One of the most important archaeological museums in Greece, holding the finest collection of material from the sanctuary. The centrepiece is the set of sculptures from the Temple of Zeus: the two pediment groups and the twelve metopes showing the Labours of Hercules. These are among the earliest masterpieces of Classical Greek sculpture, carved around 460 BC, and seeing them in person rather than in reproduction is a different experience entirely.
The museum also contains the Nike of Paionios (a winged victory originally mounted on a tall triangular column outside the temple), the Hermes of Praxiteles (one of very few indisputably original works by a named ancient Greek sculptor), a large collection of bronze votive offerings, and the iron scraper and clay jug believed to have belonged to the workshop of Pheidias himself. Allow at least two hours.