War Museum

 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 time.

Corinthian helmet from the 7th century BCE. Photo from the exhibition

A Greek infantry soldier, or hoplite, is featured in the museum's exhibition, likely a tombstone from Attica dating back to around 500 BCE. A plaster cast of the original marble piece displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
The Battle of Marathon against the Persians is well-known from textbooks. The museum explains the significance of the battle, emphasising that when Persian kings attempted to expand into Southwest Europe, they failed because the Hellenes (Greeks) stood firm. This event boosted Hellenic confidence and laid the foundation for classical civilization. The first battle against the Persians took place in 490 BCE on the plain of Marathon in Attica, where 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans fought against the Persians.The Persian army was larger in number, and its ranks included powerful cavalry and a large number of archers. Quoting the text from the museum, the Greek general Miltiades, aware of the effectiveness of the hoplites' phalanx, convinced his fellow generals to attack the Persians. Miltiades ordered the hoplites to form a line of the same length as the Persians and attack their line. In the ensuing close combat, the centre of the line weakened and gave way, while the wings of the Athenians quickly displaced the Persians. The battle concluded when the Persian centre broke in panic and fled to their ships.


Byzantium is a key focus of the museum's exhibition, though also here the museum relies largely on replicas and copies for older artefacts. 

Engraving of Constantinople. G. Braun - F. Hoggenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum 1572-1598

The Byzantine emperors from the founding of Constantinople to its occupation. From the exhibition.
Emperor Basil II Bulgaroktonos (Bulgar-slayer) (976 – 1025) was an ascetic warrior emperor who waged several wars during his reign. Scandinavians, known as Varangians or Varangians, formed their own guard under the Byzantine emperor during his rule. Copy from an 11th-century manuscript, Venice.
Byzantium and its last emperor hold a special place in Greek historical interpretation. The museum displays a powerful portrait of Constantine XI Palaiologos. The sculpture represents the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, 1449–1453 AD, who was killed at the Gate of St. Romanus on May 29, 1453. Vasos Falireas created the relief in 1953, 500 years after the fall of Constantinople.
Andreas Palaiologos (1494-1503) was the last to bear the title of Byzantine emperor. He was the son of Thomas, the despot of Morea, who fled to Italy. Morea was a Byzantine province in the Peloponnese. Copy from a wall painting. (Vatican, Borgia Apartment)
Scale model of a Byzantine war galley, a dromon. It had a mechanism at the front to shoot a burning liquid, called Greek fire, into enemy ships during naval battles. Photo from the exhibition.
The museum illustrates the formation used by Byzantine forces with a scale model. This formation, used in open terrain, was depicted in a Byzantine military manual in the late 5th century. Scale 1:70. Research: Christos Makrypoulias, historian. Historical consultant: Taxiarchis Kolias, Professor of Byzantine Civilization, University of Athens. Photo from the exhibition.
Weapons from the Roman-Byzantine period, from the 8th to the 14th century, are on display. At the top of the showcase is a long axe, identified in the display text as being used by the Varangian (Varangian) mercenaries of the Byzantine army. Paavo Hohti recounts in his history of Byzantium: --The forces of the Scandinavians, known as Varangians, remained in Constantinople, ultimately for eight hundred years. The name Varangian began to spread in the early 11th century; it is not mentioned in contracts of the previous century. The adoption of the Varangian name may reflect the need to distinguish Scandinavians from Slavs among the Rus. Basil formed an imperial special unit from the Varangians, known as the tagma, which was renowned for its loyalty to the emperor and the fierce two-handed battle-axes. The unit was continuously supplemented by recruiting mostly Scandinavians, who, after their service, returned home with valuable gifts from the emperor. There are several stories in Icelandic sagas and runic inscriptions about their visits to Miklagård, the 'Great City.' Some of them have also scratched their names into the railings of Hagia Sophia. In addition to Scandinavians, Norman recruits were added to the Varangian forces from the late 11th century onwards

Half of the ten exhibition halls cover Greece's struggle for independence and the period thereafter. On the ground floor, there is a quite dramatic diorama related to the Greek War of Independence. Military aircraft and various cannons are displayed in the outdoor area.

The War Museum's museum shop is on the entrance floor. The selection is extensive. Photo: OI"

Location: Polemiko Mousio, Rizari 2-4, Athina 106 75, Kreikka

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