On the edge of the Argolic gulf, at a short distance from Nauplion, the Acropolis of Tiryns rises impressively on a rocky hill (16 m).

The archaeological investigations of the ancient Tiryns are tightly linked with the name of Heinrich Schliemann who in 1876 opened the first trenches in the Acropolis and the site outside the walls. In 1884/5, during five months of extensive excavations, he uncovered, with his valuable assistant, W. Doepfeld, part of the Upper Citadel. Between 1905 and 1920, the investigations were resumed by the German Archaeological Institute on the Acropolis as in the wider surrounding area. At the end of the '50's, excavations in the area were undertaken under the supervision of the Ephore of Antiquities, N. Verdelis.

Finally, from 1967 onwards, the German Archaeological Institute returned to the site and with further extensive excavations directed by Ulf Jantzen and Klaus Kilian, the whole of the Upper and the Lower Citadel, part of the mycenaean town in the wider area around the walls as well as part of the Cemetery of the Iron Age were uncovered.

The finds from the excavation of Tiryns are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum and the Archaeological Museum of Nauplio.