A smaller museum in the village of Ancient Olympia dedicated specifically to the history and practice of the ancient Games, as distinct from the main Archaeological Museum's focus on the sanctuary's sculpture and architecture. The collection covers the athletic events — footraces, wrestling, boxing, the pentathlon, the chariot race — through objects, inscriptions, and models, and traces the four-yearly rhythm of the festival from its earliest origins to its suppression by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in AD 393.
On display are original bronze and stone starting blocks, strigils (athlete's scrapers), prize amphorae from the Panathenaic Games, and a good selection of votive bronzes. The museum is quieter than the main museum and gives more space to the social and ceremonial side of the Games — who could compete, what the rules were, what winning meant in the Greek world. Worth an hour.