Museu Arqueológico de Olímpia

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About Museu Arqueológico de Olímpia

The Museu Arqueológico de Olímpia houses what the sanctuary excavations brought to light, from the prehistoric period to the end of Antiquity. The current building, by Patroklos Karantinos, opened in 1982 and was renovated for the 2004 Games; the original museum, from 1888 and funded by the banker Andreas Syngros, stands above the village and today is the museum of the ancient Games. It was the first museum built outside Athens.

The central room gathers the sculptural decoration of the Templo de Zeus, from the 5th century BC: the two pediments, showing the Birth of Pelops and the Battle of the Centaurs, and the twelve metopes with the Labours of Hercules, mounted at their original height. It is the largest collection of sculpture from a Greek temple outside Athens and London. In a separate room is the Hermes with the Child Dionysus, attributed to Praxíteles, in Parian marble polished like skin, and in another room the Nike of Peônio, the winged victory that descended from the sky onto a triangular pillar in front of the temple.

The rest of the museum follows a chronological route: bronze and terracotta figurines from the sanctuary's early centuries, the terracotta group of Zeus and Ganymede, the helmet that Miltiades dedicated to Zeus after Marathon, weapons and cauldrons offered by victors, and the small cup inscribed "I belong to Phidias", found in the sculptor's workshop. The bronze collection is regarded as the largest in the world.