National Archaeological Museum
Greece's largest museum, holding antiquities from prehistory to late antiquity in a neoclassical palace.
The National Archaeological Museum holds the largest collection of Greek antiquities in the world, drawn from excavations across the whole country rather than from a single site. Its permanent displays are divided into prehistoric, sculpture, vase and minor arts, metalwork and Egyptian collections, covering the period from the Neolithic to late antiquity. The Mycenaean hall, with the gold work Heinrich Schliemann found in the shaft graves at Mycenae, and the Cycladic and Theran rooms are among the most visited parts of the building.
Building began in 1866 to a design by the Bavarian architect Ludwig Lange, revised by Panagis Kalkos, and the museum opened in 1889; Ernst Ziller added the east wing and completed the long neoclassical facade. A two-storey extension was built between 1932 and 1939. The museum closed during both world wars, its collections buried or crated for safety, and reopened fully in 1964. Temporary exhibitions and contemporary art interventions are staged alongside the permanent galleries.
Highlights
- Mask of Agamemnon and the Mycenaean gold from the shaft graves
- Antikythera Mechanism and the bronze Antikythera Youth
- Bronze Artemision Zeus or Poseidon and the Jockey of Artemision
- Wall paintings from Akrotiri on Thera
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