Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation
The Basil Papantoniou Foundation or BPF is a nonprofit cultural institution and museum based in Nafplion, Greece. It was founded in 1974 by the stage and costume designer Ioanna Papantoniou in memory of her father Vasilis Papantoniou. The aim of the BPF is the research, documentation, study, preservation and dissemination of modern Greek and global culture in general, in all of its forms and expressions.
History
BPF was founded in 1974 by Ioanna Papantoniou and it is located since 1981 in an early 20th century house belonging to Papantoniou family which was converted into a museum. The same year BPF was awarded with the European Museum of the Year Award. During the 70's and the 80's, the foundation made several researches over Greece, Cyprus and the Griko communities of Southern Italy, gathering data and documents about the traditional culture, music and dance and also about the preindustrial technology and the old fashioned children toys.In 1989 BPF founded the first Childhood Museum in Greece, in Nafplion at the old local railway station. Four years later, Melina Merkouri assigned to BPF the Hellenic National Costume Archives while in 1999 the foundation's facilities were renovated. In 2013 BPF was awarded by the Academy of Athens for its cultural activities.
Artifacts of the foundation have been exposed in various exhibitions worldwide including Athens, Thessaloniki, Brussels, Dallas, Limassol, London etc. in cooperation with foundations and authorities such as Benaki Museum, Municipality of Nafplio, Nicosia Municipality, Harokopio University, Foundation of the Hellenic World, Hellenic Centre of London, Teloglion Foundation of Art etc.