What Is The Athens National Archaeological Museum?
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens is the largest museum in Greece and one of great importance in the world. At first it only secured all the findings from 19th century excavations in and around Athens and further abroad, but gradually took the form of a central National Archaeological Museum.
Its rich collections, with over 20 000 exhibits, offer the visitor an overall view of ancient Greek culture from prehistoric times to late antiquity.
The museum is housed in a neoclassical building designed by L. Lange at the end of the 19th century with the facade begin remodelled by Ernst Ziller. It has numerous galleries on each floor which makes up a total of 8 000 square metres.
It houses five large collections:
- The Prehistoric Collection
- The Sculptures Collection
- The Vase and Minor Objects Collection
- The Metallurgy Collection
- Near Eastern Antiquities Collection which is the only Egyptian collection in Greece
Besides displaying its own treasures, it organizes temporary exhibitions and lends artefacts to exhibitions in Greece and abroad. It is also a research facility for scientists and scholars and participates in special educational and other programs.
The museum holds a rich photographic archive and a library with many rare publications. Included on the premises is modern conservation laboratories for metal, pottery, stone, and organic materials; a cast workshop; a photographic, and a chemistry laboratory.
History
The National Archaeological Museum was the first to be established in Greece after the revolutionary struggle and the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman yoke in 1829.
Its headquarters were originally in Aegina, the first capital of Greece, but with the transfer of the capital to Athens in 1834, the seat of the Museum was also transferred.
Antiquities were first housed in various buildings and monuments before the current building was constructed in 1866 by L. Lange. It opened its doors to the public in 1889.
During the first half of the 20th century the Museum received many antiquities that came from excavations in various parts of Greece. The east wing was added in 1903-1906, and architect G. Nomikos appended a two-storey annex on the east side of the main building in 1932-1939, and then World War II was declared.
For the duration of WWII, the museum’s antiquities were stored for safety in the museum itself, the vaults in the Bank of Greece and in natural grottos. At the end of the war, the museum’s director Christos Karouzos undertook the re-exposition of the exhibits and architect P. Karantinos remodelled the exhibition spaces.
The museum reopened in 1947 and by 1964, the re-exhibition of its collections was completed. The unique Greek collection of Egyptian antiquities was exhibited for the first time thirty years later, in 1994.
An earthquake hit the museum in 1999 and during 2002 to 2004, renovation works were carried out in all the exhibition spaces.
From 2004 to 2009, the renewed permanent exhibitions of the National Archaeological Museum opened to the public:
- 2004 – Collection of Prehistoric Antiquities and the Sculpture Collection
- 2005 – Vase and Copper Collection
- 2008 – Stathatos and Egyptian Collection
- 2009 – Cypriot Collection, the Collection of Clay Figures, the Collection of Vlastos – Serpieri, the Collection of Gold Jewellery and Silver Machines and the Collection of Glass Machines
With completion of the renovation, the National Archaeological Museum represents antiquities covering the period from the 6th millennium BC until the 4th century AD. This include artifacts from Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Italy, and other regions. This covers all ancient Greece, its cultural achievements, as well as its contacts in the eastern Mediterranean.
Since the 1980s, the National Archaeological Museum has held thematic or timeless periodical exhibitions, with many interesting topics. Many of the antiquities from the Museum’s periodical exhibitions are loaned on short-term to museums in Greece and abroad.
The Museum participates in many exhibition programs in Greece and abroad in addition to its own multifaceted, cultural, and educational activity.
Interest For Today
The following exhibitions can be seen at the museum:
- The Neolithic Collection
- The Mycenaean Collection
- The Cycladic Collection
- The Thera exhibition
- The Sculpture Collection
- The Vase and Minor Objects Collection
- The Metals Collection
- The Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities Collection
- The Eleni and Antonios Stathatos Collection
- Odysseys
- From the burial of antiquities to the resurging of memory
- The Unseen museum which glimpses into the world of the storerooms
- Hadrian and Athens
- The Countless aspects of Beauty
Hours of Business
- 1 November – 30 March: Tuesday from 13:00 – 20:00 and Wednesday – Monday from 09:00 – 16:00
- 1 April – 30 October 30: Tuesday from 13:00 – 20:00 and Wednesday – Monday from 08:00 – 20:00
Tickets
- 1 November to 31 March: €6
- 1 April 1 – 30 October: €12
Contact information
- Address: 44 Patission St., Τ.Κ. 10682, Athens (Prefecture of Attiki)
- Telephone: +30 213 214 4800, +30 213 214 4891
- Fax: +30 210 8213573, 8230800
- Email: eam@culture.gr
The museum has a separate entrance for the disabled on the side of Vas. Heraklion Street, either through a ramp from the main side of the Museum or directly from the sidewalk of Vas. Heraklion.
School visits can be organised from Monday to Friday, during the museum’s opening hours.
There is also a café and store on the premises.
How To Get There?
The site of the museum can be reached via the subway, ISAP, busses or trolleys. The museum does not have a parking space for visitors’ private vehicles, but private parking lots for vehicles are located on Bouboulinas Street, Zaimi Street and Alexandra Avenue.
