National Archaeological Museum of Athens

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

from prehistory

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

to late antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

. It is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide. It is situated in the Exarhia area in central Athens between Epirus Street, Bouboulinas Street and Tositsas Street while its entrance is on the Patission Street adjacent to the historical building of the Athens Polytechnic.

History

The first national archaeological museum in Greece was established by prime minister of Greece

Prime Minister of Greece

The Prime Minister of Greece , officially the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic , is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The current interim Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former Vice President of the European Central Bank, following...

Ioannis Kapodistrias

Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias |Academy of Athens]] Critical Observations about the 6th-Grade History Textbook"): "3.2.7. Σελ. 40: Δεν αναφέρεται ότι ο Καποδίστριας ήταν Κερκυραίος ευγενής." "...δύο ιστορικούς της Aκαδημίας κ.κ...

in Aigina in 1829. Since then the archaeological collection has been moved to a number of exhibition places until 1858, when an international architectural competition was announced for the location and the architectural design of the new museum.

The current location was proposed and the construction of the museum's building began in 1866 and was completed in 1889 using funds from the Greek Government, the Greek Archaeological Society and the society of Mycenae

Mycenae

Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...

. Major benefactors were Eleni Tositsa who donated the land for the building of the museum, Demetrios and Nikolaos Vernardakis from Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

who donated a large amount for the completion of the museum.

The initial name for the museum was The Central Museum and it was renamed to its current name in 1881 by Prime Minister of Greece

Prime Minister of Greece

Charilaos Trikoupis

Charilaos Trikoupis was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895....

. In 1887 the prominent archaeologist Valerios Stais

Valerios Stais

Valerios Stais was a Greek archaeologist. He was born in Kythera. He studied medicine and later archaeology. He became the director of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens in 1887 and held that post until his death. During that period he organized or participated in excavations in...

becomes the museum's curator.
During the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

the museum was closed and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting. In 1945 exhibits were again displayed under the direction of Christos Karouzos.
The south wing of the museum houses the Epigraphic Museum with the richest collection of inscriptions in the world. The inscriptions museum expanded between 1953–1960 with the architectural designs of Patroklos Karantinos

Patroklos Karantinos

Patroklos Karantinos was a notable Greek architect of early modernism in Greece.Karantinos studied architecture in Athens and then went to France, where he studied with Auguste Perret....

The building

The museum has an imposing neo-classical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

design which was very popular in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

at the time and is in full accordance with the classical

Classicism

Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...

style artifacts that it houses. The initial plan was conceived by the architect Ludwig Lange and it was later modified by Panages Kalkos who was the main architect, Harmodios Vlachos and Ernst Ziller

Ernst Ziller

Ernst Moritz Theodor Ziller was a Saxon architect who later became a Greek national, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a major designer of royal and municipal buildings in Athens, Patras and other Greek cities.- Buildings :* Presidential Mansion, Athens* National Theatre of...

. At the front of the museum there is a large neo-classic

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

design garden which is decorated with sculptures.

Expansions and renovations

The building has undergone many expansions. Most important were the construction of new east wing in the early 20th century based on the plans of Anastasios Metaxas

Anastasios Metaxas

Anastasios Metaxas was a Greek architect and shooter.Metaxas is best known for being the architect chosen by George Averoff to restore the Panathinaiko Stadium for the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, the birth of the modern Olympic movement, while the design was from Ernst Ziller. He also competed...

and the erection of a two-storeyed building, designed by George Nomikos, in 1932-1939. These expansions were necessary to accommodate the rapidly expanding collection of artifacts. The most recent refurbishment of the museum took more than 1.5 years to complete, during which the museum remained completely closed. It reopened in July 2004, in time for the Athens Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

and it included aesthetic and technical upgrade of the building, installation of a modern air-conditioning system, reorganisation of the museum's collection and repair of the damage that the 1999 earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

left to the building. The Minoan frescoes rooms opened to the public in 2005. On May 2008 the Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis inaugurated the much anticipated collection of Egyptian antiquities and the collection of Eleni and Antonis Stathatos. Today, there is a renewed discussion regarding the need to further expand the museum to adjacent areas. A new plan has been put forward for a subterranean expansion at the front of the museum.

