“The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art”

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art. Although its original purpose was to secure all the finds from the nineteenth century excavations in and around Athens, it gradually becamethe central National Archaeological Museum and was enriched with finds from all over Greece. Its abundant collections, with more than 11,000 exhibits, provide a panorama of Greek civilization from the beginnings of Prehistory to Late Antiquity.

National Archaeological Museum in Athens - Red Room

The National Archaeological Museum building, a protected monument in itself, was founded in 1866 on a plot donated by Eleni Tositsa. Its construction was based on designs by the architects Ludwig Lange and Panagi Kalkos. The final form of its facade was the work of Ernst Ziller, who also supervised the work until 1889, when the west wing was completed. The present building took form gradually in the 20th century with a series of additions on the east side.

The collection and protection of antiquities was one of the first and foremost concerns of the newly founded Greek state, which set up its first museum on Aegina in 1829. However, when the capital of the Modern Greece was transferred from Nauplio to Athens, where the concentration of ancient temples and public buildings had led to the creation of notable collections, the need to establish a Central Museum for Antiquities became imperative.

The National Archaeological Museum was founded by presidential decree on August 9, 1893. Its purpose was ‘the study and teaching of the science of archaeology, the propagation of archaeological knowledge and the cultivation of a love for the Fine Arts’.

With the declaration of the Second World War in 1939, the National Archaeological 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 the architect P. Karantinos remodeled the exhibition spaces. During that time the temporary display was limited to ten rooms of the east wing. Christos and Semni Karouzou completed the re-exposition in 1964, having created an exemplary display of the development of ancient Greek art from prehistory to the Roman period. The unique Greek collection of Egyptian antiquities was exhibited for the first time thirty years later, in 1994.

The vast exhibition space – numerous galleries on each floor accounting for a total of 8,000 square metres – house five large permanent collections:

National Archaeological Museum

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 Thira.
The Sculptures Collection, which shows the development of ancient Greek sculpture from the seventh to the fifth centuries BC with unique masterpieces.

The National Archaeological Museum welcomes thousands of visitors each year. Besides displaying its own treasures, it organizes temporary exhibitions and lends artefacts to exhibitions both in Greece and abroad. It also functions as a research center for scientists and scholars from around the world and participates in special educational and other programs. An important feature is the availability of guided visits for people with hearing impediments. The National Archaeological Museum functions as a Special Regional Service of the Ministry of Culture and its five permanent collections are administered autonomously.

Additional Information
Location: in center of Athens

It is famous about
The largest and the most important museum in the world devoted to ancient Greek art
The Prehistoric Collection, The Sculptures Collection, The Vase and Minor Objects Collection, The Metallurgy Collection, Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities Collection,
Availability of guided visits for people with hearing impediments