Archaeological Museum of Olympia

The Archaeological Museum of Olympia (Greek: Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ολυμπίας) is one of the principal museums of Greece, located in Olympia in the West Greece Region. Overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, it houses discoveries from the surrounding area, including the site of the Ancient Olympic Games. When its original building opened in 1888, it became the first museum in Greece outside of Athens. Today it remains a major repository of ancient Greek art, with a bronze collection regarded as one of the most important in the world.

The need for a museum emerged from 19th-century excavations at Altis. The banker and philanthropist Andreas Syggros funded construction with 220,000 drachmas, entrusting design to German architects and archaeologists Wilhelm Dorpfeld and Friedrich Adler, who had begun excavating the site. Their neo-classical building was erected on the hill of Drouva near the road from Olympia to the sanctuary and completed in 1888. An earthquake damaged it in 1954, and it eventually proved too small for the growing collections. Plans for a new museum were approved in the 1970s. The Greek architect Patroklos Karantinos designed the new building, begun in 1966 and completed in 1975. The definitive exhibition opened only in 1982, inaugurated by Culture Minister Melina Mercouri; the museography was by Nikolaos Gialouris, Ismini Trianti, and sculptor S. Trianitis, who installed the Nike of Paionios on a specific pedestal, though it was not visible until 1994. The museum was renovated from September 2003 to 24 March 2004 as part of preparations for the 2004 Athens Olympics, with enlarged rooms, improved lighting, ventilation, and air conditioning. The original 1888 building, long unused, was repurposed in 2004 as a museum about the history of the ancient Olympic Games. In 2025, the Metropolitan Museum of Art agreed to return a cast bronze griffin's head taken from the museum between 1930 and 1936. On 26 November 2025, the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the 2026 Winter Olympics torch relay took place inside the museum after weather forecasts predicted poor conditions at Ancient Olympia Stadium; the flame, lit by the sun's rays during rehearsals and transferred in a safety lamp, burned until the ceremony, with Petros Gkaidatzis as first torchbearer.

The collection spans objects produced and used in the area from prehistory to Roman rule and even into the sixth to seventh centuries. It includes prehistoric and protohistoric material, geometric and archaic finds, archaic and classical ceramics, monumental terracotta sculpture, works from the Temple of Zeus, the workshop of Phidias, Hellenistic and Roman pieces, and material from the final years of the sanctuary. The museum's bronze collection is especially significant, making it one of the most important in the world. Other categories include terracottas, sculptures from the Archaic through Roman periods, and objects related to the Olympic Games.

The principal works include the Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, attributed to Praxiteles, dating to around 330 BCE, now installed in a dedicated room on an seismic-resistant base. The Nike of Paionios by Paionios, approximately three meters tall and originally standing on an eight-meter pedestal before the Temple of Zeus, occupies its own room. The pediments and metopes of the Temple of Zeus are displayed in a central hall: the east pediment depicts the chariot race between Pelops and Oinomaos, the west pediment the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs, and the metopes the twelve labors of Herakles. Other significant pieces include the Winged Gorgoneion, Zeus carrying Ganymedes, the helmet of Miltiades, a miniature bronze horse, a bronze discus awarded to an Olympian in 241 (IvO 240/241), and the oenochoe that belonged to Phidias. The statue of Apollo from the west pediment appeared on the obverse of the Greek 1000 drachmas banknote issued from 1987 to 2001. From Roman times, a notable bull statue from the Nymphaeum of Herodes Atticus stands out. The prehistoric collection includes Neolithic pottery from the stadium's north embankment, Early Helladic II-III objects from the 'tumulus of Pelops' and vaulted dwellings, Middle Helladic ceramics showing links to Dalmatian Cetina culture, and Mycenaean finds from tholos tombs at Zouni and Kalosaka hills. Three Neo-Hittite bronze plaques from Assyria (8th century BCE) attest to wider connections.

The current museum complex comprises two main buildings. The principal building contains twelve exhibition rooms arranged largely clockwise in chronological order, organized around both themes and ages of objects. Its architecture, designed by Patroklos Karantinos, employs elaborate materials such as Cippolino marble and modern construction methods within a tradition of materialist modernism, while addressing conservation requirements and visitor numbers. The east wing houses visitor services including a cafeteria and restrooms; the basements contain storage and conservation laboratories for terracottas, bronzes, stone, and mosaics. A large square peristyle court precedes the museum, displaying architectural elements and statues including the torso of a colossal statue of Augustus from the Metroon. The entrance hall contains a model of the site at its Roman-era peak. A separate building for the museum shop stands apart, located on the path to the archaeological site.

The museum is located in Ancient Olympia Municipality, West Greece Region, Greece. It is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Sports; as of 2009, Georgia Xatzi served as director. The museum's website is http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=7126. Visitors approach through the peristyle court with its display of architectural fragments and the site model, then proceed through the twelve exhibition rooms in chronological sequence. The shop is in a separate structure between the museum and the archaeological site.