Collections

The museum's collections are organised in sections:

Prehistoric collection (Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

, Cycladic, Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...

)
Sculptures collection
Vase
Vase
The vase is an open container, often used to hold cut flowers. It can be made from a number of materials including ceramics and glass. The vase is often decorated and thus used to extend the beauty of its contents....

and Minor Objects Collection
Santorini
Santorini
Santorini , officially Thira , is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera...

findings
Metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

Collection
Stathatos Collection
Vlastos Collection
Egyptian Art
Art of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic...

collection
Near Eastern Antiquities Collection

Prehistoric collection

The prehistoric collection displays objects from the Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

era (6800-3000 BC), Early and Mid-Bronze age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

(3000-2000 BC and 2000 to 1700 BC respectively), objects classified as Cycladic and Mycenaean

Helladic period

Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The term is commonly used in archaeology and art history...

art.

Neolithic era and early and mid-Bronze age collection

There are ceramic finds from various important Neolithic sites such as Dimini

Dimini

Dimini is a village near the city of Volos, in Thessaly , in Magnesia. It was the seat of the municipality of Aisonia. The name Aisonia dates back to ancient times and it is the westernmost place in the Volos area. The Dimini area contains both a Mycenean settlement and a Neolithic settlement...

and Sesclo from middle Helladic ceramics from Boeotia

Boeotia

Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

, Attica

Attica

Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

and Phthiotis

Phthiotis

Phthiotis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is bordered by the Malian Gulf to the east, Boeotia in the south, Phocis in the south, Aetolia-Acarnania in the southwest, Evrytania in the west,...

. Some objects from Heinrich Schliemann

Heinrich Schliemann

Heinrich Schliemann was a German businessman and amateur archaeologist, and an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns...

excavations in Troy

Troy

Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

are also on display.

Cycladic art collection

Cycladic collection features the famous marble figurines from the Aegean

Aegean Islands

The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast...

islands of Delos

Delos

The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece...

and Keros

Keros

Keros is an uninhabited Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisi. It has an area of and its highest point is...

including the Lutist. These mysterious human representations that resemble so much modern art and inspired many artists like Henry Moore

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

came from the 3rd millennium BC old cemeteries of Aegean islands along with bronze tools and containers.

Mycenean art collection

Mycenean civilization is represented by stone, bronze and ceramic pots, figurines, ivory, glass and faience objects, golden seals and rings from the vaulted tombs in Mycenae and other locations in the Peloponnese (Tiryns

Tiryns

Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...

and Dendra

Dendra

Dendra is a prehistoric archaeological site situated outside the village with the same name belonging to the municipality of Midea in the Argolid, Greece....

in Argolis

Argolis

Argolis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula.-Geography:...

, Pylos

Pylos

Pylos , historically known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former...

in Messinia and Vaphio

Vaphio

Vaphio is an ancient site in Laconia, Greece, on the right bank of the Eurotas, some five miles south of Sparta. It is famous for its tholos or "bee-hive" tomb, excavated in 1889 by Christos Tsountas...

in Lakonia). Of great interest are the two golden cups from Vafeio showiung a scene of the capture of a bull.

Heinrich Schliemann finds

Mycenean collection includes also the magnificent 19th century finds of Heinrich Schliemann

Heinrich Schliemann

in Mycenae

Mycenae

Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...

from the circle A graves

Grave Circle A, Mycenae

Grave Circle A in Mycenae is a 16th century BC royal cemetery situated on the southeast of the Lion Gate, the main entrance of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece...

and the much earlier circle B graves. Most notable are the golden funerary masks covering the faces of
the deceased Mycenean leaders. Among them, the most famous is the one that was named erroneously as the mask of Agamemnon

Mask of Agamemnon

The Mask of Agamemnon is an artifact discovered at Mycenae in 1876 by Heinrich Schliemann. The artifact is a funeral mask hewn in gold, and was found over the face of a body located in a burial shaft...

.
There are also finds from the citadel of Mycenae

Mycenae

Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...

including relief stelae, golden containers, glass, alabaster and amber tools and jewels. Other highlights are a group in ivory showing two goddesses with a child, a painted limestone head of a goddess and the famous warrior's vase dating from the 12th century.

