An attraction you likely haven't seen yet in Detroit's Cultural Center opens officially with a ribbon-snipping Saturday.
It's the Hellenic Museum of Michigan, which arts writer Michael H. Hodges introduces in The Detroit News.
Noel Night visitors preview the museum in December. [Photo by Evans Koukios]Museum officals say they hope to attract visitors far beyond the local Greek community, which they estimate numbers about 70,000.
"We're not just here for Greek community," says museum vice president for operations Joan De Ronne, "but to help the wider community learn about Hellenism and the history that's the bedrock of civilization."
Housed in a 1912 red brick mansion right across East Kirby from the Detroit Institute of Arts, the museum — with a total investment so far of about $2 million raised from foundations and individual donations — will add yet more oomph to the Cultural Center at the north end of Midtown, joining the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History as the district's other ethnically focused institution. With eventual plans for exhibits, lectures, films, cooking classes and music and dance performances, the Hellenic Museum will round out weekend entertainment options for the culturally inclined. . . .
The museum will feature a first-floor exhibition on the history of Detroit's Greektown that Wayne State University students compiled. The wider story of Greek history, complete with a useful timeline from 4,000 B.C. to the present, will be presented in three rooms on the second floor. . . .
For the foreseeable future, the museum will only be open Saturday afternoons.
The nonprofit Hellenic Heritage Society bought the historic building from Wayne State University for $355,000, Kelli B. Kavanaugh reported earlier at Model D.
Saturday's events begin with a free dedication ceremony and 5 p.m. and include a no-cost "young adult party" from 7-10 p.m. with food, beverages (including beer) and entertainment. Alternately, an $80 strolling benefit dinner begins at at 6:30 p.m. in the DIA.
Learn more at the musueum's website and Facebook page, which has more than 260 fans already. That surely deserves a hearty Opa!
Greek vases are among objects on view at the East Kirby Street museum being dedicated Saturday. [Photos from Facebook]
