The National Archaeological Museum is celebrating 150 years of its foundation on the 3rd of October 2016. Visitors will have the chance to see a unique series of actions. The action that be at the center of attention, joining the festive atmosphere of the anniversary exhibition is entitled “Odysseys”, which through the unique collections of the museum, that start from the Neolithic period and end in late antiquity will highlight the timeless struggle of human survival, development, acquisition of knowledge and happiness.
The presentation begins in a separate hall adjacent to the exhibition of the Travellers, a special visual installation enriched with music and film projections, the installation makes use of old showcases from the first years of the Museum’s operation, subtly making an effort to elucidate the secret thread that connects all those that the National Archaeological Museum carries in its entrails and transports through time functioning as an ark of concepts and universal values.

The birth of Greece’s National Archaeological Museum was first announced on April 27, 1866 by the Chief Guard of Antiquities Zissis Sotiriou — one of the fighters of the independence war of 1821. The announcement notified all Greeks that a new “Museum of All Greeks” was to be erected on the land donated by Eleni Tositsa on Patission Street and also urged anyone hoarding antiquities in their home to donate them, in order to enrich the new museum’s collection.
Sotiriou was appointed to his position in 1863 and oversaw the building of both the first Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum. The building’s foundation stone was officially set in 1866, in a grand ceremony attended by King George the First, ministers, MPs and crowds of people, which marked the culmination of an effort lasting over three decades, with many false starts and dashed hopes along the way.