What is the Delphi Archaeological Museum?
Delphi Archaeological museum, operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture, is one of the main museums of Greece and the most visited. It was founded in 1903 and reorganized several times through the years. It houses the discoveries made at the Panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi, which date from the Late Helladic (Mycenaean) period to the early Byzantine era.
The discoveries are organised in fourteen rooms on two levels, and mainly displays statues, architectural elements, and ex votos dedicated to the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo.
The exhibition floor space is over 2270 square meters, while the storage and conservation rooms take up 558 square meters. Visitors can also visit the cafeteria and a gift shop.
History
A first small museum, designed by the French architect Albert Tournaire, was inaugurated on 2 May 1903. It celebrated the end of the first great archaeological campaign of French excavations and to exhibit the findings.
A trust established by the Greek banker and philanthropist Andreas Syngros financed the museum. It was a rather small building and the first exhibition was more to pleasure the eyes than for any educational purpose. There was no chronological or thematic order to the exhibitions.
The construction of a new building was launched in 1935 and completed in 1939. It included a new arrangement of the objects by the Professor of Archaeology at Thessaloniki, Constantinos Romaios. The antiquities were presented in a chronological order, listed, and labelled.
With the outbreak of WWII, the antiquities were put into storage at Delphi in the ancient Roman tombs or in specially dug pits in front of the museum. The most precious objects were sent to Athens to be stored in the vaults of the Bank of Greece, where they remained for ten years.
With the region of Delphi at the heart of the combat zone in the Greek civil war, the museum was not reopened until 1952. The museum now proved to be insufficient and a new phase of construction was planned that was completed in 1958.
The renovation was assigned to the architect Patroklos Karantinos. The archaeologist Christos Karouzos was sent from the National Archaeological Museum of Athens to rearrange the collection. The collection remained chronological, but a greater focus was placed on the sculptures, with statues separated from their architectural contexts. The museum reopened its doors in 1961.
Another phase of renovations took place between 1999 and 2003, carried out by the Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis. A new façade was constructed in a contemporary style and a included a new hall for the charioteer.
The museum was re-designed in a modern style, a new lobby, large cafeteria, and a gift shop added.
The collection was rearranged to reconcile the need to display the main attractions of the museum effectively and to present the latest theories and discoveries of archaeological and historical scholarships. An effort was also made to display neglected exhibits like the classical facade of the Temple of Apollo. The museum once more opened its doors while also celebrating its centenary.
Interest for today
The collections of the Delphi Archaeological Museum are arranged chronologically in fourteen rooms.
- Rooms 1 and 2
These two rooms are devoted to the most ancient objects, namely the Mycenaean finds and the late Geometric and early Archaic periods.
- Room 3
The Kouroi of Delphi dominated this room, which is archaic male statues also known as Cleobis and Biton. They were produced at Argos between 610 and 580 BC.
- Room 4
The precious offerings found in a pit on the Sacred Way, the silver statue of a bull and he chryselephantine statues, can be seen in this room.
- Room 5
The enormous statue of the Sphinx of Naxos and the friezes of the Siphnian Treasury is displayed in this room. The Sphinx totals 12 meters in height.
- Room 6
This room contains the archaic and classical facades of the Temple of Apollo.
- Room 7
Objects from the Treasury of the Athenians are found in this room which includes the metopes, the acroteria, pedimented sculpture and inscriptions.
- Room 8
The room contains the fragments of the Delphic Hymns and the Attic white-ground kylix with the depiction of Apollo playing the lyre.
- Rooms 9 and 10
Objects in these two rooms come from the Temple of Athena Pronoia. Sculptures from the Treasury of the Massiliote and the Doric Treasury can be seen in room 9. Room 10 contains parts of the Tholos of Delphi, the round building standing out in the sanctuary of Athena Pronoia, dated to the first quarter of the 4th century BC.
- Room 11
In this room that contains Late Classical and early Hellenistic objects are also found the Dancers of Delphi and the ex voto of Daochos.
- Room 12
The famous statue of Antinous is found in this room that contains Late Hellenistic and Roman objects.
- Room 13
This is the room of the Charioteer and the statue represent one of the finest specimens of 5th century bronze sculpture. It belonged to a larger complex including the chariot, the horses and possibly a stable boy.
- Room 14
This room is dedicated to the final years of the sanctuary. Three marble heads are displayed here: that of Hercules dated to the 1st century AD, the head of a philosopher of Late Antiquity, dated to the 4th century AD and a head of a priest or philosopher dated to the 2nd century AD.
- The ground floor gallery
On the ground floor finds from the necropolis of Delphi, from houses, from the Corycian cave as well as several other finds of unidentified origin can be viewed.
Hours of Business:
- Wednesday – Monday from 08:00 – 20:00
- Tuesday from 10:00 – 17:30
- Archaeological Site: Daily from 08:00 – 20:00
Holidays:
- 1 January – closed
- 25 March – closed
- Good Friday: open from 12:00 – 17:00
- Holy Saturday: open from 8:30 – 16:00
- 1 May – closed
- Easter Sunday – closed
- 25 December – closed
- 26 December – closed
Tickets
- Full: €12, Reduced: €6
- Museum and Archaeological Site: special ticket package: Full: €12, Reduced: €6
- Ticket price from 1 November to 31 March: €6
Free admission days:
- 6 March (in memory of Melina Mercouri)
- 18 April (International Monuments Day)
- 18 May (International Museums Day)
- The last weekend of September annually (European Heritage Days)
- 28 October
- Every first Sunday from 1 November to 31 March
Contact information:
- Address: Delphi, Τ.Κ. 33054, Delphi (Prefecture of Fokida)
- Coordinates: 38°28′48.46″N, 22°29′59.75″E
- Telephone number: +30 22650 82313, +30 22650 82346, +30 22650 82312
- Email: efafok@culture.gr
How to get there?
The archaeological site of Delphi and the museum is about 1 kilometre from the modern settlement of Delphi on the road between Arachova-Amphissa-Itea. Visitors travelling from Greece to the Delphi Museum can do so by train, bus, or car.
