8 Under-the-Radar Museums in Athens

Featuring a magnificent collection of coins, stamps, medals, and gems, the Numismatic Museum packs a double punch. Housed in the lavish 19th-century Iliou Melathron Villa—once home to pioneering archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann—the collection’s setting is reason alone to visit.

Admire the frescoed ceilings and terrazzo floors and take in the spectacle of more than 500,000 rare numismatic treasures from Greece and beyond. Stroll through the elegant apartments to peruse the thematic exhibits of Hellenistic, Roman, medieval, and Byzantine items, plus modern European coins.

Don’t miss: Rare gold coins minted by Alexander the Great in 356 BC and the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy I in 305 BC.

Set in a house-turned-museum in the heart of the Plaka neighborhood, this unique collection of around 1,200 musical instruments illustrates how music was made with the humblest of materials across Greece from the 18th century. The exhibits have explanations in English, with photos of musicians playing select instruments to illustrate their use. Many of the items on display are intricately decorated, making them works of folk art as well as musical instruments.

Don’t miss: The headphones that play recordings of uniquely Greek instruments, including the gaïda (goatskin bagpipes) and the semantron, a wood plank with hammers used at Greek monasteries to call monks to prayer.

Ilias Lalaounis once draped Hollywood divas like Elizabeth Taylor in his massive, classically-inspired gold creations. His aesthetic lives on in the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum, which displays a rotating selection of gilded pieces.

The collection includes statement necklaces that cover the better part of the torso with motifs that draw from everything from prehistoric civilizations to Greek wildflowers. The jewelry is shown in display cases and on life-sized mannequins to great effect and spans the second half of the 20th century when Lalaounis was at the peak of his fame.

Don’t miss: The functioning workshop inside the museum’s entrance hall where resident goldsmiths keep Lalaounis’ iconic techniques alive.

Athens was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the 17th centuries, though few vestiges of the Turkish occupation have survived. One rare exception is the Bathhouse of the Winds, a traditional Turkish hammam that was operational as a public bath until the mid-20th century. Since then, the labyrinthine complex of changing rooms, tepidarium, and caldarium has been renovated and reopened as a museum illustrating the culture of hammams through history and how water was managed in ancient Athens.

Don’t miss: The app-based multimedia tour to hear the sounds of chatter, laughter, and live music as bathers would have in the 17th century.

Athens may have been the epicenter of Hellenic culture since ancient times, but the country’s outlying islands have a history of their own that’s often overlooked. The sleek Museum of Cycladic Art in the elegant Kolonaki district showcases the ancient civilizations that inhabited the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea as far back as 3000 BC through a world-class collection of art and artifacts. The highlight is the group of white marble Cycladic figurines unearthed in ancient island tombs—they’ve inspired many 20th-century artists.

Don’t miss: The section that illustrates daily life in ancient Greece, including schooling, athletics, entertainment, military campaigns, and wedding and funeral rituals.

Almost completely lost during the brutality of World War II, Greece’s Jewish community is one of the most historic in the world. The Jewish Museum of Greece documents Greek Jewish history and culture via collected religious and household artifacts dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries, including prayer books and Torah scrolls, religious and secular clothing, and everyday household items. There is also a small but moving section dedicated to Greek Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Don’t miss: The fifth floor of the museum, featuring colorful Sephardic and Romaniote wedding garb and jewelry that bring the joyful celebrations of the past to life.

Greece may not be known as a powerhouse producer of automobiles, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t avid Greek car collectors. One of these—shipping magnate Theodore Charagionis—amassed hundreds of cars during his lifetime and established the Hellenic Motor Museum to display a selection of about 110 gems from his collection. Today, you can admire antique Ford Model Ts, sexy Italian Ferraris, and even a small collection of models produced by Greece’s now-defunct automotive industry.

Don’t miss: A shiny maroon 1906 Model N Ford, which predates the Model T and was one of the first automobiles mass-produced by Ford.

Part of the larger Benaki Museum complex, this enchanting collection of ancient and historic toys from across the globe is never as crowded as the museum’s more famous halls dedicated to Greek art and history. Take in its thousands of toys, games, books, and other childhood playthings and reflect on the similarity of play across eras and nationalities. One of the most important collections of toys in Europe, this colorful and eclectic museum is a must-see for families.

Don’t miss: The minute dolls, stored in matchbox beds, complete with detailed faces and minuscule clothes.