Brauron Archaeological Museum in Athens

The Archaeological Museum of Brauron is located in the south-eastern region of Attica at the Markopoulo area and was built in the late 1960s in order to host a variety of findings that derived from the excavations conducted in the nearby Sanctuary of Artemis in Brauron as well as the wider area of Mesogeia.

The building consists of 5 halls and includes an atrium as well as a patio, being house to superb artifacts that span from the early Bronze period to the Roman era. The majority of the exhibits come from the Sanctuary of Artemis, an archaeological site of major significance and one of the most prominent places of worship in Attica during the antiquity. The sanctuary (estimated to date back to the 5th century) included -among others- a temple to goddess Artemis, a Π-shaped stoa and a sacred spring, where young girls would visit, make sacrifices and partake into rituals and races that signified and honored the transition to womanhood. Iphigenia was also worshiped in the sanctuary; due to its specified audience, the findings mostly include statues of Artemis, kraters (ceramic vases containing the offerings), dedications in the forms of small statues and jewelry, as well as figures of “arktoi” (she-bears), the young girls dedicated to the goddess. The collection also includes exhibits from the area of Merenda, and the excavations took place mostly between 1945 and 1962, supervised by Ioannes Papadimitriou and Professor Ch. Bouras.

The museum was refurbished in 2009 and there was a rearrangement of the exhibits, while it is open to the public during all week (except Mondays) from 08:30 to 15:00.