It is the greatest foundation about the history of the Greek and Western European art in the country. It was founded in 1900 and, after spending a long nomadic period, was housed in 1974 in the building located today, which is about to expand in order to better project the treasures it hosts. Among the 17.000 works of its collection is included the majority of the great Greek painters, such as DomenicosTheotokopoulos, Nikolaos Gyzis, Lytras, Geros, Bouzianis and many more. The tour in the halls of the museum's permanent exhibition starts from the post-Byzantine era and reaches up to our days, while occasionally it hosts major world-class periodic exhibitions. Moreover, the exhibits of the museum are divided into paintings and sculptures, the first are presented in an art gallery at V. Konstantinou Street, and second ones in the glyptotheque that operates in Stratou Park in Goudi and houses the history of Modern Greek sculpture and periodic exhibitions at the same time. In the Glyptotheque, you will admire the exquisite works of leading Greek sculptors (Chalepas, Sochos, Papagiannis, Gaitis et al.) as well as foreign sculptors, such as René Magritte. Some annexes of the National Gallery are located in Nafplion, Aegina, Sparta and Corfu.
The National Gallery will be closed from the 4^th of March 2013 due to expansion works.
National Glyptotheque in Stratou Park, Goudi (the entrance is on Katexaki Avenue, Metro Station: Katexaki) will remain closed from the 15^th of April 2013 till further notice due to the expansion works of the National Gallery.