The new Olympic Museum of Athens opened to the general public on Friday 14th May.  Greece's new Museum is located at the Golden Hall shopping centre in the Maroussi suburb of Athens.  Visitors are invited to a unique journey through the long and exciting history of the Olympic Games, where three main events of the Olympic Games Ideal are highlighted.  1) The birth of the Olympic Games in ancient Olympia.  2) The Hellenic revival of the Olympic Games in 1896.  3) The return of the Olympic Games to Athens in 2004.  When Athens hosted the 'Games of the XXVIII Olympiad' in 2004, with the motto 'Wecome Home', Athens became one of only four international cities at the time to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games on two occasions, together with Paris, London and Los Angeles.

The Athens Olympic Museum is an International Museum that showcases the whole history of the Games, highlighting the Hellenic influence in the formation of the modern Olympic movement.  The August 2004 Olympic Games in Athens were hailed as 'unforgettable dream games' by the IOC President and left the city with a much improved infrastructure, including a new airport, ring-road and subway system.  The new Olympic Museum was built after a Government agreement with the Lamda development company, which operates the Golden Hall complex, that now forms part of a renovation project of the Olympic Athletic Centre of Athens.  The opening of this new museum forms part of the reopening of all museums in Greece, following eight months of closure due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

To celebrate the annual 'International Museum Day' on Tuesday 18th May, visitors will be offered free admission to all museums and archaeological sites throughout Greece.  The special day was established in 1977 to increase awareness of the role of museums in the development of society, and it has been steadily gaining momentum since.