National Archaeological Museum [Museum Profile]

Where: Athens (44, 28is Oktovriou St)

In a few words:
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide.
  

Why:
The National Archaeological Museum is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art. It was completed in 1889 to house and protect antiquities from all over Greece, as well as an extensive collection of Egyptian antiquities.

 

 

What you will see:
If you are planning to visit the museum make sure you have plenty of spare time, as the museum contains some of the most famous artifacts from antiquity.

• Epigraphic Museum (Museum of Inscriptions). It is part of the Archeological Museum but has a separate side-entrance. It includes 14,000 inscriptions from Greece and Asia Minor and is the biggest epigraphic museum in the world.

 

• Zeus/Poseidon of Artemision. Is it actually the statue of Poseidon or Zeus? Archaeologists keep on arguing on this question. This bronze statue is a masterpiece of classical period sculpture art. Its height reaches 2.09 m and is one of the few original bronze statues preserved until now.

 

• Τhe Antikythera mechanism, which is generally referred to as the first known analogue computer. All known fragments of the Antikythera mechanism are kept at the National Archaeological Museum, along with a number of artistic reconstructions of how the mechanism may have looked.

 

• The golden mask of “Agamemnon”. Although it has been proven not to be related with the Trojan War’s King Agamemnon, the golden death mask is still a remarkable exhibit worth seeing. The theory of the archaeologist that found the mask, E. Schliemann, was wrong and nowadays it is believed to be the death mask of a king, who died three centuries before Agamemnon (16th century BCE). You can see the mask together with other objects (jewels, golden artifacts, swords etc) found in Mycenaean royal tombs in The Mycenaean Collection Room.

 

• The Marathon Boy. It is a statue of a young boy named after the gulf of Marathon, where it was discovered in 1926. The inscription on its base says that the child is a boxer. Apart from its left hand which is believed to be a later repair, this statue is considered to be a masterpiece. It is probably the work of Praxiteles, the most renowned of the Attic sculptors, or one of his students c. 330 BCE.

 

• The Fisherman’s Fresco and the Young Boxers: Two of the most well-preserved Bronze Age frescos, created sometime between 1650 and 1550 BCE before the island of Thera (Santorini) exploded from the devastating Minoan eruption.

 

Opening hours:
Summer (1 April – 31 October):
Monday: 1pm – 8pm
Tuesday – Sunday: 8am – 8pm

Winter (1 November – 31 March):
Monday: 1pm – 8pm
Tuesday – Sunday: 9am – 4pm

Closed:
New Years Day, March 25, Easter Sunday, May 1, Christmas Day, Boxing Day

Ticket prices (2017):
Full admission:
Full admission: €10

Reduced admission:
Reduced admission: €5
1. Students from non-EU countries, with current student identification card
2. Senior citizens from EU countries, 65 years of age and over, with current identification card or passport to confirm age

Special ticket package:
Full admission to four archaeological museums: €15
Reduced admission to four archaeological museums: €8
Valid for 3 days for the below museums in Athens:
1. National Archaeological Museum
2. Epigraphic Museum
3. Byzantine and Christian Museum
4. Numismatic Museum

Free admission: 
1. Visitors under 18 years old (by showing their ID or passport)
2. Students from EU countries (by showing their university card)
3. Visitors with disabilities and their companion

Free admission to all visitors on below public holidays:
1. 6 March (in memory of Melina Mercouri)
2. 18 April (International Monument Day)
3. 18 May (International Museum Day)
4. The last weekend of September (European Days of Cultural Heritage)
5. 28 October (National Holiday)
6. The first Sunday of the month for the period between 1 November and 31 March

Official website:
namuseum.gr