Acropolis Museum
Address
Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, Athina 117 42, Greece
GPS
37.9685331, 23.72847057794
The Acropolis Museum, which has been open to the public since 2009, houses hundreds of artefacts discovered on the Acropolis hillside. The museum gives a window into the lives of Archaic and Classical era Athenians, housing sculptures and artefacts from the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Propylaea, and other adjacent temples.
The museum was constructed to contain the Acropolis artefacts, narrate the story of ancient Athens, and serve as a beacon for the repatriation of things stored in museums throughout the world, most notably the British Museum but also the Vatican Museum, the Louvre, and others.
The museum, which can be found in the central neighbourhood of Makrigianni, is supported by concrete pillars and surrounded by olive trees, showing an ancient excavation underneath. An old neighbourhood, replete with a sewer system, bathhouses, and mosaics, may be seen amid the ruins.
We recommend starting your museum visit in the ‘Parthenon Gallery’ on the museum’s highest floor and working your way down. The literature from the Acropolis Museum backs this up, saying that doing so will make for a more logical narrative and keep you from skipping over the museum’s crowning achievement.
You can really get a feel for how carefully the museum was planned and designed from this vantage point on the third level, which also boasts mesmerizing views. The glass walls and elevated position of this floor make it possible to look out over the Acropolis and its historic city, with the Parthenon always within view at a distance of only 300 metres. Do yourself a flavor and head straight to level three after buying your tickets.
The uppermost floor of the museum shares the same cardinal orientation as the Parthenon. In addition, it is the same size as it would have been in antiquity, allowing the full frieze of the temple to be displayed. It’s as though you’re walking around the “cella” (the centre) of the Parthenon as you go around. Parthenon sculpture consists of the east and west pediments, the metopes, and the frieze.
