DESCRIPTION
HISTORY
EXHIBITIONS
INFORMATION
PHOTOGALLERY
 
 
 
Exhibitions
| Description | | Exhibits |

The Thera exhibition
 
"The wall-painting of Spring"
This display contains important finds from the settlement of Akrotiri in Thera, which was destroyed by the sixteenth-century BC volcanic eruption there. Akrotiri was one of the largest centres of the prehistoric Aegean, under the Minoan influence, as indicated mainly through the decorative motives of pottery, the art of frescoes and the adoption of Linear A script.

This display highlights Akrotiri's relations with Minoan Crete, which was at the peak of its floruit during this period, and mainland Greece, at the time of Mycenae's royal graves (sixteenth century). Room 48, on the museum's first floor, contains several impressive wall-paintings from Akrotiri's houses, as well as vessels, tools and weapons of the period.
  
 
Author
Demetra Kokkevi-Fotiou, archaeologist
  
 

Exhibition Units
 
- Wall-paintings from Akrotiri, Thera (1967-1973 excavations).
These include the perfectly preserved 'Spring' fresco, which once covered three walls of a room, and the remarkable 'Boxing children' and 'Antelope' wall-paintings.
- Moveable finds from Akrotiri and other sites
This unit includes moveable finds from Akrotiri, late nineteenth-century acquitions of the National Archaeological Museum, and select works from Knossos, Mycenae and Phylakopi from the Museum's Prehistoric Collection. The polychrome Theran pottery with its vegetal and marine inspired natural compositions is especially impressive. The display also includes ceramic, bronze and stone vases, vases with representations of dolphins, lions, wild goats and grapes, vases inscribed in Linear A, bronze weapons and tools, and lead weights.
 
 

Open:
Winter: From the 1st of November until the 31 of March 2010:
8:30-15:00