With over 70 museums open to the public right across Athens, we have narrowed down our top five must-sees if you’re visiting the Grecian capital this year!
1. New Acropolis Museum
Located 300 metres from the Parthenon in the historic Makryianni district lies the new Acropolis Museum.
Opened on the 20th of June 2009, the museum is known for its vast collections of architectural sculptures, relics excavated from the Acropolis archaeological site and exhibition programs and tours.
The top floor of the Museum, the Parthenon Gallery, offers a panoramic view of the Acropolis and modern Athens.
For more info, visit theacropolismuseum.gr
2. National Archaeological Museum
Founded at the end of the 19th century, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens has housed and protected antiquities from all over Greece for over 193 years.
The exhibition grounds cover over 26,000 square metres – making it the largest museum in all of Greece.
The museum has five permanent collections as well as a range of temporary exhibitions and the ‘Unseen Museum’ which exhibits rare items from its vaults every two months.
For more info, visit namuseum.gr
3. Byzantine and Christian Museum
Containing over 30,000 artefacts – the Byzantine and Christian Museum is renowned for its collection of art and religious relics from the Early Christian, Byzantine, Medieval, post-Byzantine and later periods.
Containing a series of paintings, icons, ceramics, manuscripts, mosaics, textiles and more, the museum explores Hellenism through the religious traditions that enabled it to flourish.
The objects date from the 3rd to the 21st century AD, and collections are sorted chronologically, by material and theme.
For more info, visit byzantinemuseum.gr
4. National Historical Museum
Housed in the Old Parliament building, the National Historical Museum is located at Koloktronis Square in Athens.
The museum narrates the history of modern Greece, covering the Ottoman period, the 1821 War of Independence, the liberation struggles through to the development of Greece today.
Created in 1882, it has collected historical items of political importance- most notably the original Constitution of liberated Greece.
For more info, visit nhmuseum.gr
5. Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology
Housed in a unique Art Nouveau building in Kolonaki, the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology showcases the sciences and technological developments devised in Ancient Greece.
For the museum’s creator, Kostas Kotsanas, there is a myriad of state-of-the-art technology originating in the era that is often forgotten.
Some hi-tech inventions on display include a robot (‘the automatic servant of Philon’), alarm clocks, telegrams and security systems.
For more info, visit kotsanasmuseum.com
The Automatic Servant of Philon (3rd C. B.C.) – The 1st operating #robot of Humanity @KostasKotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek #Technology in #Athens.#SingularityNow cc @ADAF_GR @lau_devil @Quecalcoatle pic.twitter.com/U6DktFpp8T
— Filipe Vilas-Boas (@VilasBoasFilipe) May 26, 2018
