National Archaeological Museum
A cultural journey through Greece with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Rating itself among the world's top ten museums, and certainly number one for Greek art, Athens ' National Archaeological Museum has a big reputation to live up to. And it manages this is style.
The museum is colossal, crammed with ancient goodies and easy to get to(just five minutes walk from Victoria Station). The jewel in this particular crown(found in the Mycenaean hall) comes in the shape of "Schliemann's Agamemnon", a gold funerary mask thought to belong to the harassed king. One of the museum's most curious pieces is The Antikythera Mechanism(try saying that after a couple of glasses of Ouzo). Nobody is quite sure what it is, but we do know that it's bronze, incorporates 32 gear wheels and is inscribed with the signs of the zodiac.
Lord Elgin, It appears, didn't get his hands on all the marbles, so keep an eye open for the resplendent Aphrodite covering her modesty from Pan's cheeky guile. Pottery, jewelry, frescoes, sculptures, stelae.the list goes on so make sure you set aside an afternoon to do it any justice.
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