National Archaeological Museum: Unseen Museum

What would you give for a peek at the storerooms of the world’s museums? To get a glimpse of the unseen and the untold. Now answer this again, only this time for the museum that holds the world’s biggest collection of Greek antiquities, the National Archaeological Museum.

NAM’s “Unseen Museum” programme is back this year and its first exhibit has just been announced. For some context, the Unseen Museum initiative is that lovely time of the year where the museum pulls remarkable finds from its vast repository and presents them to the public over two months each time. “The Flirting Bovines”, a Mycenaean amphoroid krater produced at the end of the 14th c. BC, is this season’s first exhibit under the title “Unusual story of a Mycenaean vase from Smyrna.” Why so unusual, you may ask. Well, aside from it being gorgeous (and quite ancient) there’s a lot of history that comes with it. Short version: from a workshop in Argolida, to Asia minor (key factor here, since this year’s event is dedicated to the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 marking 100 years since), to a burial site and later on discovered by illegal excavation, then back to Athens. For the long and amazing version, you’ll have to check into the museum yourselves. Fun fact: the krater depicts a flirting scene between a bull and a cow that has been astonishingly preserved. How’s your love life going?

NAM's Unseen Museum 2022 is supported by our very first This is Athens City Festival - check our full programme here.