Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Horse & Rider
In Gallery 21 you will see the striking 2nd-century-BC statue of a horse and young rider,
recovered from a shipwreck off Cape Artemision in Evia. Opposite the horse are several
lesser-known but equally exquisite works such as the statue of Aphrodite, showing a de-
mure nude Aphrodite struggling to hold her draped gown over herself.
Egyptian Gallery
The two-room (40 and 41) Egyptian gallery presents the best of the museum's significant
collection, the only one in Greece. Dating from 5000 BC to the Roman conquest, artefacts
include mummies, Fayum portraits and bronze figurines.
Stathatos Collection
The Stathatos private collection (gallery 42) is a precious array of small pieces from the
middle Bronze Age to the Byzantine period and beyond.
Minoan Frescoes
Upstairs, the spectacular Minoan frescoes from Santorini (Thira) were uncovered in the
prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, which was buried by a volcanic eruption in the late 16th
century BC. The frescoes include
Boxing Children
and
Spring
, depicting red lilies and a
pair of swallows kissing in midair. The Thira Gallery also has videos showing the 1926
eruption and the Akrotiri excavation.
Pottery Collection
The superb pottery collection traces the development of pottery from the Bronze Age
through the Protogeometric and Geometric periods, to the famous Attic black-figured pot-
tery (6th century BC), and red-figured pottery (late 5th to early 4th centuries BC). Other
uniquely Athenian vessels are the Attic White Lekythoi, slender vases depicting scenes at
tombs.
Panathenaic Amphorae
In the centre of Gallery 56 are six Panathenaic amphorae, presented to the winners of the
Panathenaic Games. Each amphora (vase-shaped ceramic vessel) contained oil from the
sacred olive trees of Athens and victors might have received up to 140 of them. They are
