Archaeological Museum of Mycenae

The Archaeological Museum of Mycenae, located at the entrance to the ancient ruins, displays artifacts from excavations at Mycenae and surrounding areas, offering insights into Mycenaean civilization.

Planning your visit

Mycenae was the centre of the civilisation that dominated the Aegean in the late Bronze Age, and Homer's Iliad is set in its world — Agamemnon's citadel, with the Lion Gate still standing above the approach and the beehive tombs cut into the hillside below. Schliemann excavated the shaft graves in 1876 and found gold masks, which he claimed with more enthusiasm than evidence belonged to Agamemnon himself.

The museum, opened in 2003 at the entrance to the site, holds what remains locally — pottery, frescoes, figurines, tools, weapons, and Linear B tablets recording palace administration in an early form of Greek. The most famous gold, including the mask, went to Athens and is in the National Archaeological Museum there.

The museum's function is therefore to explain the site rather than to hold its treasures, and it does that well, with reconstructions and models that make the citadel's layout comprehensible before you walk it.

Bookable options include skip-the-line combined site and museum tickets, and entry with audio tours. Current availability is shown below.