Benaki Museum

...hours.

The Benaki Museum is based to the north-west corner of the national gardens and is about halfway between the stations of Syntagma and Evangelimos on the Athens Metro. If you are walking then it is not a long stroll from the centre of the city and it is a nice walk through the gardens where you can easily get lost for a few hours seeing things such as wild tortoises.

The museum is one of the better known in the ...
...Ancient Greeks, moving right through until their wars against the Turks in more modern times. The collection is vast and well laid out with a natural progression through the history of the country as you meander through the museum.

The museum itself was founded in the 1930s by Antonis Benakis in his family's mansion and has now grown to not only include the current location but also two other locations, including the only museum of ... more

Having seen most of the major sites of Athens in the first couple of days in the city, I have to admit that the prospect of visiting a museum didn't rank highly on the list of things that I wanted to do. However, with my friend that we were visiting working in the afternoon, we needed something to do that would last just a few hours.

The Benaki Museum is based to the north-west corner of the national gardens and is about halfway between the stations of Syntagma and Evangelimos on the Athens Metro. If you are walking then it is not a long stroll from the centre of the city and it is a nice walk through the gardens where you can easily get lost for a few hours seeing things such as wild tortoises.

The museum is one of the better known in the city and houses artefacts starting during the time before the Ancient Greeks, moving right through until their wars against the Turks in more modern times. The collection is vast and well laid out with a natural progression through the history of the country as you meander through the museum.

The museum itself was founded in the 1930s by Antonis Benakis in his family's mansion and has now grown to not only include the current location but also two other locations, including the only museum of Islamic art within Greece. As with many other museums, it also holds many independent displays, which can be found out on the website (http://www.benaki.gr/index-en.htm). It costs just 6€ to enter, just £4, which compared to some museums in the UK is good value.

Once you have finished with the museum itself, there is a very nice rooftop cafe where you can grab a drink before the stereotypical shop at the exit.

The biggest problem I had with the museum was the fact that you had to leave everything at the entrance, including cameras etc. an annoyance even though the baggage hall was free. I was always going to struggle as my interest in history in general, and Greek history in particular, has never been that high but both my friend and girlfriend really enjoyed the experience so I am sure that for many, this museum would be a good visit.

If you are only in Athens for a couple of days then don't go out of your way to visit this museum. By all means, walk through the gardens outside and maybe past it on your way to Likavitos Hill but this museum is only worth it if you have a little bit of free time or you have a real interest in the history.  

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