Egyptian Art collection

The Egyptian

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

collection dates back to the last twenty years of the 19th century, while it is worthy to note the donation of the Egyptian government which in 1893 offered nine mummies of the era of the Pharaohs. However, the Egyptian collection is mainly by two donors, Ioannis Dimitriou (in 1880) and of Alexandros Rostovic (in 1904). In total the collection includes more than 6000 artifacts. However today only 1100 of them are available for the public. The collection is considered to be one of the best collections of Egyptian art

Art of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic...

in the world.
The exhibition features rare statues, tools, jewels, mummies, a wooden body tag for a mummy, a stunning bronze statue of a princess, intact bird eggs and a 3000-year-old loaf of bread with a bite-sized chunk missing. The exhibition centrepiece is a bronze statue of the princess-priestess Takushit, dating to around 670 BC. Standing 70 cm high and wearing a gown covered in hieroglyphs, the statue was found south of Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

in 1880.

Stathatos collection

Stathatos collection took its name by the donors and major Greek benefactors Antonis and Eleni Stathatos. The collection features about 1000 objects mainly jewels as well as metal objects, vases and pottery from the Middle Bronze Age

Bronze Age

to post-Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

era. Its highlights are the Hellenistic period

Hellenistic period

The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...

golden jewels from Karpenissi and Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

Artists and artefacts

Some of the ancient artists whose work is presented in the museum are Myron

Myron

Myron of Eleutherae working circa 480-440 BC, was an Athenian sculptor from the mid-5th century BC. He was born in Eleutherae on the borders of Boeotia and Attica. According to Pliny's Natural History, Ageladas of Argos was his teacher....

, Scopas

Scopas

Scopas or Skopas was an Ancient Greek sculptor and architect, born on the island of Paros. Scopas worked with Praxiteles, and he sculpted parts of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, especially the reliefs. He led the building of the new temple of Athena Alea at Tegea...

, Euthymides

Euthymides

Euthymides was an ancient Athenian potter and painter of vases, primarily active between 515 and 500 BC. He was a member of the Greek art movement later to be known as "The Pioneers" for their exploration of the new decorative style known as red-figure pottery...

, Lydos

Lydos

Lydos was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. Active between '’circa’’ 560 and 530 BC, he was the main representative of the '’’Lydos Group’’’ ....

, Agoracritus

Agoracritus

Agoracritus was a famous sculptor in ancient Greece, born on the island of Paros, who flourished from about Olympiad 85 to 88, that is, from about 436 to 424 BC....

, Agasias

Agasias

Agasias was the name of several different people in Classical history, including two different Greek sculptors.*Agasias of Arcadia, a warrior mentioned by Xenophon...

, Pan Painter

Pan Painter

The Pan Painter was an ancient Greek vase-painter of the Attic red-figure style, active ca. 480 to 450 BC. A pupil of Myson, he stands the beginning of the Mannerists, though his drawing technique is considered the finest. Sir John Beazley attributed over 150 vases to his hand...

, Wedding Painter

Wedding Painter

Wedding Painter is the conventional name for an ancient Greek vase painter active in Athens from circa 480 to 460 BC. He painted in the red-figure technique. His name vase is pyxis in the Louvre...

, Meleager Painter

Meleager Painter

The Meleager Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure tradition. He was active in the first third of the 4th century BC. The Meleager Painter followed a tradition started by a group of slightly earlier artists, such as the Mikion Painter. He is probably the most important...

, Cimon of Cleonae

Cimon of Cleonae

Cimon of Cleonae was an early painter of ancient Greece. He was said to have introduced great improvements in drawing. He represented figures, according to Pliny, "out of the straight", and he developed ways of representing faces looking back, up, or down; he also made the joints of the body clear,...

, Nessos Painter

Nessos Painter

The Nessos Painter , was a pioneer of Attic black-figure vase painting...

, Damophon

Damophon

Damophon was an ancient Greek sculptor of the Hellenistic period from Messene, who executed many statues for the people of Messene, Megalopolis, Aegium and other cities of Peloponnesus. His statues were acroliths...

