This Sunday, June 20, marks 12 years since the the opening of the Acropolis Museum in Athens. To celebrate, the museum will be open from 8:00 to 20:00 with a reduced entry fee (5 euros) to all exhibition areas, and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a brand new interactive presentation on the Persian Wars (499–449 BC), “Marathon-Salamis: In Traces of Myth and History.”

The format of the presentation will involve museum archaeologists discussing the significance of the wars on subsequent Greek and world history while fielding questions from the public. Themes will include the impact of the Greek victories at the battle of Marathon (490 BC) and the naval battle of Salamis (480 BC) on the consolidation of Athenian democracy, the different psyches of the Greek and Persian combatants, the role of the gods, the destruction of the Acropolis, and its rebirth in the subsequent classical era.

Visitors and archaeologists will further discuss how these themes are presented among the exhibits in the museum.

Available in both Greek and English, the presentations are limited to 8 visitors per session on a first come, first served basis, and will continue after the Museum’s birthday, offered to the public every Friday and Sunday.

In a year that has been like no other, challenging for both the Greek tourism and cultural heritage sectors, the world-famous museum closed its doors to the public last November due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reopening again on May 14.

Making the most of the enforced lockdown, museum staff, under the directorship of Dimitrios Pandermalis, seized the opportunity to catch-up on maintenance and restoration projects, and make further additions to the permanent exhibition, inlcuding an excavation gallery showcasing the ancient Athenian neighborhood located below the museum building, the Makrigiannis plot.

At the end of last year, the museum announced that it had undertaken a comprehensive digitization project, becoming the first museum in Greece to go fully digital. Showcasing exhibits in high definition alongside an array of multimedia applications, the website provides detailed information on 2,156 artifacts in the museum’s permanent collection, as well as a dedicated website for children, the Acropolis Museum Kids.

Since its opening in the summer of 2009, the museum has drawn international praise and awards for its visitor-friendly design and innovative exhibitions, offering an in-depth look at the history of the Sacred Rock and the development of ancient Athenian culture.

Housing over 4,000 exhibits, inlcuding masterpieces of Archaic and Classical Greek art, the Acropolis Museum is widely regarded as one of the best museums in the world, welcoming well over a million local and international visitors each year.

In the purpose-built Parthenon Gallery on the third floor, ceiling-high glass walls offer uninterrupted views of the nearby temple and of Athens. Housing the Parthenon’s sculpted friezes and metopes in sequence, the gallery further presses the case for the reunification of the marbles currently on display in the British Museum.