‘Athens. The city is the museum’ is a strategic public-private partnership involving the Greek Ministry of Tourism, the Municipality of Athens’ DMO, and Google Greece, under the city’s well-established brand “This is Athens.” Every year, millions of international travellers visit Athens to see the Acropolis, ancient sites, and world-renowned museums. But Athens has much more to offer, from a thriving street art scene to dynamic nightlife, design shops, and a burgeoning culinary landscape. This partnership allows people to discover the unexpected and aims to showcase the city's evolving identity as a modern metropolis. To achieve this, we partnered with Google Greece to launch 'Athens. The city is the museum.’ This endeavour encourages visitors to explore Athens beyond its traditional attractions, highlighting the contemporary, modern, and lesser-known side of Greece's capital. To do so, it turns the very notion of a museum on its head: an endless collection of exhibits based on everyday life, curated and told by the Athenians themselves.

The project tells the stories of the city and its people through rich audio content and sound experiences brought to life on Google Maps in a unique, immersive way. Crucially, we make Athenians the heroes of this narrative, allowing them to share their love for the city and participate as equal partners in this project. This collaboration follows the conventions of traditional museums, but its focus on making locals central to the initiative brings a new and personal dimension to exploring Athens on foot. By offering travellers a chance to experience the city through the eyes of its residents, we are working to inspire visitors to see Athens for what it has truly become—an enticing and multifaceted destination in its own right. In doing so, this project represents a significant step in reimagining Athens as a year-round tourism hub and a city that extends its allure beyond the well-trodden paths. It is an exciting transformation that promotes sustainability, cultural exploration, and engagement with the authentic spirit of Athens, ushering in a new era for tourism in the Greek capital.