Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Museum Tour
National Archaeological Museum
Length
Two Hours
See
National Archaeological Museum (
Click here
)
Ahead of you as you enter the museum is the
Prehistoric collection
, showcas-
ing some of the most important pieces of Mycenaean, Neolithic and Cycladic art,
many in solid gold. The fabulous collection of
Mycenaean antiquities
(gallery 4)
is the museum's tour de force. The first cabinet holds the celebrated gold
Mask
of Agamemnon
, unearthed at Mycenae, and bronze daggers with intricate repres-
entations of the hunt. The exquisite
Vaphio gold cups
, with scenes of men
taming wild bulls, are regarded as among the finest surviving examples of My-
cenaean art.
The
Cycladic collection
(gallery 6) includes superb figurines of the 3rd and
2nd millennia BC that inspired artists such as Picasso.
The galleries to the left of the entrance house the oldest, most significant pieces
of the sculpture collection. The colossal 600 BC Naxian marble
Sounion Kour-
os
(room 8) stood before Poseidon's temple in Sounion. Gallery 15 is dominated by
the incredible 460 BC bronze
statue of Zeus or Poseidon
, found in the sea off
Evia. It depicts one of the gods (no one really knows which) with his arms out-
stretched.
The 200 BC
statue of Athena Varvakeion
(gallery 20) is the most famous
copy - much reduced in size - of the colossal statue of Athena Polias by Pheidias
that once stood in the Parthenon.
In gallery 21 the striking 2nd-century-BC
statue of horse and young rider
,
recovered from a shipwreck off Cape Artemision in Evia, stands opposite exquisite
works such as the
statue of Aphrodite
.
Upstairs, the spectacular
Minoan frescoes
from Santorini (Thira) were un-
covered in the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, which was buried by a volcanic
eruption in the late 16th century BC.
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Kolonaki
Benaki Museum
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