National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Artifacts from a wide range of Greek archaeological sites — prehistory through late antiquity under a single roof in Exarcheia.
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This is the richest collection of ancient Greek artifacts in the world, drawing from sites across the entire country. The south wing alone contains a separate museum — the Epigraphical Museum — holding the world's richest collection of inscriptions. The neo-classical building, completed in 1889, was funded by donors from Athens to Saint Petersburg.
What to look for
- The Epigraphical Museum in the south wing — the world's richest collection of ancient inscriptions
- The neo-classical facade, built 1866–1889 on land donated by benefactor Eleni Tositsa
- The chronological sweep: artifacts range from Greek prehistory all the way through late antiquity, drawn from a variety of sites across Greece
Entrance is on Patission Street in the Exarcheia neighborhood, next to the National Technical University of Athens building.
National Archaeological Museum of Athens is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Athens, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Athens pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Athens
- ParthenonA temple built to celebrate a war victory that went on to become a church, a mosque, and a gunpowder depot — blown apart in 1687 and still being reassembled.
- Acropolis of AthensA flat-topped rock 150 m above the city where Pericles spent the 5th century BC erecting the buildings that still define Athens.
- Platonic Academy (Akadimia Platonos)Aristotle studied here for twenty years before leaving to found his own school — and the word "academy" has followed ever since.
- Classical AthensDemocracy was invented here in 508 BC — and it took a bribe at Delphi to get it started.
- Olympic Stadium Athens "Spyros Louis"Santiago Calatrava's white steel roof arches over the same track where Athens opened the 2004 Olympics — and hosted three Champions League finals.
- ErechtheionThe one Greek temple that broke every rule of classical architecture — and scholars still can't agree on what it was actually called.