Location: 44 Patisslon, Exacheia, Athens
National Archaeological Museum or simply National Museum was opened in 1891. Ancient artifacts from various digs were brought here. Over time National Archaeological Museum expanded and new wings were added to the existing structure. During World War II many of the artifacts from collection were buried and hidden away for preservation. After the end of the hostilities the museum reopened in 1946.
The ground floor of the National Museum covers Mycenaean, Neolithic, Cycladic, Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and finally Roman finds. One of the most notable artifacts housed here is a Mask of Agamemnon that was discovered in the ancient city of Mycenae by Henrich Schliemann. German self taught archaeologists he set up on a quest to prove that Iliad described historic events. He discovered Troy in modern Turkey and a tomb of a legendary Greek king Agamemnon who fought against Trojans. According to legends king returned back to his home town, where he was killed by his own cheating wife. Now we know that the mask is actually older than the time described in the Iliad. The mask dates back to the mid- 1600s BC instead of 1200s BC.
The planning of an archaeological museum began with the founding of
the Greek kingdom. From 1854, 10,000 drachmas were set aside annually
from the budget for this purpose, and in 1856 Dimitrios Bernardakis, a
Greek from Saint Petersburg, donated 200,000 drachmas. In the same year,
King Otto initiated a public tender, which was managed by the Munich
Academy. The Italian Arturo Conti received the award, and the architect
and director of the Academy Ludwig Lange, who had previously worked in
Greece, was commissioned to carry out the work. However, the plans were
considered too expensive and execution was shelved. With funding
secured, execution began in 1866 under the direction of Panagiotis
Kalkos. After his death in 1875, Theophil von Hansen was suggested to
continue the work. Since he refused to build according to Lange's plans,
his student and colleague Ernst Ziller was entrusted with the completion
of the building. The classical facade comes from Ziller. The main
building was inaugurated in 1874, followed by the two side wings in 1881
and 1885.
The Society of Friends of the Archaeological Museum was
founded in 1933, and a side wing was opened in 1935. In 1940 the museum
was closed due to the war and most of the exhibits were buried in secret
places in boxes, the remaining objects were stored in the basement. As
early as 1945, the museum was able to welcome visitors again.
At
the end of February 2009, the museum was expanded by around 24,000
square meters of exhibition space, so that over 2000 additional antique
exhibits can now be shown, which were previously stored in the museum's
extensive depots due to lack of space. The new premises are partly
underground and are the largest expansion in the history of the museum
to date. The construction costs were around 50 million euros.
Directors
1942-1964: Christos Karusos
1999-2002: Ioannis
Touratsoglou
2002-2012: Nikolaos Kaltsas
Despite many renovations, the character of the museum as an
exhibition building and collection of the 19th century is present. The
objects are not staged, but mostly shown very factually in display
cases. The historic building does not seek a contrast to the exhibits,
but merges into an overall impression.
The departments are:
Prehistoric collection with the sub-sections:
Neolithic Collection
Cycladic collection
Thera collection
Mycenaean Collection
Sculpture Collection (16,000 objects)
Bronze Collection (also
Metalwork Collection)
Collection of vases and small art (with 6,000
exhibited objects, it is the largest sub-collection, of which 2,500
vases alone show the complete development of ancient Greek ceramics from
the 11th to the 4th century BC) with more special individual
collections:
Stathatos Collection (about 970 objects from the Middle
Bronze Age to the post-Byzantine period with a focus on gold jewellery,
unlike the other donor collections, the collection is exhibited
separately in one room)
Vlastou Serpieri Collection
Terracotta
Figure Collection
jewelry collection
glass collection
Egyptological Collection
Cyprus Collection (850 items)
special
exhibitions
The museum has 52 rooms of different sizes for the presentation, 49
rooms for the permanent exhibition and three rooms for changing special
exhibitions. While the ground floor is almost entirely open for the
display of the collection, apart from the north-east annex, only the
rear part of the upper floor is open to the public.
