The Old Acropolis Museum ( ''(Palaio) Mouseio Akropolis'') was an archaeological museum located in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
on the archeological site of
Acropolis
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...
. It is built in a niche at the eastern edge of the rock and most of it lies beneath the level of the hilltop, making it largely invisible. It was considered one of the major archaeological museums in Athens. Due to its limited size, the
Greek government
The Government of Greece (Greek language, Greek: Κυβέρνηση της Ελλάδας), officially the Government of the Hellenic Republic (Κυβέρνηση της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας) is the collective body of the Gre ...
decided in the late 1980s to build a new museum. The
New Acropolis Museum is now built at the foot of the
Acropolis
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...
. In June 2007 the old museum closed its doors so that its antiquities could be moved to their new home, which opened on 20 June 2009.
History
The museum was home to many of the Greek world's ancient relics found in and around the
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...
since excavations started.
It was designed by architect
Panagis Kalkos
Panagis Kalkos (, 1818–1875) was one of the first Greeks, Greek architects of the modern Greek state. Educated in Munich, he is a representative of a strict neoclassic style in architecture. He built some of the most characteristic neoclassic bu ...
and was constructed between 1865 and 1874. It was expanded in the 1950s to a modern design executed by
Patroklos Karantinos, a Greek modernist architect.
The Acropolis Museum housed stone
sculptures and
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
remains from the monuments of the Acropolis and some artifacts that are excavated on the site. The building is located in the south-east corner of the Acropolis. In 1974 prime minister
Konstantinos Karamanlis proposed the construction of a new museum. Initial plans were made under
Melina Mercouri and the ground of the Makrygianni former military hospital and
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...
barracks was chosen. The first competition was criticized and a new competition proclaimed some years later. In 2007 the old building was closed to prepare the move to the new building.
The new building
A
new building was designed by
Bernard Tschumi and Michali Fotiades, and constructed from 2002 to 2007 on Areopagitou Street. It was inaugurated on Saturday, June 20, 2009, and the entrance fee was 1 euro for the first year, and 5 euros thereafter.
Damage to the Acropolis
Drainage pipes from the Old Acropolis Museum have been attributed for causing much of the decay of the Acropolis.
Collections

The museum housed artifacts that were found on the site of the
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...
. They derive mainly from the
Parthenon
The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...
, the
Propylaea, the
Erechtheum, the
Temple of Athena Nike, the
Eleusinion, the
Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia, the
Chalkotheke, the
Pandroseion, the
Old Temple of Athena, the
Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the sanctuary of
Asclepius
Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...
or
Asclepieion, the Temple and
Theatre of Dionysus Eleutheureus, and the
Odeon of Pericles.
Highlights
*
Blond Kouros's Head of the Acropolis
*
Caryatids
*
Kouros and
Kore
*
Kritios Boy
*
Metopes of the Parthenon
*
Moscophoros
*
Nike Adjusting Her Sandal
*
Parthenon Frieze
The Parthenon frieze is the low-relief Mount Pentelicus#Pentelic marble, Pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon's Cella, naos.
It was sculpted between and 437 BC, most likely under the direction of Phidias. O ...
*
Temple of Athena Nike frieze
In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
See also
*
Erechtheion
*
Perserschutt
*
List of museums in Greece
Notes
External links
*
Acropolis Museum: Moschophoros, Kritios Boy
{{Acropolis of Athens
Museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
Archaeological museums in Athens
Museums established in 1878
Defunct museums in Greece
Culture of ancient Greece
Museums disestablished in 2007
2007 disestablishments in Greece
1878 establishments in Greece
de:Akropolismuseum
es:Museo de la Acrópolis
fr:Musée de l'Acropole d'Athènes
it:Museo dell'acropoli di Atene
nl:Acropolis Museum
no:Akropolismuseet
pt:Museu da Acrópole de Atenas
sr:Акропољски музеј
sh:Akropoljski muzej
sv:Akropolismuseet