MUSEUM OF THE ANCIENT AGORA OF ATHENS
Go there and contact
Ancient museum on 2 levels with an exhibition of Athenian sculptural art.
The Museum of the Ancient Agora has been housed since 1957 in the famous Stoa of Attalus, one of the largest porticoes of the Hellenistic period, which was completely rebuilt in the 1950s. The Stoa, erected in the mid-2nd century BC, is named after Attalus, the king of Pergamum, who wanted to adorn the Agora with this building as an expression of his gratitude to the city of Athens. It is a rectangular building, built on two levels, in limestone and marble from the Penteelic mountain, 120 m wide and 20 m long.
On the ground floor, the façade is composed of a colonnade of 45 columns of Doric order, while the colonnade of the interior is of Ionic order. The façade of the first floor is also of Doric order and the columns inside are of the Pergamon order. The back wall, which in the post-Roman period was part of the city's fortification, had 21 shops per floor.
The present museum, modest in size but not without interest, is mainly devoted to the functioning of the democratic regime in Athens. Among the objects on display are ostraca (shards engraved with the names of opponents of the regime who were exiled from Athens), clepsydras, evidence of political, honorary or votive institutions, inscriptions concerning diplomatic and administrative life, etc.
On the first floor: a very representative exhibition of Athenian sculptural art (4th century BC - 4th century AD).