Prehistoric
Collections
Directly behind the entrance hall, one enters a central
wing that connects the front and rear parts of the building. The
prehistoric collection of the museum is shown in these halls 3 to 6 as
well as in hall 48 on the upper floor. Finds from the three successive
prehistoric civilizations are shown here, the Neolithic, the Cycladic
and the Mycenaean civilization. It spans a period from the 7th
millennium to around 1100 BC and shows in particular finds from the
Aegean region, from the Cyclades, from Thessaly as well as from Mycenae
and Thera.
Neolithic Collection
The Neolithic Collection is
exhibited in Room 5. It initially includes finds from the Neolithic
period between about 6800 and 3300 BC. Exhibits made of stone and clay
predominate. A large part of the exhibits come from the two great
Thessalian centers of the Neolithic, Sesklo from the middle and Dimini
from the late Neolithic, whose pottery production is very
characteristic. Other finds, especially vases, implements and idols made
of clay and stone, come from Lianokladi or Halai. Bone and obsidian
tools are also on display.
The Neolithic collection also includes
finds from the Bronze Age, the early phase of which dates back to the
3rd millennium BC. This early Elladic epoch (about 3300 to 2100/2000 BC)
is represented by finds from Orchomenos, Rafina, Askitario, Agios Kosmas
and Poliochni. There are also finds from Troy donated by Sophia
Schliemann. Finds from the Middle Helladic period come from Orchomenos,
Dimini, Sesklo and Liaklonadi. Graumyn pottery from this period
predominates.
Important individual pieces are, for example, the
thinker, a Neolithic clay idol from the area around Karditsa, and the
kurothophos, a clay idol in the form of a seated woman with a child in
her arms.
sculpture collection
The sculpture collection is
considered to be the most important and largest of its kind in the
world. The inventory includes a good 16,000 items, of which around 900
pieces are on display in the museum. They are exhibited in 30 halls on
the ground floor of the museum building and thus occupy the largest part
of the museum. The halls (7 to 35) are arranged more or less around the
two courtyards and the central building with the prehistoric collection
and form a chronological tour from the beginning of the creation of
large-scale sculptural works in Greece to late antiquity. The vast
majority of the collection consists of stone carvings, especially
marble, but also limestone and other types of stone. However, there are
also some large-scale bronze works in the collection. Since many
visitors only take this tour, some of the outstanding pieces of small
art, especially ceramics, are also exhibited chronologically in the
sculpture collection in the corresponding halls.
With the catalog
Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, all exhibited
sculptures from the collection were published in one publication for the
first time in 2002.
Room 7: Daedal style
The period of archaic
sculpture in Greece begins with works of the so-called Daedal style.
Among other things, reliefs made of poros from the Athena temple in
Mycenae as well as three seated female statues are shown. The most
important work is the statue of Nikandre, which was placed in the oikos
of the Naxians on Delos. The sculpture is the earliest known life-size
sculpture made in Greece.
Halls 8 to 13: Archaic Art
Stone
carvings from the end of the 7th century BC are exhibited in six halls.
to the end of the Persian Wars around 480 BC., which herald the
beginning of the Classic period. The Kouros and Koren statues are
particularly characteristic of this period of Greek sculpture. The
National Archaeological Museum houses the largest number of such naked
youth statues, the number of Koren is smaller. The best-known works
include the Sounion-Kouros and the Kroisos-Kouros as well as the Kore
Phrasikleia. The latter probably has a male counterpart, both statues
were probably created by Aristion of Paros. The strong kouroi from
Athens are contrasted by a Melian kouros, which appears far more slender
and frail. Other important works are the kouros of Volomandra and the
kouros of Kea. Above all, the kouros of Kea shows the artistic
transition in which the artists learn to see their works as a closed
unit and not just as a work in several parts. The anatomy gets better
and better and more detailed over time. The Kroisos-Kouros already shows
a developed musculature. Another group of kuroi was found in the
sanctuary of Apollo in the Ptoon mountains in Boeotia, here kouros
stands out with bent and outstretched arms. At the end of the Kouroi is
the last decade of the 6th century BC created Aristodikos, which already
strongly points to classical sculpture and no longer has much in common
with the strict formal language of the early Kouroi.