, Aison (vase painter)

Aison (vase painter)

Aison was an ancient Greek vase painter of the red-figure style. About 60 of his vases survive, which are dated between 435 and 415 BCE. Aison spent his career in several workshops, where he came into contact with several other well known painters. His first works were created in the same workshop...

, Analatos Painter

Analatos Painter

The Analatos Painter was an Attic vase painter of the Early Proto-Attic style.The true name of the Analatos Painter is unknown. His conventional name is derived from the central Attic area of Analatos , where several of his works have been excavated. His name vase is a hydria...

, Polygnotos (vase painter)

Polygnotos (vase painter)

Polygnotos , a Greek vase-painter in Athens, is considered one of the most important vase painters of the red figure style of the high-classical period...

, Hermonax

Hermonax

Hermonax was a Greek vase painter working in the red-figure style. He painted between ca. 470 and 440 BC in Athens. Ten vases signed with the phrase "Hermonax has painted it" survive, mainly stamnoi and lekythoi...

.

Collections include sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

work, Loutrophoros

Loutrophoros

A loutrophoros is a distinctive type of Greek pottery vessel characterized by an elongated neck with two handles. The loutrophoros was used to hold water during marriage and funeral rituals, and was placed in the tombs of the unmarried...

, amphora

Amphora

An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...

, Hydria

Hydria

A hydria is a type of Greek pottery used for carrying water. The hydria has three handles. Two horizontal handles on either side of the body of the pot were used for lifting and carrying the pot. The third handle, a vertical one, located in the center of the other two handles, was used when...

, Skyphos

Skyphos

In classifying the pottery of Ancient Greece, a skyphos is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim , or they may be loop handles at the rim or that stand away from the lower part of the body...

, Krater

Krater

A krater was a large vase used to mix wine and water in Ancient Greece.-Form and function:...

, Pelike

Pelike

A pelike is a one-piece ceramic container similar to an amphora.It has two open handles that are vertical on their lateral aspects and even at the side with the edge of the belly, a narrow neck, a flanged mouth, and a sagging, almost spherical belly....

, and lekythos

Lekythos

A lekythos is a type of Greek pottery used for storing oil , especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel. The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried men and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often...

vessels, Stele

Stele

A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...

, fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es, jewellery

Jewellery

Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...

, weapon

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

s, tool

Tool

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

s, coins

COinS

ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method to embed bibliographic metadata in the HTML code of web pages. This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata. The...

, toy

Toy

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

s and other ancient items.

Artifacts derive from archaeological excavations in Santorini

Santorini

Santorini , officially Thira , is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera...

, Mycenae

Mycenae

Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...

, Tiryns

Tiryns

Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...

, Dodona

Dodona

Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione, who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the Greek god Zeus.The shrine of Dodona was regarded as the oldest Hellenic oracle,...

, Vaphio

Vaphio

, Rhamnous

Rhamnous

The site of Rhamnous , the remote northernmost deme of Attica, lies 39 km NE of Athens and 12.4 km NNE of Marathon, Greece overlooking the Euboean Strait. Rhamnous was strategically significant enough to be fortified and receive an Athenian garrison of ephebes...

, Lycosura

Lycosura

Lycosura was a city of Arcadia said by Pausanias to be the oldest city in the world, though there is no evidence for its existence before the fourth century BCE...

, Aegean islands

Aegean Islands

, Delos

Delos

, the Temple of Aphaea

Temple of Aphaea

The Temple of Afea The Temple of Afea The Temple of Afea (the name Afea appears on all the local signs, Afea being the name of a Cretan woman of unsurpassed beauty. After escaping a unwelcome marriage on Crete, she was rescued by a fisherman from Aegina. In payment for this he also proposed an...

in Aegina

Aegina

Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...

, the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta

Sparta

Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

, Pylos

Pylos

, Thebes

Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...

, Athens, Cave of Archedemos the Nympholept

Cave of Archedemos the Nympholept

The Cave of Archedemos the Nympholept is a small cave near Vari in Attica, Greece. The cave is an archaeological site . It was excavated in the first quarter of the 20th century by an American team of archaeologists...

