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Museums & Galleries in Athens
The capital where Europe's oldest continuously spoken language lives its modern life: markets, theater, and rebetiko nights as the after-class curriculum.
Why here
Athens holds two of the world's great archaeology museums within two kilometers of each other. The Acropolis Museum, opened in 2009 in Bernard Tschumi's glass-and-concrete building 300 meters from the rock, shows more than 4,250 objects across 14,000 square meters, with the Parthenon Gallery on the top floor rotated to align exactly with the temple it interprets and an excavated ancient neighborhood visible under the glass floors. Across town, the National Archaeological Museum is Greece's largest, with over 11,000 exhibits on display from a sculpture collection that alone runs to some 16,000 pieces. Between them sits the whole argument of Greek art, from Cycladic to Roman, walkable in a day.
Best months
Year-round; April to June and September to November dodge the summer heat and cruise crowds. Book Acropolis Museum tickets online in high season. Both museums run long evening hours in summer.
Getting there & around
Both museums sit on the metro: Akropoli station for one, Viktoria or Omonia for the other. Two kilometers apart, a day covers both without hurry.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Acropolis Museum
OrganizerThe Acropolis Museum opened on 20 June 2009 in a building by Bernard Tschumi and his Greek collaborator Michael Photiades, 300 metres from the Acropolis monuments at Dionysiou Areopagitou 15. Its exhibition culminates in the third-floor Parthenon Gallery, a glass-walled chamber whose orientation and dimensions match the Parthenon's original cella, with a direct line of sight to the temple; original marbles stand beside plaster copies of pieces retained in the British Museum and elsewhere. The building incorporates the excavated ruins of an ancient neighbourhood into its design, and more than 4,250 objects are on display.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
OrganizerGreece's largest museum, over 11,000 exhibits on display at 44 Patission Street.
Also good for museums & galleries in September:
Torn between Athens and Humlebaek for September?
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