Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympic Games

Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympics in Olympia

The museum of the history of the ancient Olympic Games ( Greek Μουσείο της Ιστορίας των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων της Αρχαιότητας , Mousio tis Istorías ton Olympikón Agonon tis Archeótitas ) in Olympia in Greece , the building also known as Old Archaeological Museum or as Syngreion ( Greek Συγγρείον hereinafter) shows 463 objects (often copies from museums in Greece and the rest of the world) that explain the history of the ancient Olympic Games and sport in antiquity up to the fifth century AD.

Museum building

The classicist building of the museum was designed by the German architects Friedrich Adler and Wilhelm Dörpfeld , whose names were associated with the excavations in Olympia that began in 1875. The construction was made possible by a donation from the patron Andreas Syngros , in whose honor it was named "Syngreion" and was completed in 1888. The building dominates a hill about 400 meters northwest of the Altis , beyond the bridge over the Kladeos . It housed the Olympia Archaeological Museum until the late 1970s . In the central hall were the sculptures of the east and west gables of the Temple of Zeus and the metopes , in the hall there were also the statues of Nike des Paionios and Hermes des Praxiteles . The remaining halls housed various finds from the sanctuary such as bronzes and sculptures.

The old museum building was badly damaged by the earthquakes that struck the region in 1954. In the meantime, the ongoing excavations of the German Archaeological Institute in the Altis had produced such an abundance of new finds that they could no longer be found. Therefore it was necessary to build a new museum in Olympia. After the construction of the new Archaeological Museum, the Old Museum was closed for years. All that remain are casts of the pediment sculptures, the Nike by Paionios (until they were installed in the Neues Museum in 1994) and the colossal torso of Augustus, which now stands in the pillared hall of the Archaeological Museum. The other areas of the old museum were used as storage rooms and workshops.

The restoration and repair of the listed building had been planned since the beginning of the 1980s, but its realization did not begin until 1999 on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 . The restoration work was completed in 2003 and subsequently the exhibition on the history of the ancient Olympic Games was set up by interdisciplinary teams from the Ministry of Culture. The exhibition opened on March 24, 2004.

The exhibition

The exhibition shows the history of the games from prehistory and early history to the end of antiquity. The large central hall is dedicated to the Olympic Games, while the back two rooms with finds from other ancient sanctuaries ( Delphi , Nemea , Athens ) offer a brief presentation of the other Panhellenic Games, the Pythian , Nemean , Isthmic Games and the Panathenaic Games .

Akmatidas jumping weights

With 463 antique exhibits, the museum presents the history of the ancient Olympic Games, the emergence of sport in Greece and the other Panhellenic Games as well as the Panathenaic Mountains. The exhibits date from the second millennium BC. Until the 5th century. A special place geometric idols, inscriptions, sculptures, ceramics with representations of competitions, the stone of Vivona and the statue base of Polydamas of Skotoussa, the work of the great sculptor Lysippos , and the jump weights one of Akmatidas.

The exhibition is structured thematically. It consists of 14 areas.

Equipment of the wrestlers (Strigilis and oil bottles)

• The emergence of sport in Greece is illustrated by means of small finds and ceramics from the Minoan and Mycenaean times.

• Heracles , one of the mythical founders of the Olympic Games, is introduced through exhibits.

• The presentation of the Zeus sanctuary at Olympia in the early historical times, when the Games were organized as the Panhellenic Games, takes place through the first charioteer figures of the era and through tripods , the first valuable offerings for Zeus.

• The organization of the games is shown by stone and bronze inscriptions from Olympia, which give important information about those responsible for the organization.

• Dumbbells, scrapers ( strigilis ), ceramics, relief representations of athletes show the section of the preparation of the athletes.

• In the “Women and Sport” section, the statue base of the offering of Kyniska from Sparta , the first woman to be crowned Olympic champion for winning her horses in the chariot race, while the statue base of Damagetos and Dorieus, the sons of the great Olympic champion Diagoras of Rhodes , refer to the famous episode of Kallipatira .

Others

On February 17, 2012, an armed robbery was committed on the museum, in which numerous exhibits were stolen. However, the theft was cleared up in November 2012 and the pieces were seized.

Web links

• The museum on the website of the Greek Ministry of Culture (Greek)
• Documentation on the website of the Technical Chamber TEE (Greek with numerous images) (PDF file; 5.05 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Directory of cultural monuments .
2. ^ Zeit-Online: "Armed men attacked the ancient Olympic Museum", accessed on February 19, 2012 , Stern-Online: "Museum robbery in Olympia cleared up .

Coordinates: 37 ° 38 ′ 27.6 ″  N , 21 ° 37 ′ 31.5 ″  E