiovisual presentation of NKM from the foundation and the first opening in 1983 until its renovation and second inauguration in 2010. A brief presentation of the publishing, educational and research activities.
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