INTRO

The Greek Pavilion at Venice Biennale was built in 1934, designed by architect Υ. Papandréou, with Brenno Del Giudice (who led the Biennale’s Sant’Elena expansion) collaborating on the project. The pavilion is built in neo-Byzantine style, putting in focus the Byzantine dimension of Hellenism; a very engaging issue in Greece at the time of its construction. While the overall building’s structure is a rectangle of ca. 11 x 21 meters, its interior is built as one space visually divided into a T-shape area and two additional spaces with a lower ceiling. On top of the main entrance’s door the word “GRECIA” is written in golden letters.

The pavilion is administered by the Greek Ministry of Culture, which is as well responsible for organising the greek participation during the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition. Every two years a national committee comes together to select one of the submitted proposals, with the selected one being announced around summer (8-9 months prior to the opening of the biennale’s exhibition). Next to the art biennale, the pavilion hosts as well the architecture biennale, organised by the Greek Ministry of the Environment and Energy.

The Greek Pavilion is located in the Giardini of the Venice Biennale, which hosts 29 national pavilions and the central pavilion of the International Art Exhibition. The Greek authorities are responsible for the building itself, with the administrative limits being the pavilion’s stairs; anything outside the perimeter is administered by the Venice Biennale. Below you can see the pavilion as it looked during the Venice Art Biennale of 2024.

OUTDOORS

A characteristic of the Greek Pavilion is its peristyle of two columns, which support three arches. The entire building is surrounded by decorative brick patterns, which are found as well on the exterior’s floor. The overall neo-byzantian aesthetics and design of the building give the impression of an imaginary temple.

Photos By Day

Standing at the main entrance and looking towards the garden, on their left side the visitor can see the Australian Pavilion on the other side of the canal, while on the right side they can see the Romanian Pavilion. In sunny days, especially during summer, the sun’s light reflects on the curved wall of the Romanian Pavilion, shinning on the Greek Pavilion’s main entrance. With open doors, the pavilion is lit and there is no blackening option in the building, unless a blackening curtain or other solution as such is installed at the entrance.

Photos By Night

From the opening of the exhibition every April up till September the visitors will never see the pavilion during night, with the opening hours being 11:00-19:00 (2024). However, as autumn progresses, even with the change of the opening hours to 10:00-18:00 (2024), the last days of the exhibition in the end of November offer a view of the Giardini with the sun having set. In the photo below you see the light shining onto the Greek Pavilion from a working light that is installed at the Romanian Pavilion.

INDOORS

The Greek Pavilion, like every building at the Giardini, has been withstanding Venice’s high humidity, strong storms (typical for the region), heatwaves in summers and low temperatures in winters for decades. Since the building is used almost throughout the year (with only about 4-5 months being left in silence), there is not enough time for extensive renovations, unless, unfortunately, a national participation is cancelled (either in the arts or architecture).

In the image below you can see the interior of the Greek Pavilion emptied (a rare site). The floor and the walls are repurposed in every exhibition, with additional material being used in many cases in order to cover them. The pavilion’s initial walls are made of bricks; you can see the bricks at the wall opposite the main entrance (which, however, is partly covered by another material, most likely for supportive purposes during an older renovation). The two smaller spaces are part of the initial architectural design and they have been renovated (most likely their columns are made out of cement). The material that covers the brick walls at the main space (left and right walls around the main entrance) is a sort of gypsum or cement board, glued onto to the pavilion’s brick wall in regular points.

However, the material did not survive the severe humidity, reaching up to 80%, nor the leaks that flood the pavilion during strong storms (something that happens in other national pavilions too throughout the Giardini). When the 2024 team entered to work at the pavilion, we found mold in the lower parts of the wall throughout the pavilion. These levels of humidity can as well damage electronic equipment, such as computers and amplifiers, mainly their ventilation parts, combined with the high levels of dust, brought in by the thousands of visitors every day. In peak hours, the pavilion can receive up to 4.000-5.000 visitors per day, with Tuesdays and Saturdays being the busiest days.

The pavilion’s ceiling is a metallic construction, following the T-shape of the building’s architecture. In its initial state there were transparent panels on the top, allowing natural light to reach the interior. However, a decision to cover them, blackening the exhibition space, was taken (most likely this happened at some point after 2000). Every year the roof needs conservation, and even so, rain still leaks into the pavilion, depending on its angle and strength. Next to the metallic structure of the T-shape part, the two additional spaces have as well an inclined roof. However, while the T-shape main space has a ca. 6 meters height, the additional spaces have a ca. 4 meters height.

