The Schliemann Mansion
Today the Numismatic Museum

Panepistimiou St, Athens, 1878-79

Architect
Ernst Ziller (1837-1923)



The Schliemann Mansion is one of the leading examples of Athenian historicism, and one of Ernst Ziller’s most important works. Ziller was the busiest architect in Athens between 1870 and the late 1920s. This building, called Iliou Melathron ("House of Troy") was built in 1878-79 by the famous German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, discoverer of Troy, to be used as his residence.
The architectural composition is distinguished for its clarity in the organisation of the plans and elegance in treating the façades. The mansion is square on plan and is surrounded on three sides by a garden; on its north side is the main entrance. The reception area is on the upper ground floor, while the office, library and bedrooms are on the upper floor, and the auxiliary areas on the lower ground floor.
The elevations are in the neo-Renaissance style, adapted to the spirit of the Athenian classical tradition.
The façade has a tripartite treatment. In the centre there is a two-storey arched loggia with marble Ionian columns. The end sections are solid with marble balconies and arched openings on the ground floor, with a pitched roof on the upper floor. The volume of the building is articulated into a base of concave masonry corresponding to the basement, a trunk that is the ground and upper floors, and the crown, the cornice and parapet. There are terracotta statues on the crown of the building.
The interior is adorned by wall paintings in the Pompeii style by Yuri Shubitz and excerpts from the texts of ancient Greek writers. The decorative themes of the mosaic floors were an expression of its owner’s love of Greek antiquity.
The mansion was built using the most sophisticated technology of the time: a system of natural air conditioning through ducts, a central-heating system that brought hot air through the floors of the rooms, and wooden rolling shutters on the windows, unique at that time.
The building was owned by Schliemann’s wife Sophia until 1923. It then passed into the public sector and housed first the Council of State (1929-34), then the Supreme Court (1934-1980) and finally the Appellate Court (1981-82). Today it houses the Numismatic Museum on its first floor.

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