The world-famous Acropolis Museum, is offering visitors the chance to enjoy its spectacular exhibitions for free in order to mark Greece’s Independence Day on March 25.

The Museum exhibition areas will be open from 9 am to 8 pm with the normal general admission fee of €5 per head being waived.

At 1pm the director of the museum, Prof. Dimitrios Pantermalis will also present a replica of Kore 685 to visitors. ‘Kores’ or ‘korai’ are a group of female statues discovered around the Acropolis in the 19th century. The specific replica features a recreation of the original paintwork that once adorned the statues.

The color was applied by the Swiss painter E. E. Gilliéron (1885-1939) a century ago, based on drawings made by his father, L. E. Gilliéron (1850-1924) shortly after the discovery of the sculpture in 1888, at a site southwest of the Parthenon.

On the same evening, at 7 pm, video excerpts from composer George Kouroupos’s musical project Voice of Oak will be shown in the ‘Dodona’ temporary exhibition hall. The hall is dedicated to the prophetic oak at Dodona and features a recreation of the tree whose rustling in the wind was once thought to provide guidance.

The Museum

Designed by US-based architect Bernard Tschumi, the modernist building at the foot of the Acropolis’ southern slope showcases surviving treasures from the Archaic and Roman periods, with particular emphasis on the Acropolis of the 5th century BC. The Acropolis museum opened to the public in 2009 and instantly became a favorite with visitors as well as a symbol of Greece’s role as a treasurer of world heritage.

In 2016, Tripadvisor users selected the museum as the 9th best in the world and the best in Greece.