Museums of Athens

The Piraeus Archaeological Museum is indeed located in Piraeus, the port city of Athens. You can reach the port from Athens via metro line number 1, which is the old Athens-Piraeus railway line. Unlike other metro lines, this line runs mostly above ground, making for a somewhat bumpier ride than the other lines .  Museum Exhibition Hall, March 2022. Photo: OI Ancient objects found in Piraeus were initially displayed in a school building located right next to a Hellenistic-era theater. Map of ancient Piraeus. The museum and the ancient theater are marked with number 1, right next to the Zea harbor basin. Photo: OI In 1935, the exhibition space was officially designated as an archaeological museum and in 1966 planning was begun for a new, larger museum building, which was eventually opened in 1981 next to the old structure. The new museum has a total area of 1,400 m², while the old school building was repurposed for collection storage. The museum buildings now surround the ancient th...

 The War Museum is located in the same area as the National Gallery and the Byzantine Museum. While the Byzantine Museum houses excellent collections related to Byzantine art and cultural history, the War Museum offers the opportunity to view Byzantium from a different perspective, through the lens of warfare and the portrayal of emperors. War Museum, March 2022. Photo: OI The museum is situated in a modernist building – its architecture is reminiscent of Mies van der Rohe's Berlin Neue Nationalgalerie, somewhat like Turku's Wäinö Aaltonen Museum in Finland. The Athens museum opened in 1975. The War Museum begins its exhibition with Stone Age weapons and somewhat unexpectedly continues with the presentation of Cycladic art. Exhibit from the War Museum: Cycladic female marble figures. Early period, 2700-2300 BCE. Cycladic Art Museum. Replicas. Photo: OI Moving through Mycenae, the exhibition progresses to classical Greek sculpture, focusing on the warfare and warriors of the ti...