ATHANASAKIO MUSEUM

This archaeological museum (Αθανασάκειο Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Βόλου/Athanaskio Archaiologiko Mouiso Volou) is named in honor of its founder, philanthropist Alexios Athanasakis (1843-1933), a Pelion businessman who made his fortune trading with Egypt. With its pleasant garden, the museum is housed in a neoclassical building dating from 1909, near the small beaches of Volos (400 m to the south). A large part of the museum is devoted to the sites of Dimini (6 km west of Volos, entrance fee payable) and Sesklo (12 km west, closed), with their rich Neolithic collection (6800-2000 B.C.): some of the oldest agricultural tools in Europe, reconstruction of a dwelling, fragments of pottery decorated with faces in relief, a child's tomb... Dimini has also yielded superb Mycenaean gold objects (^16th-11th centuries B.C.). The site of Phères (20 km to the north-west, near Velestino, free access) is also well highlighted: beautiful head of Aphrodite, red-figure ceramics... The Hellenistic statues in the temple of Apollo at Amphanae (9 km to the south, near Agios Stefanos, free access) are also noteworthy: a large Apollo at the side of the (small) donor and a surprisingly realistic young boy seated without a head (or modesty!). Last but not least, don't miss the collection of colorful funerary stelae from Demetrias (5 km to the south, admission charge for theater and palace), a city founded by the Macedonians in 293 BC. Also from Demetrias is the splendid statue of a seated warrior from Galatia (now Turkey).