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Athens is known for its dozens museums and historical attractions, that one can visit and discover the culture of the ancient and the recent times as well.

The city itself is like an "open" museum and its historic center, is like a journey back in time.

The top attraction of course, is the temple of Parthenon, a universal symbol of civilization and democracy of the Western world.

We have selected for you, 10 of the best musuems that worth a visit during your stay at Athens Zafolia Hotel.

Of course, our front desk staff is always at your disposal and able to provide you with any information you may need for any other musuem of the city.

NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art. It was founded at the end of the 19th century to house and protect antiquities from all over Greece, thus displaying their historical, cultural and artistic value.

Originally destined to receive all the 19th century excavations, mainly from Attica and other parts of the country, it gradually took the form of a central National Archaeological Museum and was enriched with finds from all parts of the Greek world.

His rich collections, enumerating more than 11,000 exhibits, offer the visitor a panorama of ancient Greek culture from the beginning of prehistory to the late antiquity.

ACROPOLIS MUSEUM

The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece and will in particular also house the sculptures historically known as the "Elgin Marbles" (sculptures from the Acropolis bought in the early nineteenth century by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and currently held in the British Museum) if these are returned to Athens. The Acropolis Museum also lies over the ruins of part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.

Perhaps the most famous exhibit of the museum are the Caryatids, i.e. the statues of the Maidens that decorated the southern prostrate of the Erechtheion.

On the second floor of the Museum there is a restaurant with an outdoor terrace

700 sq.m. and panoramic views of the Acropolis and the other historic hills of Athens.

MUSEUM OF ANCIENT AGORA

The Museum of the Ancient Agora has been housed since 1957 in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, which was donated by the King of Pergamon, Attalos II, to the city of Athens in the 2nd century BC.

The museum’s exhibition features finds from the excavations of the American School of Classical Studies in the Ancient Agora dating from the Neolithic era until the Post-Byzantine times.

The visitor has the opportunity to see important exhibits related to the institutions and function of the Athenian democracy.

NATIONAL GALLERY - ALEXANDROS SOUTSOS MUSEUM

The National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum or simply

National Gallery (founding name) is a museum of visual arts founded in 1900.

It is the largest and most important collection of modern Greek art, with more than 15,000 works collected from the post-Byzantine years until today.

The institution's institutional role, according to its official website, "is the collection, preservation, conservation, study and exhibition of works of art, with the aim of aesthetic cultivation of the public, lifelong education through art and the entertainment it offers, but also the self-awareness of the Greeks with the help of the history of art, which expresses national life on a symbolic level".

MUSEUM OF CYCLADIC ART

The Museum of Cycladic Art is a vibrant cultural organization in the center of Athens that focuses on the promotion of the ancient cultures of the Aegean and Cyprus, with a special emphasis on Cycladic art of the 3rd BC. millennium.

It has been operating since 1986 to house the private antiquities collection of Dollis and Nikolaos Goulandris. Since then, it has expanded significantly and today houses one of the most complete private collections of Cycladic Art in the world, with representative examples of the world-famous Cycladic marble figurines.

At the museum of Cycladic Art, monthly thematic guided tours in Greek Sign Language are held by HandsUp, the first agency of sign language interpreters in Greece.

Participation in the guided tours is free - reservation is required.

BENAKI MUSEUM

The Cultural Center of the Benaki Museum is located at no. 138 of Piraeus Street, which is one of the main new development axes of Athens. The museum has two permanent exhibitions:

The Department of Photographic Archives, founded in 1973 with the aim of gathering, preserving and classifying photographs depicting monuments and objects of early Christian, Byzantine and post-Byzantine art.

The Archives of Neohellenic Architecture, founded in April 1995 with the purpose of gathering elements, plans, prototypes, photographs, forms, manuscripts, etc., on Greek architecture and urban planning. Data is recorded, classified and archived to be accessible to researchers. Chronologically, the archives cover the period from the foundation of the modern Greek state in 1828 until today.

BYZANTINE AND CHRISTIAN MUSEUM

The Byzantine and Christian Museum includes more than 30,000 objects dating from the 3rd to the 21st century AD: icons, frescoes, mosaics, antiquities, manuscripts, paper objects, sculptures, miniature works, ceramics, textiles, paintings, copies.

Everything is recorded, sorted chronologically, by material and subject, and digitized with electronic recording systems. What is not exhibited in the permanent exhibition is kept in ideal conditions of humidity and temperature in modern archaeological warehouses.

HELLENIC MOTOR MUSEUM

The Hellenic Motor Museum occupies 4,000 sq.m. in a building of unique architecture and aesthetics. It is dedicated to the technology and development of the automobile, including more than 110 exhibits from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 20th.

The purpose of the Hellenic Automobile Museum is to inform the public about the achievements of the global automobile industry and to educate young people in road safety and behavior.

Cars dominated the interests of Theodoros N. Haragionis from his childhood, with those of his family giving way to his first driving and later collecting concerns. His collection of cars and car-related items began to take shape in 1977, incorporating over time rare pieces of the global automotive industry.

The entire collection is categorized as follows:

Antique, Veteran, Vintage, Post Vintage, Classic, Post Classic, Modern & Contemporary.

HELLENIC CHILDREN's MUSEUM

The Hellenic Children's Museum is a non-profit association of a public benefit nature with an educational and cultural purpose.

The museum's programs are based on everyday issues and in their actions the children take part in an active way, creating and at the same time discovering the world around them.

The Children's Museum is a living organization that exists to serve the needs and interests of all children, developing exhibits and programs that stimulate curiosity and motivate learning. (Association of Youth Museums, 1992)

DISCLAIMER:

All photos and part of the texts presented in this article, are not property of Athens Zafolia Hotel but of the respective museum, copywriter or photographer.

The purpose of this article is to present and promote the specific musuems to our hotel guests, with the aim of encouraging them to visit the musuems.

For credentials please contact us at info@zafoliahotel.gr

The published opening hours are those listed on the museums' official websites and are subject to change.

We suggest all our guests prior vistiing any of the musuems, to reconfirm the opening hours.

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