Acropolis Museum

The Acropolis Museum opened in 2009 in a Bernard Tschumi-designed building 280 m southeast of the rock. The lobby has a glass floor revealing an ongoing excavation of a 5th-century AD neighbourhood directly underneath. The collection holds everything found on the Acropolis since 1830: the original Caryatid porch sculptures (five survivors, lit individually), the archaic Korai statues with traces of original paint, and the Parthenon Hall on the top floor — a 1:1 reconstruction of the temple's perimeter with the surviving frieze sculptures (plaster casts mark the British Museum sections).

The Parthenon Hall's empty cases — covered in white plaster casts — are a deliberate political statement. Greece has been formally requesting the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum since 1983; informal exchanges go back to 1925. The museum was specifically designed with the missing sculptures' eventual repatriation in mind — every frieze block is in its original geographic position, just waiting for the British 60 % to come home. UNESCO mediated a 2024 round of talks but no agreement was reached.

Standard ticket €15 in summer (€10 winter); free for under-18s. Closed Tuesday. Open until 22:00 on Fridays — the only time the rooftop café with direct Parthenon view is sunset-ready. Allow 2 hours. The museum is the natural pairing with the Acropolis itself — buy the combo (€30) and visit the museum first if you want context, or the rock first if you want the chronological 'wow' build-up.