Between roughly 1950 and 1965, a surgeon in Larissa was buying paintings. Not to fill a living room, but with a plan: Greek painting of the 19th and 20th centuries, one work at a time, until the collection reached 700 pieces. His name was Georgios I. Katsigras, and in 1981 he decided to give it all to his city.
A gift with one condition
The donation came with a single condition. Larissa had to build a modern gallery, not just a room to hang pictures in, but a place for research and education. In 1983 the city council founded the Municipal Gallery of Larissa – G.I. Katsigras Museum, which took in the donated works together with the paintings the municipality already owned.
The building took its time. Its foundations were laid in 1990 and it opened on 23 November 2003, twenty-two years after the gift. It stands at 2 Georgiou Papandreou Street, with a garden and courtyard where events are also held.
What you will see
Specialists consider the Katsigras collection one of the most important collections of modern Greek art, second only to the National Gallery and the Koutlidis collection. It includes painters who shaped Greek art from the 19th century onwards, among them Konstantinos Maleas, Theofrastos Triantafyllidis and Stavros Papapanagiotou.
The best way to see it is slowly. Small landscapes, portraits and scenes of rural life hide details that disappear if you walk past too quickly. Look at how Greek painters handled light and the countryside a century ago, long before photography became an everyday thing.
The gallery also keeps the Schliemann furniture: the office furniture that Ernst Ziller designed for Heinrich Schliemann's Athens mansion, the Iliou Melathron. It was made in Vienna in 1880 and later became Dr Katsigras's own office.
Why it matters to Larissa
Larissa knows how to build on gifts. A doctor who spent fifteen years assembling a collection and then handed it over says a lot about a city that many people see only as a farming and trading town. Today the gallery is one of the best reasons to stay an extra day, together with the First Ancient Theatre and the Diachronic Museum.
Practical information
The gallery is in the city centre, within walking distance of the main square. Opening hours change with the season and the exhibitions, so check before you go. On Friday 9 October 2026 at 19:00 its courtyard hosts the first day of issue of a series of Hellenic Post stamps dedicated to the collection, with free entry.
Photographs
