The renovation of the former Public Tobacco Factory – Hellenic Parliament Library and Printing House is complete. Located in the centre of Athens, this historic building will host the Cultural Programme of Contemporary Art 2021 from June 12 through the end of December 2021.
This ambitious restoration project was financed entirely by NEON and its founder Dimitris Daskalopoulos, with a renovation cost of approximately 1.2 million euros. Gifted back to Parliament for public use, the space remains under the management of the Hellenic Parliament and aims to make part of the former Tobacco Factory stand out as a permanent contemporary cultural and social space –open to all –that functions as a dynamic hub for meeting and exchanging ideas.
From the building’s total area of 19,000m2, a significant portion is currently occupied by the Hellenic Parliament’s Library and Printing House. NEON undertook renovations of the adjacent ground floor north and north-west wings, the atrium and the former customs office building: a total area of 6,500m2 which until now, remained closed and unused.
The new cultural hub will also host the contemporary art exhibition Portals as part of the Cultural Programme of Contemporary Art 2021, a collaboration between the Hellenic Parliament and NEON.
The joint collaboration between these two organisations was announced on 14 December 2020, by Mr Konstantinos Tasoulas, President of the Hellenic Parliament; Mr Dimitris Daskalopoulos, NEON’s Founder; and Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON, at an event in the Senate Hall of the Hellenic Parliament.