Tatoi Palace, the former royal residence of the Greek Royal Family, is set to become a public museum.
The Athens-based palace will open as a public museum by 2025, according to the country’s Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni. The announcement was made one day after the burial of former King Constantine II at the estate.
Restoration has been ongoing on the building, and while it is not yet complete, some projects, such as turning the palace into a museum, will be completed by 2025.
For example, the conversion of King George I’s stables into a museum will be completed, and all necessary infrastructure will be in place.
The Greek government also wants to renovate the gardens, which house several royal tombs. They make no secret of the fact that it is the royal history of the property that will be able to attract more tourists to this part of the country.
The palace, which overlooks Mount Parnitha, was damaged by a wildfire two years ago and was left burned and abandoned until the death of King Constantine. Clean-up crews worked tirelessly to restore the site, which was once a grand royal residence, in preparation for the late King’s funeral this week.
In 2021 the Greek government, who seized the property when the Greek monarchy was abolished, said that they then planned to reopen the palace as a hotel with cafés, restaurants and a five-star spa.
Now the plan has been shelved, and the palace will only take up its role as a museum, park and tourist attraction.
The Tatoi Palace is the former summer palace of the Greek Royal Family and is located in Athens. No one has lived in Tatoi for the past 50 years; when the family left Greece upon the monarchy’s abolition after a coup, the government seized royal properties. This also included Cofu’s Mon Repos, where the late Duke of Edinburgh was born.
