Museum of Greek Folk Art
Museum of Greek Folk Art
Museum of Greek Folk Art (17 Kydathinaion Street, Plaka, Athens) — under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this museum contains samples of every branch of Greek folk art including embroidery, weaving, regional costumes, masquerades, shadow theatre, silverware, metal ware, pottery, woodcarving, folk painting, stone carving, and more. It displays four centuries (17th-20th) of traditional Greek folk artwork. Along with its main location (Kidathineon 17), there are three other locations where items from this museum are on display: Tzisdaraki Mosque (1 Areos Str. in Monastiraki Square), the Bathhouses of the Winds (8 Kyristou Street), and the Building at 22 Panos Street. Hours: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday) (closed on Monday). Admission: €2 (regular), €1 (reduced: students from non-EU countries, seniors from EU countries). Free for persons under 19 years of age and students from EU countries.
Museum of Cycladic Art
Museum of Cycladic Art
Museum of Cycladic Art (4 Neofitou Douka Street, Athens 10674) – opened in 1986, this museum currently displays over 3,000 artifacts of Cycladic, Ancient Greek and Cypriot art — displayed on four floors, in the galleries of the Museum (a living cultural space in the heart of Athens). One of the Museum wings that host temporary exhibitions is the Stathatos Mansion (1 Irodotou & Vas. Sofias Ave) — one of the best examples of neoclassical architecture in Athens, work of the Bavarian architect Ernest Ziller. A glass-covered passage connects Stathatos Mansion to the Permanent Collections building at 4 Neophytou Douka Str. Hours: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday), 10:00 am – 8:00 pm (Thursday), 11:00 am – 5:00 pm (Sunday). Closed on Tuesday. Admission: €7 (general). €3.50 (seniors & university students). €3.50 admission for all (Monday only), €2.50 (young adults ages 19-26).
Kaisariani Monastery
Kaisariani Monastery
Kaisariani Monastery – this Eastern Orthodox monastery is located in the eastern outskirts of Athens, at the foot of Ymittos Hill. Built during the 11th century AD (at a site that was once an ancient temple dedicated to Aphrodite), the monastery was dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin Mary. Many of its frescoes were added onto the monastery during the 17th & 18th centuries, along with a bell tower (which was added during the 19th century). Hours: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday) (closed on Monday). Admission: Admission: €2 (general). Free for seniors, students and children up to 17 years.
Hellenic Maritime Museum
Hellenic Maritime Museum
Hellenic Maritime Museum (Akti Themistokleous, Freattys, Athens) – founded in 1949, this museum is a tribute to the country’s maritime history, which is extensive. There are displays of models of ancient and modern ships, paintings by some of the greatest 19th and 20th century Greek painters of seascapes (Prossalendis, Volanakis, Hadjis, etc.); also guns, maps, flags, medals, nautical instruments, etc. There is also a specialized library in the Museum with 10,000 volumes and rich archival material, a photographic and film collection, which includes, among others, the archives of Admiral Kriezis and approximately 200 maps (16th -20th centuries). Hours: 9:00 am – 2:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday), 9:30 am – 2:00 pm (Saturday) (closed on Monday). Admission: Admission: €4 (general), €2 (reduced – college students)
Byzantine and Christian Museum
Byzantine and Christian Museum
Byzantine and Christian Museum (22 Vas. Sophias Avenue, Athens 10675) — this is one of the most important public institutions in Greece, established in 1914 in order to collect, study, preserve and exhibit the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine cultural heritage in the Hellenic territory. The museum collection contains an important number (approximately 30,000) of works of art such as icons, sculptures, ceramics, ecclesiastical textiles, paintings, jewelries and architectural elements (wall paintings and mosaics). The permanent exhibition is divided in two main parts: The first is devoted to Byzantium (4th -15th c. AD) and contains 1200 artifacts; the second is titled “From Byzantium to the modern era” — displaying 1,500 artworks dating from the 15th to 20th century.
Hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday) (closed on Monday). Admission: €4 (general). Free for seniors, disabled, college students, and children up to 17 years.
Benaki Museum
Benaki Museum
Benaki Museum (1 Koumbari St. & Vas. Sofias Avenue, Athens) – local benefactor Anthony Benaki founded this museum in 1930, is housed in a refurbished neo-classical building in the center of Athens, and has a diverse collection of Greek art, consisting of 40,000 items, illustrating the character of the Greek world through a spectacular historical panorama: from antiquity and the age of Roman domination to the medieval Byzantine period; from the fall of Constantinople (1453) and the centuries of Frankish and Ottoman occupation to the outbreak of the struggle for independence in 1821; and from the formation of the modern state of Greece (1830) down to the early 20th century.
Hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (Wednesday & Friday), 9:00 am – 12:00 am (Thursday & Saturday), 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (Sunday). Closed on Monday & Tuesday. Admission: €7 (general), €5 (reduced: seniors/students), €1 (journalists). Free admission for those under 22 years of age, unemployed and the disabled.
Athens War Museum
Athens War Museum
Athens War Museum (Rizari 2, near Syntagma Square, Athens) – set up by the Greek armed forces, this museum has exhibits from various historic periods – from the ancient times, to more modern ones. Along with weapons and armored gear that Greek warriors wore in ancient times, there are artifacts (from muskets to flintlocks, pistols and swords) connected to the Greek war of independence from Ottoman rule in the early 1800s. Those arriving here immediately notice the modern war planes and cannons on display just outside the museum. Hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday)(closed on Monday). Opening time extended to 7:00 pm during the Summer. Admission: €3 (regular), €1.50 (reduced). Free admission for all during the first Sunday of each month.
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus (Charilaou Trikoupi 31, Athens) – this museum has artifacts from the ancient Greek city of Piraeus and nearby Mochato and Kallithea, along with the coastal areas of Attica and the islands of the Saronic Gulf. Also on display here are Mycenaean and Roman period artifacts recovered from the bottom of the nearby sea. Visitors will also come across the statue of Apollo, two statues of Artemis and one of Athena, along with a collection of bronze statues and other fascinating ancient Greek artifacts. Hours: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday) (closed on Monday). Admission: €3 (general). €2 (reduced: seniors, children up to 17 years, and students).
Ancient Agora of Athens
Ancient Agora of Athens
Ancient Agora of Athens (Polignotou Street, Athens) – the Greek word for “gathering place” is “agora”. This open field, located just northwest of the Acropolis, was a public space during the Ancient Greek periods (dating back to the 7th century BC). This became the center of Athenian government and Ancient Greek democracy, since this space also accommodated buildings of various governmental functions (including law courts), as well as temples. It was also the place where philosophers such as Socrates and Plato taught their ideas to the public. The Agora was abandoned after the Second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BC), and went through subsequent periods of reconstruction (during the Age of Pericles and Reign of Augustus Caesar) and destruction (Peloponnesian Wars, Seige of Athens by Roman general Sulla, invasion of Athens by Herulians). The Ancient Agora was gradually abandoned from the Byzantine period onward, with archaeological excavation efforts being conducted on and off from the mid-19th century onward.
Hours: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm (daily). Admission: €4 (general). €2 (reduced: seniors, non-EU students). Free admission for EU students and children up to 17 years.
Note: Museum of Ancient Agora – this museum is housed in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, originally erected during the 2nd century BC as a gift of the king of Pergamon, Attalos II, to Athens. The exhibition in the Museum gallery holds archaeological finds coming from the systematic excavations of the American School of Classical Studies in the area and dated from the Neolithic to the Post-byzantine and Ottoman periods. The Museum exhibition is organized in chronological and thematic units that reveal aspects of the public and private life in ancient Athens. The earliest antiquities, potsherds, vases, terracotta figurines and weapons, dating from the Neolothic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Geometric period, come from wells and tombs excavated in the area of the Athenian Agora and its environs.
The most important exhibits are the objects associated with the various departments of civic life and the institutions of the Athenian Democracy and are dated from the Classical and Late Classical periods. Among them are exhibited official clay measures, bronze official weights, a fragment of a marble allotment machine, official jurors identification tags, a clay water-clock, official bronze ballots, and potsherds inscribed with names of illustrious political personalities of the 5th century BC Athens which were used as ballots in the process of ostracism. Of special interest is a marble stele adorned with a relief showing the People (Demos) of Athens being crowned by Democracy and inscribed with a law against tyranny passed by the people of Athens in 336 BC. Also exhibited are fine specimens of black-figured and red-figured pottery – some attributed to renowned vase painters, as well as kitchen and table ware, lamps, terracotta figurines, coins and jewelry.
Hours: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm (daily). Admission: €4 (general). €2 (reduced: seniors, non-EU students). Free admission for EU students and children up to 17 years.
Acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis (Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, Athens 11742) – this is the famed ancient citadel located on a prominent plateaued rock high above the rest of the Greek capital (Athens). It contained the remains of several buildings of significance to Ancient Greek civilization, including the Parthenon. Another significant site within the Acropolis is the Temple of Athena Nika. Hours: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm daily. Admission: €12 (general). €6 (reduced). Free admission to children (up to 17 years).
