A single avid ethnomusicologist collected almost 1200 folk instruments; the best are on display in three floors of this house-turned-museum. Headphones let visitors listen to the gaïda (Greek goatskin bagpipes) and the wood planks that priests on Mt Athos use to call prayer times, among other distinctly Greek sounds. Musical performances are held in the lovely garden in summer.
Alamy Stock Photo
Museum of Greek Popular Instruments
Top choice in Syntagma & Plaka
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.42 MILES
This dazzling museum at the foot of the Acropolis' southern slope showcases its surviving treasures. The collection covers the Archaic period to the Roman…
0.21 MILES
Designed to be the pre-eminent monument of the Acropolis, the Parthenon epitomises the glory of Ancient Greece. Meaning 'virgin's apartment', it's…
0.19 MILES
The Acropolis is the most important ancient site in the Western world. Crowned by the Parthenon, it stands sentinel over Athens, visible from almost…
0.61 MILES
This lush, tranquil site is named for the potters who settled it around 3000 BC. It was used as a cemetery through the 6th century AD. The grave markers…
0.25 MILES
The Agora was ancient Athens' heart, the lively hub of administrative, commercial, political and social activity. Socrates expounded his philosophy here;…
0.94 MILES
This outstanding museum, based in the 1848 Villa Ilissia, offers exhibition halls, most of them underground, crammed with religious art. The exhibits go…
Benaki Museum of Greek Culture
0.71 MILES
In 1930 Antonis Benakis – a politician's son born in Alexandria, Egypt, in the late 19th century – endowed what is perhaps the finest museum in Greece…
National Archaeological Museum
1.05 MILES
Housing the world's finest collection of Greek antiquities in an enormous neoclassical building, this museum is one of Athens' top attractions. Treasures…
Nearby Syntagma & Plaka attractions
0.03 MILES
This Pentelic marble tower within the Roman Agora, likely built in the 2nd century BC, is both beautiful and functional. Devised by Andronicus, a…
0.04 MILES
One of the few remnants of Athens' Ottoman period, this 17th-century hammam (Turkish bath) is also the only intact public bath building in the city –…
0.09 MILES
Opened after renovations in 2017, the 17th-century Benizelos home is a typical domestic structure from that period, with dirt-floor downstairs rooms with…
0.11 MILES
Tucked away in Plaka, this 17th-century church is worth visiting any time for its peaceful courtyard and beautiful interior decoration. On the evening of…
0.11 MILES
This was the city’s market area under Roman rule, and it occupied a much larger area than the current site borders. You can see a lot from outside the…
6. Museum of Greek Folk Art at 22 Panos
0.12 MILES
While the main Museum of Greek Folk Art is being rebuilt (it's scheduled to reopen in 2020), this annexe houses the permanent collection Men & Tools,…
0.12 MILES
These are the remains of the largest structure erected by Hadrian (2nd century AD). Not just a library, it also held music and lecture rooms. It was laid…
0.13 MILES
Built in 1759, this building on the south side of Monastiraki is one of few surviving examples of a tzami (mosque) in Athens. It has not functioned as a…