Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of Antiquity

The Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia is housed in the reconstructed "SYNGREION", the first Archaeological Museum of Olympia. This neoclassical building, one of the most beautiful in Greece, was erected in the 1880s with its cost being covered in the form of a donation by the Greek banker Andreas Syggros, whose name the museum honorably bears.

Here were housed for the first time, the artistic and historical treasures of Olympia, the Hermes of Praxiteles, the Nike of Paioniοs, the sculptural decoration of the temple of Zeus and dozens more findings of the systematic excavations that were in progress since 1875 under the responsibility of the German Archaeological Institute. These works were transferred during the 1970s to the New Archaeological Museum of Olympia and the historical museum has remained closed to the public since then.

On the eve of the Olympic Games "ATHENS 2004" the abandoned "Old Museum of Olympia", as it was informally called, is fully restored, acquires its own collection of exhibits and on March 24, 2004 officially begins to operate as the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of Antiquity.

The approximately 400 ancient works that come mainly from Olympia narrate known and unknown aspects of the worship of gods in whose honor the Games were held, but also from many other important archaeological sites, historical sites and ancient cities of Greece. These works (clay vases, statues, mosaics, bronze figurines and statuettes, equipment for athletes and the Games, coins, etc.) have been granted in the form of long-term loans from services and museums of the Ministry of Culture and in total cover a wide chronological spectrum, from the 2nd millennium BC up to the 5th century AD.

In the full of glamor and nobility building, are presented important chapters of the fascinating history of the Olympics and other Games in the great Panhellenic sanctuaries (Pythia, Isthmia, Nemea and Panathenaia), such as: the prehistory of sport, the inception of the Games in Olympia, Zeus and his cult, Elis (Ilida) and its role in the organization of the Games and the preparation of the athletes, women and sports, the Games, the winners of the Games, the spectators of the Games etc.

Copyediting: Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia