Acropolis Museum

An archaeological museum, the Acropolis Museum focuses on the discoveries made at the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was constructed to house every relic, from the Greek Bronze Age through Roman and Byzantine Greece, that was discovered on the rock and on the nearby slopes. It also sits on the ruins of early Byzantine and Roman Athens. The organization of the museum was constituted in 2008, although the museum itself was founded in 2003. The public might enter on June 20, 2009. Over a 14,000 square meter space, more than 4,250 artifacts are on display.

The museum's treasures are displayed on three floors, while the offices, café, and museum store are located on the fourth, center level. The Acropolis slopes' discoveries are shown on the museum's first floor. The floor of the long, rectangular room slopes, simulating the climb up a rock. The ancient artifacts are located in a sizable trapezoidal hall that is located after the hall. The Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Propylaea, as well as relics from Roman and early Christian Athens, are located on the same floor as other Acropolis structures. In order to maintain the chronological sequence, visitors are expected to witness the latter while descent.

To attain the same cardinal orientation as the ancient temple on the Acropolis, the top level of the Museum is positioned asymmetrically on the lower floors. The Parthenon hall's column spacing is identical to that of the old temple, and the use of glass walls on all four outside walls allows natural light to illuminate the Parthenon marbles in a similar way to how it does on the temple. The metopes are displayed on the columns, two per column, but not as high as in the ancient temple, and the frieze are displayed behind the metopes, forming a continuous band around the walls of a rectangular space set inside the columns, as in the ancient temple but not as high, again for ease of viewing. The pediment marbles are displayed at eye level in front of the end columns.

Detailed information:

• Founded: 2009
• Acropolis Museum Location: Athens, Greece
• Acropolis Museum Annual Budget: USD 175 million
• Acropolis Museum Annual Visitors: 1,666,286 million