National Archaeological Museum

This is the largest and most popular of Athens’ many museums, and is usually very crowded. Its vast collection includes treasures unearthed from Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann; a staggering array of sculpture including the earliest known Greek figurines dating from around 2,000 BC; frescoes from the volcanic island of Santorini; and so much more that it is recommended visitors make several visits to absorb it all.
(1585) – This building was first used as a military barracks and later as a university before becoming a museum during the Bourbon period. Its priceless collection of sculptures, bronzes, ceramics, paintings, mosaics, jewellery and other works of art represent the most important periods and aspects of the ancient civilizations (particulary from Pompei and Ercolano).
Through the exhibitions the National Museum one can trace the development of the Art of Greece from the prehistoric days to the golden age of Greek thought, and all the way to the Roman times. The extensive Ancient Mycenaean art collection along with the Archaic sculptures represents a period during which ancient Greece accepted and assimilated external aesthetic influence while it grew secure in its own beliefs. On a similar path, the Cycladic Art collection refer to a culture that was exuberant and self-reliant, and the artifacts of the national museum complement the exhibit of the National Museum of Cycladic Art which can be seen also in Athens.
The sculptures of the classical period bear witness to the unique vision of ancient Greece which emphasized reason and centered its attention on the human body. Classical sculpture realizes the importance of humans as living organisms, and treats the world as an entity which can be observed and explained in rational ways for the first time in the history of humanity. Classical Greek Art worships reason almost as if it were a metaphysical entity, and it remains highly idealistic despite the strong current towards naturalism.
The ideals of the Classical world of Greece find their logical conclusion in the highly expressive statues of the Hellenistic period, and reach the end in the realism and pragmatism of Roman art and architecture.
It was this art of Greece that influenced in later times a rebirth of the Greek ideals, and the shift of focus towards the world and mankind during the Italian Renaissance.
Address: Patission 44 Street; Telephone: (01) 821 7724; E-mail: protocol@eam.culture.gr; Opening time: Monday 12.30pm to 5pm; Tuesday to Friday 8am to 5pm; weekends and public holidays 8.30am to 3pm; Admission: €6 (adults); €3 (concessions). From November to March, Sundays are free
(Subject to Changae)