The editors’ selection

In Athens, a new cultural space has opened in a former tobacco factory. Though the city has seen its fair share of new cultural institutions in the past couple of years, a 6,500 sq m space still feels like something of an exception. Many suspect that it could offer a new lease on life to the Kolonos neighborhood and it looks like they might be right. Neon’s first exhibition, Portals – which investigates the relationship between disruption and artistic creation – has already drawn in a slew of locals since it opened on 11 June. The show runs until the end of 2021.

After almost a decade of renovations and expansion, Greece’s National Gallery opens its new building in downtown Athens in June. The museum is home to over 20,000 works by Greek and international artists, from El Greco to Picasso. In the meantime passersby can admire the Rodin sculpture in the entrance outside and spy the boldly colorful triptych painting “Street Market” by  Panagiotis Tetsis, in the atrium.

After a successful start in Thessaloniki, hotelier Kostis Karatzas has cast his eyes to Athens for The Modernist’s sister hotel of the same name. Designed by Thessaloniki-based studio Formrelated, the new branch is housed in the art deco building of the former Canadian Embassy. The 38-room affair overlooks a leafy square in Kolonaki. Don’t miss the views of Lycabettus hill from the rooftop.