Life.Culture.Discovery.

3 museums to visit in Greece’s capital, Athens, for prehistoric artefacts, cutting-edge multimedia installations, and the world’s finest collection of Greek antiquities

The Benaki Museum’s 100,000 artefacts influenced Greece’s development through the ages, while the National Museum of Contemporary Art hosts rotating exhibitions

The National Archaeological Museum houses the world’s finest collection of Greek antiquities, with art and jewellery from the Neolithic to the Classical period

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Athens’ Benaki Museum of Greek Culture houses thousands of ancient artefacts that shaped Greece, and is one of the best museums to visit in the city. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 6:15pm, 4 Mar 2023

There are few cities as steeped in culture as Athens, and things are beginning to look up in the Greek capital.

The financial problems of the 2010s – known by Greeks simply as The Crisis – are steadily receding and post-Covid optimism in the capital can be seen in both a reinvigorated fashion scene and some ambitious developments.

Athens has been inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years, and Greece’s cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of Western civilisation. The following three museums offer a taste of what the city has to offer to today’s culture vulture.

Named after art collector Antonis Benakis, the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture houses a colossal assemblage of 100,000 pieces of art and artefacts that influenced the development of Greece from prehistory to the 20th century.

Ancient jewellery on display at The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture. Photo: Shutterstock

A highlight of Athens’ cultural landscape, its exhibits range from pottery, sculpture and jewellery to textiles and costume displays that will be of interest to fashion and design students.

Besides the main museum, which is located in the Benakis family mansion, there are two major branches, hosting a toy museum and a museum of Islamic art, and a number of smaller facilities.