In addition
to the kouroi and koren, mainly reliefs are exhibited. Most of them are
funerary steles that already have a line of development from the
Mycenaean period. The fragment of a funerary stele ("Stele
Diskophorou"), which shows the head of a youth in front of a raised
disc, is of outstanding quality. Also important is the relief of a gun
runner. The naked warrior is shown in motion, possibly during a weapons
dance. The trapezoidal shape of the stone is used in an ideal way.
Another well-known piece is the funerary stele of Aristion by the
sculptor Aristocles.
Halls 14 and 15: Strict style
At the
beginning of the two rooms, which house sculptures of the so-called
"Severe Style", there are heads and hands from the Temple of Aphaia on
Aegina. Some of these are gable figures, but some are also votive gifts.
The "Severe Style" began at the end of the Persian Wars around 480 BC.
and lasted until the middle of the 5th century B.C. BC, when it was
superseded by the Parthenon period. The second room is dominated by the
larger-than-life bronze statue of Poseidon or Zeus from Cape Artemision,
possibly a work by the sculptor Kalamis, dating from around 460 BC. is
dated. Also shown is the Apollo Omphalos, although this is a 1st-century
marble copy, also dating to around 460 BC. Copied an early bronze work
by Phidias from about 300 BC. Furthermore, various funerary reliefs are
exhibited, which, due to the legislation of Cleisthenes from the end of
the 6th century BC, which prohibited luxury graves, all did not come
from Attica. The Amphotto stele came from Thebes, the votive relief with
the head of Aphrodite comes from Melos. The Attic relief, on the other
hand, is represented by the votive stele of a self-crowning youth.
Room 16: Attic funerary reliefs from the end of the 5th century. v.
Chr.
During the Peloponnesian War, the laws against luxury tombs in
Athens were repealed. The first funerary reliefs are still rather small,
flat, reserved and rarely show more than one or two figures. But they
quickly regain their monumentality. From the beginning the works are
influenced by the Parthenon frieze. The funerary stele of a youth from
Salamis is even attributed to the Phidias student Agoracritos. In
addition to grave reliefs, marble lekyths with relief decorations were
also widespread. The gravekythos for myrrhine shows the soul guide
Hermes Psychopompos guiding a woman into the underworld.
Hall 17:
Sculptures from temples
The hall shows marble metopes from the Temple
of Hera near Argos. They show an Amazonomachy. Fragments of the eaves
and a marble head of a Hera statue are also on display. There are also
consecration reliefs from various sanctuaries. Outstanding pieces are a
relief showing the abduction of the nymph Basile by Echelos, and the
actor's relief showing a reclining Dionysus, three actors with their
masks and a maenad. It is associated by many researchers with the
performance of Euripides' tragedy The Bacchae, which would make it a
historical document that goes beyond the artistic aspect.
Room
18: Monumental funerary reliefs of the rich style
During the last
three decades of the 5th century B.C. and in the first decade of the 4th
century B.C. Through difficult times including a plague epidemic in
which Pericles died, the defeat in the Peloponnesian War and the rule of
the Thirty, art reached another high point with the rich style. The
design of the tombs of Kerameikos became more and more monumental. They
often came in the form of small tombs called naïskos. The images show
the isolation of the dead from the other people depicted. The dexiosis,
the handshake between spouses or parents and children, is very popular.
The most important pieces are the funerary relief of Mikkah and Dion and
the famous funerary stele of Hegeso, possibly made by Callimachus.
Room 19: Marble copies of classical bronze works from the 5th
century BC. Chr.
Bronze works in the round have only survived in
exceptional cases in Greece, a large part of the often famous works of
art were kidnapped by the Romans and later destroyed because of their
material value. In many cases, however, they have been preserved in
marble copies, often in small formats. Of particular importance here are
several copies of the so-called Kassel Apollo, which shows the god as
Apollo Parnopios, repelling locusts, and the faithful replica of Athena
Parthenos, which is known as "Athena Varvakion" after the place where it
was found. Through them you can still imagine the appearance of the
original monumental statue. Both were originally works of Phidias. Other
important works are the Roman bust of Athena from the Pnyx, the relief
on a base of a lost statue that was donated as a votive gift for victory
in a dance of arms, and the replica of a cult image of the goddess
Nemesis from Rhamnous, the original of which Agorakritos found around
430 BC. had created.