WITY TRAVELS
- Jun 9, 2021
- 4 min read

Athens Greece International Museums Day (Travel Blog 2021)

We are currently in Greece. In this Travel Blog we talk about International Museums Day 2021 and how we checked out as many museums and landmarks as possible! In previous blogs we explored the Acropolis, Anafiotika and Kolonaki areas, Panathenaic Stadium, and went to Lycabettus Hill for the sunset.

In case you are new here, we are Will and Katy. We are a travel couple that is traveling around the world. We are currently in Greece. We hope to show you what it is like to travel in 2021!

We flew out of Tirana (Mother Teresa) International Airport to Athens International Airport in Greece. 3 months earlier we flew into Tirana from Florida in the United States with a layover at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. We spent the time since traveling around the Balkans: Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia.

International Museums Day

International Museum Day, May 18th, is where every museum that participates and is open will allow you in for free! This day was created in 1977 by the International Council of Museums. Each year there is also a theme. The theme for 2021 is "The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine." Our challenge for the day is to see how many museums we can get into before they close at night.

Acropolis Museum

Operating Hours: 10 am - 6 pm

Regular Price: 5 Euro

Overview: The Acropolis museum was founded to exhibit all the significant finds from the Sacred Rock and its foothills. The location is 300 meters south of the Acropolis and it has glass walls in order to see the area in which these pieces were excavated. The entrance way features a clear floor to show the ruins of an ancient Athenian neighborhood on this very site.

Famous pieces:

Temple of Athena Nike: Several of the slabs and parts of the broad horizontal band of sculpted decoration at the top frontage, called a frieze, can be seen in the Acropolis Museum; other parts of the frieze are in the British Museum Brauroneion: The head of the statue of Artemis, the goddess of hunting,is now on display at the Acropolis Museum.

Parthenon: Lord Elgin, a British Ambassador stole the marble friezes from the front of the Parthenon. Today I believe half of the remaining original frieze is in the British Museum and the other half are in the Acropolis museum. It's a shame that the British museum will not return the section they took of the frieze of the Parthenon to the Acropolis Museum where people can see all of the remains of the original frieze together in one place right next to the original location.

Erechtheion: It has a porch which has stone carvings of 6 draped females or caryatid figures. But the ones here today are exact replicas. 5 of the original caryatids are in the Acropolis Museum and the Sixth one is at the British Museum in London. Lord Eligin along with half of the frieze of the Parthenon took one of the caryatids. Athenian legend had it that at night the remaining five Caryatids could be heard wailing for their lost sister. It would be great to have the originals here but I would imagine they are safer in the Acropolis Museum.

Propylaea: This is the west and formal entrance way of the Acropolis.

War Museum

Operating Hours: 10 am to 5 pm

Regular Price: 3 Euro

Overview: In 1964, the Hellenic State decided to found the War Museum, wishing to honor all those who fought for Greece and its freedom. They have a replica of Greece's very first war plane. Statue of Alexander III of Macedon known better as Alexander the Great. Shows the warfare he designed that equipped his men with long spears to help win many battles.

Kotsana Museum of Ancient Greek Technology

Operating Hours: 10 am - 6 pm

Regular Price: 5 Euro

Overview: At the beginning of the century, this building belonged to the wife of King Alexander I, and later on was the head office of the Athenian News Agency. Kostas Kotsanas was born in 1963. He has dedicated his life to the study of ancient Greek culture, particularly in the field of ancient Greek technology. He created this museum at his own expense. The museum highlights the technology of ancient Greeks, an extremely important but relatively unknown aspect of ancient Greek culture.

This museum is a must when visiting Greece, it is a hands on experience and the attendants are very helpful and knowledgeable! We even got a free gift on the way out.

Ancient Agora Museum

Operating Hours: 8:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Regular Price: 4 Euros

Overview: We are in the Stoa of Attalos or the covered walkway enclosed by pillars which was built by and named after King Attalos II of Pergamon. Excavation of the Athenian Agora began in 1931; well after other famous sites such as Pompeii and Olympia which has allowed its record keeping and historical context to remain in place. It has over 35,000 pieces of pottery and over 70,000 coins. The Athenian Agora was the center of the city. Every event or activity of the time could happen in the Agora.

You can see more of our day exploring the museums (and some historical sights) of Athens Greece in our travel vlog "Athens Greece International Museums Day 2021 Travel Vlog (Acropolis, War, Technology, Ancient Agora)" on YouTube. Out now!