Via Lingua Corinth

From the Agora to the Archaeological Museum

In the summer, when the museum is open till 7pm, we suggest spending a couple of hours in the Monastiraki and Plaka areas, and then taking the 400 bus which will eventually bring you to the Archaeological Museum. 

In the winter, you will need to get to the Archaeological Museum first. 

It’s quite easy to get there on foot, although it isn’t a particularly scenic route, and takes about fifteen minutes. From Monastiraki Square, walk straight up Athinas Street to Omonia Square, and continue straight across the square along 3 Septemviou Street. Take a right along any of the side streets and then left into 28 Oktovriou Street (also called Patission). The museum is on the right next to the Polytechnic. 

Alternatively, you can get the metro from Monastiraki to Victoria Station. Walk back three short blocks towards Omonia on 3 Septemviou Street. Take a left into Ipirou Street for one block which brings you to 28 Oktovriou Street and the museum. 

Visit to the Archaeological Museum  

General admission is 7 euros

Students 3 euros

EU students free

Admission is free for all on Sundays from 1 November to 31 March. 

Any bags larger than a lady’s handbag must be left in the free cloakroom. 

Allow at least 90 minutes for a fairly cursory visit.

 

The National Archaeological Museum is the largest museum in Greece and one of the world's great museums. Although its original purpose was to secure all the finds from the nineteenth century excavations in and around Athens, it gradually became the central National Archaeological Museum and was enriched with finds from all over Greece. Its abundant collections, with more than 20,000 exhibits, provide a panorama of Greek civilization from the beginnings of Prehistory to Late Antiquity.

The museum is housed in an imposing neoclassical building of the end of the nineteenth century, which was designed by L. Lange and remodelled by Ernst Ziller. The vast exhibition space - numerous galleries on each floor accounting for a total of 8,000 square metres - house five large permanent collections: The Prehistoric Collection, which includes works of the great civilizations that developped in the Aegean from the sixth millennium BC to 1050 BC (Neolithic, Cycladic, Mycenaean), and finds from the prehistoric settlement at Thera. The Sculptures Collection, which shows the development of ancient Greek sculpture from the seventh to the fifth centuries BC with unique masterpieces. The Vase and Minor Objects Collection, which contains representative works of ancient Greek pottery from the eleventh century BC to the Roman period and includes the Stathatos Collection, a corpus of minor objects of all periods. The Metallurgy Collection, with many fundamental statues, figurines and minor objects. And, finally, the only Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities Collection in Greece, with works dating from the pre-dynastic period (5000 BC) to the Roman conquest.

The museum possesses a rich photographic archive and a library with many rare publications, the latter of which is constantly enriched to meet the needs of the research staff. There are also modern conservation laboratories for metal, pottery, stone and organic materials, a cast workshop, a photographic laboratory and a chemistry laboratory. The museum has temporary exhibition spaces, a lecture hall for archaeological lectures and one of the largest shops of the Archaeological Receipts Fund.

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 Museum functions as a Special Regional Service of the Ministry of Culture and its five permanent collections are administered autonomously.

Text & photos courtesy of http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/gh151.jsp?obj_id=3249