Athens, Greece - Part 2

If you are spending more than 1 day in Athens and visited the primary historical sites, it is worth spending at least 3 or 4 hours of your second day at the National Archeological Museum. If there is only one museum to visit in Athens, it is the National Archeological Museum.

Renovated and expanded just before the 2004 summer Olympic games, the National Archeological Museum is considered one of the top 10 museums in the world with its abundant collections of ancient Greek antiquities with more than 20,000 exhibits of Greek civilization from the beginnings of Prehistory to Late Antiquity. The museum is housed in an imposing neoclassical building of the end of the nineteenth century, which was designed by L. Lange and remodelled by Ernst Ziller. The vast exhibition space - numerous galleries on each floor accounting for a total of 8,000 square metres - house five large permanent collections:

The Prehistoric Collection, which includes works of the great civilizations that developed in the Aegean from the sixth millennium BC to 1050 BC (Neolithic, Cycladic, Mycenaean), and finds from the prehistoric settlement at Thera. The Neolithic Collection comprises the earliest exhibits in the museum and comes from settlements and cemeteries of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands. The collection dates to the Neolithic period and the Early and Middle Bronze Age, that is the pre-Mycenean periods, and include clay and stone vessels, figurines and tools which date from 6800 BC to 1600 BC. The Cycladic Collection reveals the civilization that flourished in the Cycladic islands during the Bronze Age (third-second millennia BC). The development of seafaring, metallurgy and figural sculpture are portrayed. The Mycenaean Collection includes gold masks, cups, dishes, and jewelry unearthed from th site of Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876. The Cycladic figurine collection is among the earliest know Greek sculptures (about 2000 B.C.).

The Sculptures Collection, which shows the development of ancient Greek sculpture from the large-scale seventh to the Late Roman fourth centuries AD with unique masterpieces, is considered to be one of the most important in the world. The exhibits are unique works of art from mainland Greece and the Aegean islands: statues, reliefs (funerary, votive, and legal), architectural groups, sarcophagi, busts, altars, statues of animals, Hermaic stelai and others (sirens, sphinxes etc). Several vases and bronze figurines complete the display that help explain the development of ancient Greek art.

The Vase and Minor Objects Collection, which contains representative works of ancient Greek pottery from the eleventh century BC to the Roman period and includes the Stathatos Collection, a corpus of minor objects of all periods. The quantity and quality of the Geometric, early Black-Figure and fourth-century Red-Figure vases is unparalleled.

The Metallurgy Collection comprises figurines and minor objects, as well as large original bronze statues, such as the Artemision Zeus or Poseidon, the Artemision Jockey, the Antikythera Youth and the Marathon boy.with many fundamental statues, figurines and minor objects.

The Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities Collection is one of the most impressive collection of its kind in the world with works of Egyption civilization dating from the pre-dynastic period (5000 BC) to the Roman conquest (30 BC- AD 354). The collection shows the development of Egyptian civilization, primarily during the Pre-dynastic and Pharaonic periods, and stresses the funerary customs of the Late period (twenty-fifth - thirtienth Dynasties), a period characterized by the wealth and elaboration of burial practices. The exhibits cover all aspects of artistic expression of daily life in ancient Egypt through their statues, figurines, reliefs, votive and funerary stelai, mummy covers, mummies, ceramic, stone vessels, Canopic jars, jewelry, Fayoum portraits, and numerous minor objects, and other artifacts of public and private use.




The museum also possesses a rich photographic archive and a 118 year old library with many rare publications, the latter of which is constantly enriched to meet the needs of the research staff. The library holds some 20,000 volumes, including rare editions dating to the 17th century. There are also modern conservation laboratories for metal, pottery, stone and organic materials, a cast workshop, a photographic laboratory and a chemistry laboratory. The museum has temporary exhibition spaces, a lecture hall for archaeological lectures and one of the largest shops of the Archaeological Receipts Fund.

The museum is easily accessible with the Athens metro with a five minute walk from the Viktoria station and a ten minute walk from Omonoia station. Access is free for children up to 6 year old and students. The museum houses a large recently renovated gift shop with artifact replicas and a popular cafe for tourists in the sculpture garden. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible. There are also facilities and guides for hearing impaired visitors.

With more than 50 different museums in Athens, you can easily learn Greece's ancient and contemporary history with visits to these other noteworthy museums:

Byzantine and Christian Museum - This museum on Vassilissis Sophias Avenue is devoted entirely to the art and history of Byzantium through decorative sculptures, altars, mosaics, bishops' garments, bibles, and small-scale reconstruction of an early Christain basilica.

Benaki Museum - On Koumbari Street and founded by art collector Antoni Benaki in 1933, this museum houses the private collection of folk art, costumes, jewelry, pottery, and relics from the Neolithic era to the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

National Gallery - Across the street from the Hilton Athens Hotel, the city's primary fine arts gallery houses icons and Greek paintings and works by El Greco, Tiepolo, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Picasso, and Braque.

National Historical Museum - Located in the former Parliament buildings between Omonia Square and Syntagma Square, this museum represents Greek history with objects from the Byzantine ear, the Turkish occupation, the Balkan War, and the War of Independence.

Greek Folk Art Museum - In Plaka, this museum housed in a former Turkish mosque, contains Greek costumes, jewelry, paintings, and stamps on display.

New Acropolis Museum - Opened in June 2009 and located at the base of the Acropolis on the southeast side and below the ancient Theatre of Dionysus, this new museum contains more than 50,000 portable antiquities, sacred sculptures from the temple of Athena Polias on the Acropolis, architectural sculptures of Archaic buildings, parts of the pediments, metopes and frieze of the Parthenon, sculptures from the temple of Athena Nike, lamps, vases, coins, and domestic artifacts, as well as the Caryatids from the Erechtheion.

The "old" Acropolis Museum opened in 1876 on the Acropolis is now closed but is expected to be reopened as a gallery space and possibly a cafe.

Museum of Popular Greek Muscial Instruments - Located steps from an excellent Platanos taverna, tambourines, cretan lyres, lutes, pottery drums and clarinets are on display. (Free admission)

Athens City Museum - On Paparigopoulou in Klathmonos Square, this museum in a restored 19th century Athenian townhouse, exhibits a collection of watercolors, sketches, an Athens scale model of 1842, furniture and costumes.

Kanellopoulos Museum - The former private home high on the slopes of the Acropolis contains the private collection of red and black figure vases, stunning Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons and fine painted ceilings within the house.