
Κέντρο Νεοκλασσικής Γλυπτικής Νίκος Σοφιαλάκης | Nikos Sofialakis Center
of Neoclassical Sculpture



The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture is a not-for-profit organization founded by the family of Nikos Sofialakis in 2004 on the very spot of the artist’s original atelier, which for half a century functioned as a place of creativity and learning. The purpose of the Center is to study, promote and cultivate community interest in the works of the great Cretan sculptor, Nikos Sofialakis, as well as in Neoclassical Sculpture and the Fine Arts in general. The Center hosts the founders’ private collection of the (marble) sculpted works of Nikos Sofialakis in a permanent exhibition that is presented in three categories and spaced out over three levels: The Sculpture Hall, the Microsculpture Loft, and the Workshop.
The Center caters to organized educational visits by students, schools and other groups as it also does to the wider community, and is available for lectures, presentations, speeches and seminars on the life and works of N. Sofialakis as well as on the Fine Arts in general, always with an especial emphasis on Sculpture. In promoting the work of Nikos Sofialakis in Greece and abroad, the Center publishes special studies and research editions in print and digital media, as it also advances the academic acknowledgment of the great artist by granting an annual monetary award to a scholar of the School of Fine Arts for excellence in Sculpture.
This is already the case abroad where the Nikos Sofialakis Scholarship Award has been established since 2010 and is bestowed annually upon a scholar of the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in the United Kingdom.
THE SCULPTURES HALL
The Sculptures Hall is located on the ground floor of the Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture, and features the sculptor’s large compositions and statues, together with busts, heads, and relief sculpture in marble.
Also on display at the Sculptures Hall is the thematic unit featuring ‘maternity’ and children’s portraiture in marble.
THE MICROSCULPTURE LOFT
The Microsculpture Loft is located on the upper level of the Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture. On exhibit at the Loft is the collection of microsculptures in marble featuring themes of ancient Greek mythology. Also on display is the sculptor’s graduate study Maternity in terracotta, which earned him the 1st Prize in Sculpture (1944) at the Athens School of Fine Arts, as well as the plaster model for the natural scale Maternity, the statue in black granite set at the Alexandras Maternity Hospital.
The Microsculpture Loft also features the works Moonwoman 2000, and the singular relief Child of the Occupation, proposed and inspired by the ecumenical author, Nikos Kazantzakis.
THE WORKSHOP
The Workshop is located at the lower level of the Nikos Sofialakis of Neoclassical Sculpture. Here one may view the tools, models, casts, studies, and drawings of the Cretan artist.
The Workshop also features a small collection of oil paintings which showcase an unknown aspect of the artistic explorations of Nikos Sofialakis in painting.
INFORMATIVE GUIDE
The Informative Guide (right) presents the levels of the Center with descriptions of each space for your navigation ease.
The Nikos Sofialakis Center of Neoclassical Sculpture is fully accessible to persons with mobility difficulties. Access to all three levels of the Center is facilitated by the use of ramps and the central elevator. Access points are appropriately marked by the internationally recognized sign for disabled persons.
Download the Guide in PDF form:
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