Stoa of Attalos Museum in Athens

The Stoa of Attalos Museum in Athens Greece: The Stoa of Attalos is an impressive building in the archaeological site of the Ancient Agora in Athens. Originally constructed from 159 BC till 138 BC, this building was donated to the Athenians by Attalus II, king of Pergamus, and his wife, as stated in a sign outside the Stoa. The building had two floors and two lines of marbles columns on the ground floor.

The Stoa of Attalos served as a modern shopping center, with 21 shops along the two floors. In fact, it was the first and largest shopping center of the antiquity and became the main meeting point of the Athenians that period. It was destroyed during a siege in 267 AD and was restored in 1953-1956 by the American School of Classical Studies to host an archaeological museum.

The Archaeological Museum of the Stoa of Attalos hosts findings that were excavated in the archaeological site of the Ancient Agora. These findings include marbles statues, parts of columns, coins, ceramic vases, items of daily use, reliefs, weapons and other pieces that date from the Neolithic times till the 6th century AD.

Worth to observe is a giant body state of god Apollo, the large statue of a female figure (goddess or queen), the water clock (clepsydra) used to measure time in the courthouses, the tomb of a little girl that dates from the Geometric times and a bronze Spartan shield that the Athenians took as a war prize in the Battle of Sfaktiria (425 BC). Recently (May 2012) the restoration works on the second floor finished and the museum expanded on both floors.

Address: Adrianou st, 24
Phone: (+30) 210 3210185