The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture, Athens

The Benaki Museum started as the private collection of Antonis Benakis, a wealthy cotton merchant, and is housed in the family’s original neoclassical home. Antonis and his three sisters donated it to Greece in 1930. The museum contains thousands of exhibits tracing Greek culture from the prehistoric to the modern age.

Tickets cost €12 and there is a free audio guide you can download via QR code but I was having trouble accessing it so decided to do without in the end. The museum is not far from the National Gardens and can easily be reached on foot from the centre of Athens.

I’m just going to pick some of my personal highlights here because there was so many interesting items on display you could easily spend days exploring. The items I most enjoyed looking at were the vast varieties of traditional clothing on display.

I was also fascinated by the beautiful reconstruction of reception rooms that were found in a mansion in Greek Macedonia in the 18th century. Rescued in the 1930s the wood panelled walls and gilded ceilings are original.

Other things that caught my eye included this pretty tablet from a grave marker dating from the late 4th to 3rd century.

I was also very impressed by all the jewellery on display.

This bronze gunpowder case which is probably Turkish also caught my eye.

It’s a really great museum and you can easily spend a large part of the day here. Do note there is no air conditioning so it can get quite warm inside.