Archaeological Museum

Sparta


In a park, this likeable old-style archaeological museum hosts artefacts from Sparta’s illustrious past. Look for the votive sickles of the kind that Spartan boys dedicated to Artemis Orthia. There are also reliefs perhaps featuring Helen and Menelaus (and Helen with Paris), bronze and lead votive figurines, heads and torsos of various deities, a head and torso dubbed King Leonidas, a brilliant razor-backed wild boar, votive terracotta masks and grave stelae (pillars). Fine mosaics from Hellenistic and Roman Sparta are also on show.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Sparta attractions

1. Koumantarios Gallery of Sparta

0.22 MILES

Part of the National Art Gallery, the quaint Koumantarios holds a rotating permanent collection plus wonderful temporary exhibitions. It's definitely…

2. King Leonidas Statue

0.37 MILES

The King Leonidas statue stands belligerently in front of a football stadium. When the Persians attacked at Thermopylae and told the Spartans and their…

3. Museum of the Olive & Greek Olive Oil

0.38 MILES

This beautifully designed museum initiates you into the mysteries of the olive from its initial appearance in the Mediterranean in 60,000 BC to the…

4. Ancient Sparta

0.53 MILES

Though few buildings are standing that date back to the height of Sparta's greatness, it's an atmospheric stroll around this hillside, where the acropolis…

5. Mystras

3.48 MILES

Spread over a steep mountainside and surrounded by verdant olive and orange trees, this former Byzantine capital and fortified city is the single most…

6. Old Town Kardamyli

16.68 MILES

Old Town Kardamyli consists of a fortified settlement with a handsome 18th-century church, plus restored tower, oil press and three-storey building. There…

7. Patrick Leigh Fermor House

17.08 MILES

Larger-than-life Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915–2011), a Hellenophile and marvellously engaging writer, lived just outside Kardamyli for much of his later…

8. Kastro

17.51 MILES

Looming over the town is the 13th-century kastro (fort). Remarkably, it survived the powerful 1986 earthquake that levelled the city. The entry gate is…