On the right side of the pavilion there is a ramp for wheelchairs, strollers and any equipment on wheels, which leads to the back entrance of the building (that serves as well as an emergency exit). All material and equipment is delivered via the canal, through a small pier. The pavilion, being at the edge of the Giardini, is neighbouring with a residential building. The two buildings are not directly adjacent to each other, as there is a garden in-between. On the left of the pavilion there are toilets (one of the two places in the entire area), something that brings a lot of people towards that part of the Giardini, but can also bring a bad smell, especially during heatwaves. Further left is the back entrance/exit of the Giardini. The pavilion (2024) has no working air-conditioning and there is no running water. There is a hose at the left corner, outside the building, which belongs to the Venice Biennale and its water is not drinkable. Power and internet have to be arranged each time for every team installing their work, getting in contact with the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies who administrate the electricity and internet bills.

The Greek Pavilion has a basement as well. There are lots of stories about the basement full of mice, however this wasn’t observed by the 2024 team. A strange observation was made though: one can get into the basement either through the exhibition space via a hatch at the left corner of the left additional space, or through the exterior, using a door at the back-left of the building (going down a few steps). However, this basement room is just a small portion of the building’s entire basement. Τhe accessible basement room is actually as small as the left additional space in the pavilion, located right under it. There is another basement room as such, on the other side of the building, located under the right additional space of the pavilion. That room is has no proper access, except for a whole in its brick wall. There is no door to enter into the main basement either, except for a small window (again on the exterior, left side of the building). The height of the basement is ca. 1.5 meters. The main basement has four cyclic structures on its ground, which probably are a draining system from 1934. The basement is not depicted in the architectural plan that the team had access to. Below you see a 3D scanning of the main basement, missing the two basement rooms.

Depending where the visitor enters from in the Giardini, the Greek Pavilion is either one of the last ones to visit through the gardens’ walking paths (entering from the main entrance) or the first one (entering from the back entrance / Sant’Elena vaporetto stop). Tickets for the Venice Biennale can be purchased online or at the ticket counters at the main entrance and designated points in the city. To be avoided: first and last hour of opening times. Peak hours are ca. 13:00-16:00 and peak months are April-June and September-November.

PRACTICAL NOTES

• Building restrictions: Modifications to the structure are limited, since the building is a monument. Installations must be reversible.
• Natural light: The pavilion does not allow natural light to come in at its current condition, except for the light coming in from the main entrance and in a lesser extend from the emergency exit if kept open.
• Sound: Sound inside the pavilion can leak into the Giardini and the surrounding area; sound levels need planning. Speakers installed outside the pavilion should be set to low levels so that the sound does not disturb the surrounding pavilions’ visitors. Depending on the materials used on the walls — and if the space remains open without subdivisions — the pavilion’s acoustics are similar to those of a warehouse.
• Conditions inside the pavilion: Humidity can be extremely high, as well as dust levels due to the thousands of visitors. The pavilion is prone to water leaking in it during strong rain. During the summer months, air conditioning is necessary due to the high temperatures combined with humidity.
• Space dimensions: ca. 11m x 21m with a ca. 6.5m height.
• Technical support: The Greek delegation is responsible for all technical planning and setup. No technical support is provided by the Venice Biennale. Basic power supply is available; artists must plan their own power distribution and electrical needs. There is no water supply in the pavilion.
• Access: Loading and technical access are restricted during the installation period; planning ahead is crucial. Equipment and material should arrive by water. Large items can be put in the pavilion by specialised transport companies through the main entrance using a forklift, after building a raised corridor out of wooden pallets. Smaller items can be put in the pavilion through the ramp on the right side of the building that leads to the back entrance.
  • Main entrance size: 3.22m height x 1.58m width.
  • Back entrance size: ca. 2.50m height x 1.10m width.

Photo credits & copyrights on this page: Thanasis Deligiannis.
Map screenshots: Google Maps

Click here for more information on the work Xirómero/Dryland, the Greek national participation at Venice Art Biennale 2024; an interdisciplinary collective work conceived by Thanasis Deligiannis and Yannis Michalopoulos, created along with the artists Elia Kalogianni, Yorgos Kyvernitis, Kostas Chaikalis and Fotis Sagonas.

Other links:
Greek Ministry of Culture
Wikipedia – Greek Pavilion
Page in Greek / “Ελληνικό Περίπτερο Μπιενάλε Βενετίας” (η σελίδα στα ελληνικά)