The most unexpected Museum in Athens: the Olympic Museum

How about exploring and discovering 3000 years of history within 1 and a half hours with a 7 euro ticket? That is the thing with the Olympic Museum in Athens, located inside Golden Hall, near Olympic Stadium. The most fun part is that you can explore a modern building with high-tech presentations and you do not have to be a sports fan to enjoy it as it is recommended for everyone.

Let's explore the Museum together!

Your first impression

Once you enter the Museum you will live with all of your senses the Olympic magnificence. The first thing you will experience is a room, full of screens in leaf shapes showing unforgettable triumphs and achievements of great Olympic athletes in their top moments. While at the same time, a piece of majestic music in the background will make you feel like you are experiencing these moments in real-time. Personally, I was in about five minutes in this room, getting goosebumps all the time and I could stay even longer but I knew that what was coming up next would be even better.

First Olympics ever

Walking into the next place of the Museum you are walking through a long history. Specifically, you are being transferred to the Olympic Games in Antiquity, starting from the first Olympics ever in 776 BC. At the same time, you learn about all the other games the Ancient Greeks were organizing and contributed to the creation of these spectacular Games. So you will walk through the Olympics in Ancient Olympia, which is located in Peloponnese, and revive the games through wall presentations and a 3D representation of how the stadiums were at the time. Of course, there are many descriptions and if you want to learn more about the Ancient Olympics, this museum provides all the necessary information you need. But, you can explore it by observing the videos and the statues, as well.

The Revival of the Olympic Games

This part of the Museum is one of my favorites. You get to relive the first modern Olympics that took place in Athens, in 1896 through original tickets and announcements of the Games. Also, what impressed me was the original letters that were exchanged between Dimitrios Vikelas, the Greek representative in the Olympic committee, and Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic committee. These were the letters that announced the beginning of the first-ever modern Olympics. As you read the messages there is also audio sound in the background that makes you feel these letters have just been exchanged. As you continue exploring, you will be able to sit in some marbles that depict the seats of the 1896 Olympic Games in Panathenaic stadium, which is still standing with a capacity of close to 100,000 people.

Exploring the modern Olympics from 1896 to 2020

If you have reached this spot in the Museum and are not fascinated, I am sure the rest will make you feel delighted. You will get to see in amazing graphics a high column with all the amazing information about each Olympics and get more in-depth about your favorite Games. There is also the official mascot of each Olympics and rare tickets of them.

The story behind the 1964 Tokyo Olympics

For the first time, the Games travel to the East. In homage to the victims of Hiroshima and as a call for world peace, Yoshinori Sakai, who was born on the 6th of August in 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on the city, is chosen as the final torchbearer. It was also the very first time that the Fair Play trophy was awarded to Swedish yachtsmen Lars and Stig Kall who abandoned the race to provide aid to two other competitors of theirs, whose boat has sunk.

The Athens Olympics, 2004

There is a special place in the Museum for the most recent Olympic Games that took place in Greece, in 2004. You will get to see rare showpieces, such as bags especially designed for the Games, official event programs, some awards that were given to the winners, such as olive branches, and some of the equipment that was used for the games by athletes that participated.

2006 to date

Before you leave, you will observe the showpieces and some amazing information about the Olympics that took place from 2006 to date. The winter Olympics are part of the museum too, as you can see the official mascots of the Games, the symbols, tickets, and official event programs of each Olympics. There are also the actual medals that were won by Greek athletes in the Olympics and there is a great example of it in the upcoming image.

My recommendation

I recommend visiting the Athens Olympic Museum. It will be a great experience whether you are a sports fan or not. You can approach this place in many ways, that is to say, a social or a cultural view because the Olympic Games themselves are a worldwide phenomenon that unites people. It is no wonder why during the Olympics in Antiquity the participating parties were calling a truce, and no war was taking place during the Games.