, the Antikythera wreck

Antikythera wreck

The Antikythera wreck is a shipwreck from the 1st or 2nd century BC. It was discovered by sponge divers off Point Glyphadia on the Greek island Antikythera in the early 1900s...

and from various other places across Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

The museum houses the archaic terracota statuette daidala

Daidala

Daidala is a Greek festival of reconciliation that was held every four years in honor of Hera at Plataea in Boeotia. Every fourteen cycles a Great Daidala was celebrated all over Boeotia. In the great festival, a wooden statue, referred to as a daidala, was led in procession in a wagon and then...

that inspired the designers of the 2004 Athens Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

maskots Athena and Phevos

Athena and Phevos

"Athena" and "Phevos" were the Olympic mascots of the 2004 Summer Olympics, held in Athens. The pair are one of the few examples of anthropomorphic mascots in the history of the Olympics...

New exhibits

Two of the newest exhibits of the museum include a 4th century BC golden funerary wreath and a 6th century BC marble statue of a woman, which were returned as stolen artifacts to Greece in 2007 by the Getty Museum in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, after a 10-year-old legal dispute between the Getty Center

Getty Center

The Getty Center, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, is a campus for cultural institutions founded by oilman J. Paul Getty. The $1.3 billion center, which opened on December 16, 1997, is also well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles...

and the Greek Government.
One year earlier, the Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

foundation agreed to return a 4th century BC tombstone from near Thebes

Thebes, Greece

and a 6th century BC votive relief from the island of Thassos.

Museum highlights

Antikythera mechanism
Antikythera mechanism
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck. Its significance and complexity were not understood until decades later. Its time of construction is now estimated between 150 and 100...
Nestor's Cup
Nestor's Cup
The term Cup of Nestor or Nestor's Cup can refer to:#A golden mixing cup, described in Homer's Iliad, belonging to Nestor, the king of Pylos....
Mask of Agamemnon
Mask of Agamemnon
The Mask of Agamemnon is an artifact discovered at Mycenae in 1876 by Heinrich Schliemann. The artifact is a funeral mask hewn in gold, and was found over the face of a body located in a burial shaft...
Dipylon inscription
Dipylon inscription
The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to ca. 740 BC. It is famous for being the oldest known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet...
Poseidon of Cape Artemision
Antikythera Ephebe
Diadumenos
Diadumenos
The Diadumenos , together with the Doryphoros and Discophoros, are the three most famous figural types of the sculptor Polyclitus, forming three basic patterns of Ancient Greek sculpture that all present strictly idealised representations of young male athletes in a convincingly naturalistic...
Marathon Boy
Marathon Boy
-Movie:Marathon Boy is the title of a feature-length documentary movie on Budhia Singh, directed by Gemma Atwal. -Statue:The Marathon Boy or Ephebe of Marathon is a Greek bronze sculpture found in the Aegean Sea in the bay of Marathon in 1925; it is conserved in the National Archaeological Museum...
Lemnos stela
Kroisos Kouros
Kroisos Kouros
The Kroisos Kouros is a marble kouros from Anavyssos in Attica which functioned as a grave marker for a fallen young warrior named Kroísos. The free-standing sculpture strides forward with the "archaic smile" playing slightly on his face. The sculpture is dated to c. 540-515 BC and stands 1.95...
Sounion Kouros
Aphrodite of Cnidus
Pitsa panels
Pitsa panels
The Pitsa panels or Pitsa tablets are a group of painted wooden tablets found near Pitsa, Corinthia . They are the earliest surviving examples of Greek panel painting.-Location:...
Aritacata tomb
Collection of Kouros
Kouros
A kouros is the modern term given to those representations of male youths which first appear in the Archaic period in Greece. The term kouros, meaning youth, was first proposed for what were previously thought to be depictions of Apollo by V. I...

and Kore (sculpture)
Kore (sculpture)
Kore is the name given to a type of ancient Greek sculpture of the Archaic period.There are multiple theories on who they represent, and as to whether they represent mortals or deities - one theory is that they represent Persephone the daughter in the triad of the Mother Goddess cults or votary...

