The Museum

The Museum is housed in a historic two-storey mansion with an inner courtyard. It is the Lassanis Residence, a representative example of an Athenian house of the Ottonian period. It was built around 1840, almost simultaneously with the palace of King Otto, the first king of Greece.

The house belonged to Georgios Lassanis, a member of the “Filiki Eteria”, a fighter of the Greek War of Independence and a scholar. After the Revolution, he became the first Prefect of Attica and Boeotia, later served as Minister of Finance, and subsequently as General Secretary of the Ministry of Military Affairs.

The Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments Fivos Anoyanakis Centre for Ethnomusicology was inaugurated on June 6, 1991. Its aim is to preserve and showcase this unique collection, highlighting the richness of Greek musical heritage.

Today, a selection of the collection is on display, while the remaining instruments are kept in storage and are accessible to researchers. The Museum also houses important musicological archives, a sound archive, a photographic archive and a unique specialized library dedicated to traditional and Byzantine music.

What’s on 

The mission of the Museum is to keep the musical heritage of the Greek people alive, to highlight its richness and beauty, to promote knowledge of folk music and the society that produces it, to safeguard its material evidence for future generations, and to act as a bridge between tradition and contemporary musical creation.

Putting this philosophy into practice, the Museum operates as a multifaceted point of reference for enthusiasts of traditional music and musical instruments.

It serves a complex and multidimensional field with expertise and perspective.

It disseminates accumulated knowledge and experience to a wide audience: from students to specialized researchers, from academics and instrument makers to anyone who appreciates and participates in folk musical tradition.

In this way, it sparks interest in exploration, offering a starting point for those who wish to trace the fascinating paths of Greek traditional and urban folk music.

If music is an intangible art, then a musical instrument is the most tangible expression that the art of sound has to offer. It is a “bridge” through which we can approach and understand both the music of a society and the society behind the music…

Fivos Anoyianakis (1915–2003) was a musicologist and music critic from Heraklion, Crete. He studied violin and music theory, and from a young age began writing articles for newspapers and magazines. At the same time, he engaged in musicological research on Greek traditional and modern art music, while also collecting folk musical instruments.

Throughout his life, he gathered not only instruments as objects but also entire organological types, some of which would have been lost had he not preserved them. His dedication to this cause, at a time when no one showed interest in folk musical instruments, earned him the nickname “the eccentric man with the bouzoukis.”

In 1978, he donated his rich collection to the Greek State, on the condition that a museum would  be established. He envisioned it as a centre for research and promotion of Greek traditional music, highlighting its significance in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, at the crossroads of East and West.

The Museum hosts a unique musicological library, specializing in traditional and Byzantine music.