ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

If one wants to enjoy the archaeological site of Paleopolis, it is useful to visit the museum beforehand: it contains 3D models of the original buildings. The small museum is composed of four rooms and an atrium. You will see restored pieces and miniature objects and pottery from the sanctuary and the ancient city.

But no Victory of Samothrace here: wings spread for eternity, the famous 2,200-year-old statue is the property of the Louvre, following its discovery by a French vice-consul in the region, Charles Champoiseau, who, passing by in 1863, took credit for this major work...

Nikè, the goddess of Victory, is a winged woman standing at the prow of a ship. It is probably an ex-voto offered by the Rhodians to commemorate a naval victory won in the early ^2nd century BC. According to several studies, it was made on the occasion of the battle of Myonnisos or of the victory won at Sidè, around 190 BC, against the fleet of Antiochos III of Syria. Even today, the Victory of Samothrace remains one of the most beautiful examples of Hellenistic sculpture. Its decorative richness as well as its sense of volume and movement are also characteristic of a Rhodian style, a prelude to the Baroque creations of the Pergamon school (ca. 180-160 BC).

The renovation carried out by the Louvre in 2013-2014 reinstated the goddess on her boat prow base. But will we ever see her again in her rightful place?