Byzantine and Christian Museum

The Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens holds the world's most important collection of Byzantine sacred art. Founded in 1914, it moved in 1930 into the Villa Ilissia, a Florentine-inspired townhouse built around 1840 for the Duchess of Plaisance. The permanent display sets some 3,000 exhibits across two underground levels, tracing the path from late-antique Christianisation through the middle-Byzantine height to the post-Byzantine period under Ottoman rule. The Cretan icons, early Christian sarcophagi and wall paintings rescued from ruined mountain monasteries of Epirus stand out. Visitors follow a chronological route through dim vaulted rooms designed to evoke a sacred space rather than a classical museum. A strong recommendation for anyone exploring Athens beyond the Acropolis.