Daidala
Daidala
Daidala is a Greek festival of reconciliation that was held every four years in honor of Hera at Plataea in Boeotia. Every fourteen cycles a Great Daidala was celebrated all over Boeotia. In the great festival, a wooden statue, referred to as a daidala, was led in procession in a wagon and then...
Ninnion Tablet
Ninnion Tablet
The Ninnion Tablet, dated to approximately 370 BC, is a red clay tablet depicting the ancient Greek Eleusinian Mysteries . It was rediscovered in Eleusis, Attica in 1895, and is kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.-Content:The tablet depicts Iacchus leading a procession of...
Theseus Ring
Theseus Ring
The Theseus Ring is a gold signet ring that dates back to the Minoan period.- Description :The ring is gold and measures 2.7 x 1.8 cm. On the ring is a depiction of a bull-leaping scene, which includes a lion to the left and what may be a tree on the right...
Pitsa panels
Pitsa panels
The Pitsa panels or Pitsa tablets are a group of painted wooden tablets found near Pitsa, Corinthia . They are the earliest surviving examples of Greek panel painting.-Location:...
Wall frescoes from Tiryns
Tiryns
Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...

and Santorini
Santorini
Santorini , officially Thira , is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera...
The Lutist from Keros
Keros
Keros is an uninhabited Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisi. It has an area of and its highest point is...
Capitoline Venus
Capitoline Venus
The Capitoline Venus is a type of statue of Venus, specifically one of several Venus Pudica types , of which several examples exist. The type ultimately derives from the Aphrodite of Cnidus...
Aphrodite and Pan from Delos
Delos
The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece...
Poseidon of Milos
The Harp Player from Keros
Keros
Keros is an uninhabited Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisi. It has an area of and its highest point is...
Rhyton
Rhyton
A rhyton is a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony such as libation. Rhytons were very common in ancient Persia, where they were called takuk...

in the shape of a bull head
Statue of a Nereid
Jockey of Artemision
Varvakeios Athena
Mycenean Warrior Vase
Warrior Vase
The Mycenaean Warrior Vase, found by Heinrich Schliemann on the acropolis of Mycenae, is one of the prominent treasures of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The Warrior Vase, dated to the 12th century BCE, is probably the best-known piece of Late Helladic pottery...

Library of archaeology

The museum houses a 118 year old library of archeology with rare ancient art, science and philosophy books and publications. The library holds some 20,000 volumes, including rare editions dating to the 17th century. The bibliography covers Archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

, History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, Arts

ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

, ancient religion

Ancient religion

Ancient religion may refer to*Prehistoric religion*Bronze and Iron Age religion**Religions of the Ancient Near East**Ancient Egyptian religion**Historical Vedic religion**Ancient Roman religion**Ancient Greek religion...

s and ancient Greek philosophy, as well as Ancient Greek and Latin literature. Of particular value are the diaries of various excavations including those of Heinrich Schliemann

Heinrich Schliemann

. The collection of archaeology books is the richest of its kind in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. The Library has been recently renovated with funds from the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation

Alexander S. Onassis Foundation

Wishing to honor the memory of his son Alexander, who died in 1973, in an airplane crash at the age of 25, Aristotle Onassis directed in his will that half of his estate should be transferred upon his own death to a foundation to be established in Alexander’s name...

. Its renovation was completed in 26 May 2008 and is now named after Alexander Onassis.

Museum Activities

Conservation laboratories
Photographic archive and chemistry laboratories
Organises temporary exhibitions in the museum and abroad
Hosts a large number of archaeology related lectures in its lecture-hall annually.

Visitors information

The museum is accessible with the Athens metro

Athens Metro

The Athens Metro is an underground rapid transit system serving Athens, the capital city of Greece. It was constructed and owned by Attiko Metro S.A. and operated until 2011 by Attiko Metro Etaireia Leitourgias S.A....

. The nearest stations are Viktoria station and Omonia station. The museum houses a gift shop with artifact replicas and a café in the sculpture garden. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible. There are also facilities and guides for hearing impaired visitors.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

The building

Expansions and renovations

Collections

Prehistoric collection

Neolithic era and early and mid-Bronze age collection

Cycladic art collection

Mycenean art collection

Heinrich Schliemann finds

Egyptian Art collection

Stathatos collection

Artists and artefacts

New exhibits

Museum highlights

Library of archaeology

Museum Activities

Visitors information

See also

External links