What Is The Acropolis Museum?

The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum dedicated on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. It was built to house artifacts found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes, dating from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. In addition, it lies over the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.

The museum was founded in 2003 and opened to the public on 20 June 2009. Over 4 250 objects are exhibited in an area of over 14 000 square metres.

Although the collection covers the Archaic period to the Roman one, the most important lies on the Acropolis of the 5th century BC. This period is considered the apotheosis of Greece’s artistic achievement.

It was designed by US-based architect Bernard Tschumi together with Greek architect Michael Photiadis. After decades of planning, the €130-million museum opened in 2009 and replaced the small museum near the Parthenon.

History

The first museum completed in 1874 was on the Acropolis and it was expanded in the 1950s. Further excavations uncovered many new artifacts which exceeded its original capacity.

Greece also requested the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the United Kingdom and since it had no location in which to display this it became necessary to design a new museum.

An architectural competition was held to design a new museum in 1976 as well as in 1979 but both failed to produce any results as the plots of land suggested for the proposed construction were regarded unsuitable.

A third international competition was announced in 1989 and a choice of three possible sites was provided. It was won by the Italians architects, Manfredi Nicoletti and Lucio Passarelli. Unfortunately, the excavations were stopped due to sensitive archaeological remains on the site and the competition was annulled in 1999.

A fourth competition was later introduced, and the new plans were adjusted so that the building was elevated above ground, on pillars. The competition was open to architectural practices only on invitation and won by New York–based architect, Bernard Tschumi, together with the Greek architect Michael Photiadis.

Excavation has revealed two layers of modest, private roadside houses and workshops, one from the early Byzantine era and another from the classical era. The operation to move the historic artifacts started in October 2007 over 280 meters and took four months. Finally, the Parthenon marbles were also returned to Greece.

The museum is built over the archaeological site, and the floor is made transparent using glass so that the visitor can see the excavations below. The museum also houses an amphitheatre, a virtual theatre, and a hall for temporary exhibitions.

Interest For Today

The collections of the museum are exhibited on three levels while a fourth middle level houses the supplementary spaces such as the museum shop, the café, and the offices.

On the first level are the findings of the slopes of the Acropolis. The rectangular hall with sloping floor, resembles the ascension to the rock. It also houses the artifacts and sculptures from the other Acropolis buildings such as the Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaea and findings from Roman and early Christian Athens.

The top level of the Museum sits uneven on the lower levels to achieve the same cardinal orientation of the ancient temple on the Acropolis. The spacing of the columns of the Parthenon hall is the same as that of the ancient temple, and the use of glass walls on all four exterior walls allows the natural light to illumine the Parthenon marbles as they do on the ancient temple.

The 48 columns in the Parthenon hall mark the outline of the ancient temple and form a colonnade for the display of the Parthenon marbles. For easy viewing, the pediment marbles are displayed at eye level in front of the end columns. The metopes are displayed on the columns, two per column, but not as high as in the ancient temple; and the frieze are displayed behind the metopes. From the north side of the Parthenon hall, one can see the ancient temple above on the Acropolis.

The Acropolis Museum is of great interest today and has received several awards during the years in acknowledgement.

• May 2010 – International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) Award of Excellence and Sustainability.
• November 2010 – British Guild of Travel Writers’ (BGTW) award in Globe category for the Best Worldwide Tourism Project for 2010.
• 2011 – The American Institute of Architects Institute Honour Award for Architecture.
• 2012 – Keck Award for its conservation and restoration of the Caryatids by the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) in Vienna.
• 2018 – 6th in the TripAdvisor’s Travellers Choice Awards of the 25 Best Museums in the world.

Overview

In the first two months since the museum opened, it was visited by 523 540 people, an average of about 9 200 a day.

There is still excavation that continues below ground level and the process is visible through the ground level glass flooring. Since 2019 visitors can also visit this area and for the first time walk through an ancient Athenian neighbourhood that survived from the Classical era to Byzantine times.

Tickets

Tickets can be bought at the Museum’s Ticket Desk or via its e-ticketing service.

• During winter from 1 November to 31 March general admission is €5.
• During summer from 1 April to 31 October general admission is €10

Visitors also have access to the ground floor Shop and Café, but for the second floor Shop and Restaurant, a free admission ticket is required from the Ticket Desk.

Contact information

• Address: 15 Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, Athens 11742, Greece
• Coordinates: 37.969108°N 23.728299°E
• General enquiries:

Tel.: +30 210 9000900

Email: info@theacropolismuseum.gr

• Group bookings:

Tel.: +30 210 9000903

Email: groupbookings@theacropolismuseum.gr

• School bookings:

Tel.: +30 210 9000903

Email: schoolbookings@theacropolismuseum.gr

How To Get There?

The museum is located at the south-eastern slope of the Acropolis hill, on the ancient road that led up to the sacred rock in classical times. It is the largest modern building constructed so close to the ancient site.

Visitors can either go by bus, trolley, metro, tram, bike, or car. The Museum provides no public parking facilities. Limited street parking is available at streets near the Museum. There is also paid parking facilities available in Rovertou Gali Street and Falirou Street.