Museums in Greece
Stoa of Attalos
The Stoa of Attalos was a covered walkway or portico in the Agora of Athens. It was built by and named after King Attalos II of Pergamon, who ruled between 159 BC and 138 BC. The current building was reconstructed in 1952–1956 by American architects along with the Greek architect Ioannis Travlos and the Greek Civil Engineer Yeoryios Biris. Typical of the Hellenistic age, the stoa was more elaborate and larger th ...
Founded: 159 BCE (1952-1956) |
Location:
Athens, Greece
National Archaeological Museum
The National Archaeological Museum houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide. The current location was proposed and the construction of the museum"s building began in 1866 and was c ...
Founded: 1866-1889 |
Location:
Athens, Greece
Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum, opened in 2009, focuses on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It also lies over the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. Nearly 4,000 objects are exhibited over an area of 14,000 square metres.
Founded: 2009 |
Location:
Athens, Greece
Archaeological Museum of Chania
The Archaeological Museum of Chania was established in 1962. to the house built probably in the 1500s. It served as a Venetian church inhabited by Franciscan monks, and became an important monument of the city. During the period of the Ottoman occupation, the building was used as a mosque and named after Yussuf Pasha, the conqueror of Chania. At the turn of the 20th century it became the cinema and after Worl ...
Founded: 1962 |
Location:
Chaniá, Greece
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the largest museums in Greece and the central museum of northern Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly from the city of Thessaloniki but also from the region of Macedonia in general. The museum is housed in a building designed by architect Patroklos Karantinos and is an examp ...
Founded: 1912 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Heraklion Archaeological Museum
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is one of the greatest museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete. The museum began in 1883 as a simple collection of antiquities. A dedicated building was constructed from 1904 to 1912. Today Herakleion Archaeological Museum is one of the largest and most ...
Founded: 1883 |
Location:
Heraklion, Greece
Byzantine and Christian Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum was founded in 1914, and houses more than 25,000 exhibits with rare collections of pictures, scriptures, frescoes, pottery, fabrics, manuscripts, and copies of artifacts from the 3rd century AD to the late medieval era. It is one of the most important museums in the world in Byzantine Art. In June 2004, in time for its 90th anniversary and the 2004 Athens Olympics, the museum reopened ...
Founded: 1914 |
Location:
Athens, Greece
Museum of Byzantine Culture
The Museum of Byzantine Culture was opened in 1994. It was established with the aim of creating a centre in which aspects of Byzantine culture surviving in Macedonia in general and Thessaloniki in particular may be kept, researched, and studied. The museum has collections of sculpture, frescoes, mosaics, icons, and inscriptions from the Byzantine period. It has permanent exhibitions, rooms for temporary thematic exhibiti ...
Founded: 1994 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Benaki Museum
The Benaki Museum, established and endowed in 1930 by Antonis Benakis, houses Greek works of art from the prehistorical to the modern times, an extensive collection of Asian art, hosts periodic exhibitions and maintains a state-of-the-art restoration and conservation workshop. Although the museum initially housed a collection that included Islamic art, Chinese porcelain and exhibits on toys, its 2000 re-opening led to t ...
Founded: 1930 |
Location:
Athens, Greece
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki presents the history of Sephardic Jews and Jewish life in the city. The collection of the museum was based on the documents, ritual objects, and photographic collections as well as the library that used to be housed at Vasileos Herakleiou 26. The building was built in 1904 by the Italian architect, Vitaliano Poselli. On the ground level are monumental stones and inscriptions that were o ...
Founded: 2001 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Historical Museum of Crete
The Historical Museum of Crete was founded in 1953 and is housed in a neoclassical building of significant architectural merit. The museum’s permanent collections highlight the art and history of Crete from the 4th century AD to modern times. The collections are ordered chronologically and by subject matter, and are combined with visual material and multimedia. They include ceramics, sculptures, coins, jewellery, wal ...
Founded: 1953 |
Location:
Heraklion, Greece
Archaeological Museum of Corfu
The Archaeological Museum of Corfu was built between 1962 and 1965. The museum land was donated by the city of Corfu. Its initial purpose was to house the archaeological finds from the Temple of Artemis in Corfu. In 1994 it was expanded with the addition of two more exhibit halls that display the more recent finds at the ancient citadel of Corfu. The collections of the museum include for example finds from excavations ...
Founded: 1962 |
Location:
Corfu, Greece