Peristyle

The Peristyle, on the ground floor of the Parliament megaron, outside the Plenary Room of the Parliament, is the first exhibition area, which serves as conceptual introduction. There is presented the «Awakening of Hellenism» (1770-1820), that is the situation of the Greek area and world in the pre-revolution period, putting emphasis on two special aspects of the progressive route to the Revolution of 1821:

• The first one examines the outside testimony about Greece, given that the antiquarian foreign travellers in the Greek area, through their recordings in visual artworks and illustrated publications, are those who make known to west Europe the demand of the Ne0-Hellenes for freedom, shaping thus a first philhellenic trend.
• The second one focuses on the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment and the contribution of its representatives to the patriotic awareness. There are presented, through their publications, Greek scholars, partakers of the European Enlightenment, who with their teaching spread to the subjugated Hellenism messages of regeneration, preparing the uprising.