National Museum

National Museum Mask of Agamemnon Poseidon of Artemision

Situated on an easy central Athens trolley route (No 8) this beautiful building has such a plethora of ancient artifacts and art that to see them all properly would take weeks. As it is, visitors can usually only spend several hours before they begin to flag.

The museum was completed in 1889 from plans made by the architect Ludwig Lange and partly modified by Ernst Ziller (famed for the Schliemann Mansion, or House of Ilium on Panepistimiou Street). In this neo classic gem, Greece acquired its first large imposing museum for archaeological finds.

There is much to see but some of the most important finds should be sought out. Unless joining a guided group the halls tolled through, and the first houses the sepulchral amphora'' 760 B.C. its geometric style holding the visitor's attention with its perfectly executed design. The statues of the Kouros, the nude "man-boy" are amply represented in the museum and with their gently menacing smiles and almost too-perfect sturdy limbs, these statues were created in over a century of time, evolving into the Kouros no longer as a man boy but as a man.

The magnificent bronze statue of Poseidon or Zeus of Artemission (460-450 BC) is one of the favorites. Found some sixty-five years ago off the Evian coast, this beautiful work is awe-inspiring and shows majesty in both posture and expression. The way ancient Greek artists created the drape or a chiton or a himation (robe) was never matched elsewhere.

The Thera frescoes (in the first floor are stunning and their colors not faded by time. The collection of vases is immense, black and red figure vases and the white ground vases or lekythoi, have nearly a hall to themselves.

On the ground floor, the findings from royal grave shafts are Mycenaean and include gold funerary masks - like the "mask of Agamemnon" and gold cups and the handsome silver rhyton in the shape of a bull's head. Inside galleries, marble statues of the Cycladic civilization of the 3rd millennium BC sit silently and distinguished by the whiteness of their stone, almost luminous.

The numismatic collection is total fascination, the ancient Greeks created the finest coins in the world.