Museum sights in Athens
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Kanellopoulos Museum
The imposing 1884 mansion on the northern slope of the Acropolis houses the Kanellopoulos family’s extensive collection, donated to the state in 1976. After a major refurbishment and expansion, it was due to open in late 2008. The collection includes jewellery, clay-and-stone vases and figurines, weapons, Byzantine icons, bronzes and objets d’art dating from every period of Greek history.
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Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum
Jewellery and decorative arts inspired by various periods in Greek history showcase the talents of Greece’s renowned jeweller Ilias Lalounis. The museum demonstrates jewellery-making techniques from prehistoric times. The permanent collection includes thematic displays of more than 4000 pieces of jewellery and intricate microsculptures designed by Lalaounis since the 1940s. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions and runs cultural programs dedicated to the art.
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Foundation for the Hellenic World
If ruins and museums aren't enough insight into the ancient world, you can take a virtual reality trip to Ancient Greece at the futuristic Foundation for the Hellenic World, about 2km from the city centre. The new high-tech Tholos domed virtual reality theatre takes you on an interactive tour of the Ancient Agora while the Kivotos time machine has 3D floor-to-ceiling screens featuring ancient Miletus, Olympia and the world of Greek costumes.
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Museum of Traditional Pottery
This small museum in a lovely neoclassical building around the corner from the Keramikos site is dedicated to the history of (relatively) contemporary Greek pottery, exhibiting a selection from the museum’s 4500-plus collection. There’s a reconstruction of a traditional potter’s workshop. The centre holds periodic exhibitions.
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Islamic Art Museum
The Benaki Museum’s celebrated collection of Islamic art is one of the finest in the world. This stately neoclassical complex of buildings exhibits more than 8000 items covering the 12th to 19th centuries, including weavings, carvings, prayer carpets, tiles, ceramics and a 17th-century reception room from a Cairo mansion.
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Piraeus Archaeological Museum
This important museum has stunning antiquities from Piraeus and southern Greece, including finds from a Minoan sanctuary on Kythira. Star attractions are the four colossal bronzes, including a larger than life–sized 520 BC statue of Apollo. A 2nd-century BC theatre has been excavated in the museum grounds.
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Technopolis
There’s always something on at the city’s old gasworks, the impressively restored 1862 complex of furnaces and industrial buildings. It hosts multimedia exhibitions, concerts, festivals and special events and has a pleasant café. The small Maria Callas museum is dedicated to the revered opera diva.
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Museum of Greek Popular Instruments
More than 1200 folk instruments dating from the 18th century are exhibited over three floors, with headphones for visitors to listen to the sounds of the gaida (Greek goatskin bagpipes) and Byzantine mandolins, among others. Musical performances are held in the lovely garden in summer.
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Centre of Folk Art & Tradition
The 1920s mansion of folklorist Angeliki Hatzimichalis recreates the traditional pastoral life, including an old kitchen and chapel. Exhibits include regional costumes, embroideries, weaving machines, ceramic vases and family portraits. At the time of writing, it was closed for refurbishment.
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Museum of Greek Folk Art
This fine state-owned museum has examples of folk art from 1650 to the present, including elaborate embroidery, weaving, costumes, shadow-theatre puppets and silverwork. The 1st floor has fine wall murals by renowned naive artist Theophilos Hatzimichail, and a temporary exhibition gallery.
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Frissiras Art Museum
The private Frissiras Art Museum is housed in two beautifully restored neoclassical mansions in Plaka. It showcases more than 3000 works of contemporary European painting, focusing mainly on the human figure, and hosts regular temporary exhibitions. There is a pleasant museum café.
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Benaki Museum
The Benaki is the must-see of Athens’ private museums, with a superb collection and a great café-restaurant on the terrace. There is also an excellent gift store with a delightful range of quality prints, jewellery, ceramics and books. It also stocks some exquisite religious icons.
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Jewish Museum
This museum traces the history of the Jewish community in Greece from the 3rd century BC, with an impressive collection of religious and historical artefacts, documents, folk art and costumes. Nearly 90% of Greece’s Jews, most from Thessaloniki, were killed during the Holocaust.
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Epigraphical Museum
This ‘library of stones’ houses an important collection of Greek inscriptions detailing official records, including lists of war dead, tribute lists showing annual payments by Athens’ allies, and the decree ordering the evacuation of Athens before the 480 BC Persian invasion.
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Numismatic Museum
Even if you have scant interest in its fine coin collection, this exemplary neoclassical building has some beautiful frescoes and mosaic floors and a shady café in the garden. It was once the home of renowned archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated Troy and Mycenae.
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National Historical Museum
Greece’s first parliament building houses memorabilia from the War of Independence, including Byron’s helmet and sword, weapons, costumes and flags, paintings, Byzantine and medieval exhibits, and photos illustrating Greece’s evolution since Constantinople’s fall in 1453.
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Hellenic Children’s Museum
Activities at this interactive centre encourage children’s development and engage the imagination, including a popular chocolate-making session. Exhibits are in Greek only; some activities are suitable for non-Greek speakers and most staff speak English.
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City of Athens Museum
Once the residence of King Otto and Queen Amalia, the museum displays some of the royal couple’s personal effects and furniture – including the throne – as well as paintings by leading Greek and foreign artists and models of 19th-century Athens.
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Archaeological Museum of Keramikos
The small museum at Keramikos was established by its benefactor, Gustav Oberlaender, a German-American stocking manufacturer. It contains stelae and sculptures from the site, as well as a good collection of vases and terracotta figurines.
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Museum of Traditional Greek Ceramics
The Mosque of Tzistarakis (built in 1759) is one of few surviving examples of a tzami (mosque) in Athens. It houses this annexe of the Museum of Greek Folk Art and features pottery and hand-painted ceramics from the early 20th century.
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War Museum
Kids love climbing into the fighter planes in the forecourt of this junta-era museum honouring Greece’s armed forces. It has an invaluable historical collection of war memorabilia, including weapons, maps, armour and models of battles.
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Agora Museum
The Agora Museum, in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, is a good place to start to make sense of the site. The museum opens later on Mondays (11:00) and has a model of the Agora as well as a collection of finds from the site.
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Philatelic Museum
Stamp collectors will love this small museum, featuring the history of philately and the post in Greece, including old mail boxes, postal uniforms and the 1886 printing plates from the first stamp, featuring a bust of Hermes.
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Theatre Museum
Aspiring thespians can visit the Theatre Museum to see memorabilia from the 19th and 20th centuries, including costumes, props and reconstructions of the dressing rooms of Greece's most celebrated 20th-century actors.
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Museum of the History of Greek Costume
Run by the Lyceum of Greek Women, this museum has changing exhibitions from its comprehensive collection of regional costumes, jewellery and accessories. The gift shop sells books on folk culture and handmade crafts.
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