The Olympic Museum of Athens has officially opened to the public, sharing memorabilia and artefacts from all over the world in the Games’ birthplace.
The museum was set to open its doors in 2020, however much like the rest of the world, it had be put on pause due to the pandemic.
Covering 3,500 square metres, the museum is located near the Olympic Park complex in the Maroussi district and was designed by local architecture firm KLab, along with exhibition designers Mulo Creative Lab.
The Olympic Museum’s exhibition is separated into two parts.
One brings people back to the ancient era, highlighting Ancient Olympia and the very first known records of these athletic events.
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The second displays themes pointing to the Games’ values, the Olympic movement (also celebrated in other Olympic museums scattered across the world) and how athletes and individual sports contribute to the overall meaning of the Games.
Museum goers will also have a chance to view equipment, Olympic flags, medals and torches from previous years and admire nine metre high walls adorned with information and posters from each opening ceremony of the games.
KLab director Konstantinos Labrinopoulos talked about design inspiration for the project, noting the team had “infinite sources of inspiration for the overall composition”.
“We had many objects to work with, supported by other museums and cultural bodies.”
“Our design, to an extent, highlights the sense of sporting competition, through the depictions of athletes in motion, which in turn is a narration of the idea of evolution of sports through time.”
Last month International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was given a preview of the museum and made the first entry in the museum’s visitor book.
