Archaeological sites

A dense grid of archaeological sites covers the entire surface of Greece. After the foundation of the new Hellenic state, increased interest was expressed for the promotion of our national heritage. Both the Greek Archaeological Service and foreign archaeological schools (French Archaeological School, German Archaeological Institute) started excavations as early as the second half of the 19th century. At that time of course interest was focused mainly on the sites of the classical period. Thus, expeditions of the foreign archaeological schools excavated important archaeological sites already known (for example, the French Archaeological School at Delphi and Delos, the German Archaeological Institute at Olympia). On the Greek side, pioneering work was done by Chr. Tsoundas, the Ephor of Antiquities, who uncovered many sites of pre-historic and early historic times during his excavations in Mycenae (palace, tholos and chamber tombs), on the Cyclades and in Thessaly (Neolithic citadels of Dimini and Sesklo).

Gradually, the interest of the archaeologists turned also to other periods of Greek civilisation and from the beginning of the 20th century excavations started at sites dating from pre-historic, early historic, Roman and Byzantine times. Despite the activity developed during the Interwar period, it was only after the end of World War II that excavations made essential progress and the first organised archaeological sites were set up after the appropriate maintenance and restoration works had been completed. The organised and systematic archaeological activity during the second half of the 20th century promoted the archaeological sites, which could now be visited by the public and cover the period from the Palaeolithic era to more recent times. The archaeological sites are supervised by the Ministry of Culture via the Ephorates of the Archaeological Service in each region. Opening hours vary, depending on whether it is winter or summer, and you need to purchase tickets in order to enter.