National Archaeological Museum

The world's greatest collection of ancient Greek art, including the gold of Mycenae

The National Archaeological Museum is one of the great museums of the world, and it is significantly underestimated by visitors in a hurry to reach the islands. The collection spans Greek prehistory from the Neolithic through the Roman period, with exceptional depth at every point.

The highlights are extraordinary. The Mycenaean galleries hold the gold — funeral masks, cups, weapons, and jewellery from the shaft graves of Mycenae — which give direct physical form to the world Homer described. The Bronze collection includes the Artemision Bronze, a full-scale figure of either Zeus or Poseidon hurling a now-missing bolt or trident, recovered from the sea floor in 1928 and among the finest surviving bronzes from antiquity. The Antikythera Youth and the Jockey of Artemision, both from the same Antikythera shipwreck, are nearby.

Allow at least three hours. The museum is north of the centre in Exarchia, walkable from Omonia Square or served by the metro.

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A story
The gold funeral mask known as the "Mask of Agamemnon" was discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in Shaft Grave V at Mycenae in 1876. Schliemann, who had already excavated Troy, immediately telegraphed the Greek king to announce he had "gazed upon the face of Agamemnon." He was wrong about the identity — the mask dates to the 16th century BC, predating the Trojan War by several hundred years — but it remains one of the most striking objects in Greek archaeology.

Other places in Exarchia