Old Parliament House

The neoclassical building used as the Old Greek Parliament House was established in 1858 by Queen Amalia and designed by the French architect François Boulanger (1802-1875) to house the sessions of the Parliament and the Senate. Following the eviction of King Otto and the 1862 post-coup d'état, the Senate body was abolished, so the plans for the building were modified by architect Panagiotis Kalkos (1810-1878) and the Senate amphitheatre was removed. The Parliament building was completed in 1875 and on the 11th of August of the same year, the sessions of the Parliament were inaugurated, with Harilaos Trikoupis as Prime Minister.

For the next 60 years the building on Stadiou Street was used as the seat of the Parliament, which was discontinued in 1935 when the Greek Parliament was moved to the Old Palace in Syntagma Square. Subsequently, the building of the Old Parliament was granted by decision of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos to the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, in order to house the National Historical Museum. The decision was delayed due to the Second World War, but in 1962 the National Historical Museum's exhibition was finally opened to the public. Pictured: The Old Greek Parliament in 1890. ©Municipal Photography Museum of Kalamaria ‘Christos Kalemkeris’.