To this day, the CMLE’s collection continues to be enriched through many avenues – via donations, legacies, purchases, and more.
From the start, the Lykeion ton Ellinidon bought a large number of its items from individuals, collectors, merchants, and peddlers, expanding the initial core of its collection, while many more objects were gathered on collecting missions by its members around Greece.
But if a museum is able to reach its objectives, this is primarily due to the generous contribution of those who recognise and trust its work. The CMLE’s work quickly met with the acceptance of many people who believed in its aims, and donated their collections – large and small – or their family heirlooms, or even their “precious” personal belongings. At the same time, the CMLE’s collections grew thanks to the financial contributions of individuals and organisations.
In recognition of the contribution of its donors and sponsors to the enrichment of its collections, the CMLE organises, in return, small exhibitions of its new acquisitions in the showcase of the Lykeion ton Ellinidon’s Headquarters. On the 30th anniversary of the museum’s operation in 2018, a special event was organised to honour its donors, with a retrospective exhibition of representative objects that were donated to the museum.
If a gift creates an obligation, it’s because the gift itself is not inert. Even when it is abandoned by the giver, it continues to be part of them.
Marcel Mauss, 1925
The group of CMLE donors includes many individuals, but also organisations. They all played an important part in making the CMLE collection what it is today.
Some of them represent the archetype of the collector-donor, who searches and gathers material with the ultimate goal of enriching a collection, of serving the purposes of special exhibitions, or even of creating a more complex museum formation.
Learn more about them.