SPARTE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
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Highlights include a sculpture of King Leonidas ( century BC) and a collection of votive masks unique in Greece.
This small museum (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Σπάρτης/Archaiologiko Mousio Spartis) brings together most of the artifacts discovered in Laconia, from the Neolithic to the Roman period. Since 1875, it has been housed in an elegant neoclassical building. However, it will soon be moving to a futuristic building currently under construction to the north-east of the archaeological site. In the seven current rooms, you'll be able to admire objects from ancient Sparta: mosaics that adorned the floors of villas in the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC), a terracotta model of a Roman galley (1st century) and this Late Antique mosaic depicting the great Athenian strategist Alcibiades, who, after a scandal in 415 BC, chose to offer his services to his former Spartan enemies. One of the highlights is the marble bust of King Leonidas (5th century BC), wearing the famous crested helmet of the hoplites. Another highlight is a collection, unique in Greece, of votive masks worn during initiation ceremonies at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia (7th century BC to5th century AD). They fall into seven more or less frightening categories: old women, beardless youths, bearded warriors, "realistic" portraits, satyrs, gorgons and "grotesques" with distorted faces. Finally, the mezzanine houses fine funerary objects from Mycenaean tombs (16th-13th centuries BC).
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