archaeological museum of sparta

Museum is not very large, but big enough to contain the most excuisite pieces, found in the area of Lakedemon. It is housed in a classical building standing in the well-planned park in the centre of modern Sparta and can well be seen in some 2 hours. Opening times vary, but often 9-15, and we could not manage to visit this for us highly interesting museum during our previous two visits to Sparta (joining tourist groups), but this time on our own it finally happened. Museum apparently has not much founds, and the expositions are explained by elderly signs, and shelves are not very new – but so what? The exposition is unique and was made by dedicated people who wanted to present them as good and as optimal as possible, and they succeeded! To walk through rooms of this museum is a pleasure. Every piece tells an wonderful story if one listens. We have been told that it is just a smaller part of the museum collection is on display, and it´s really a pity. After our visit we got a lot better understanding, insight and visualisaton of history of region and regions mythology .We´ve got confirmation to our conviction that the cultural and artistic heritage of Lakonia is much more faceted then it is represented in usually available sources.Thanks for staff and scientific personnel for preserving the region´s history, even if it is apparently not very easy.

The Sparta museum is one of the few in the country remaining of the old style of museum, nestled into a garden of roses strewn with sculpture. It is a lovely place to take a lunch.The museum itself is crammed with exciting and extraordinary finds, and gives an impression of eccentricity to the ancient Spartans. The Roman mosaics are particularly fine, and the "Leonidas" sculpture powerfully moving.

This is worth a visit! It has a lot of interesting artefacts and statues to see, including the famous statue og the smilig hoplite, know as Leonidas I. I loved it, even though it was a small museum. The ticket for students was FREE, which is amazing. I wish they could give more information about the items on display, because some of them didn't have any info at all, which is sad. Other than that, i really liked it.

I just visited this quaint museum yesterday. Its has reduced hours as opposed to being shut down. No signs in town made us a bit nervous since our trusted GPS wouldn't give us exact location. Once we found it, we saw a small sign that only stated "museum". The employees there were super nice and friendly. Photography WITHOUT flash is possible but not in the mosaics room. Only 2 rooms avail for photos. Not much artifacts on Sparta but many are found in Athens (National Archaeological Museum of Athens). We love ancient Greek history so we loved looking at the treasures they had on display...Minimal cost to enter, kids under 18 are free and no bathroom facilities.

It's currently closed due to funding cuts. We discovered this when we couldn't get in. The only saving grace was that the locals were very friendly and helpful.

The museum is minuscule (size of a 2 or 3-bedroom apartment maximum) but has nice artifacts. It gives some life to old Sparta which has almost disappeared in the old herbs on site. You can take photos everywhere except of the most beautiful parts : the mosaics.30mn is more than enough.

I wish the museum would had make up its fewness of the items by telling more about the Spartan system and the Spartans. Perhaps about the excavations in Sparta. Now it all was too thin.

This museum is very small and there is not much to see. However, the items to show are interesting. A visit doesn't cost a lot of time.

The Museum has many archaeological findings from the Lakonia area and a statue called "Leonidas" which was created in 480 b.C. in memory of the Spartan general who fell with all his 300 men fighting the Persians in Thermopylae in that year.

If you are interested in artifacts belonging to the Spartans then this museum has some real gems, but you should come armed with a good guidebook (The Blue Guide and The Oxford Archaelogical Guide are both good) if you wish to understand what you are seeing. It is a small museum, but the entrance fee is small to match. For my family it gave us a happy hours entertainment.

A very small museum set in beautiful and tranquil gardens in the middle of Sparta. Some good mosaics and the famous bust of Leonides.

It is a small building of course, albeit in a pleasant garden space in the middle of town. Information on the nature and purpose of some of the exhibits is lacking as others have pointed out. But some of what could be identified through references from guide books to the various archaeological sites enabled us to get some sort of understanding of a society which has been much described but too little explained. In this way I think the museum does have something to contribute to a visit to Sparta though as an adjunct rather than as a prime object. The reality of the so-called Leonidas bust is just as strange as its photographs.This museum will not shatter any preconceptions but your visit will be the more enjoyable for any knowledge and expertise that you yourself are able to bring.

It is quite disappointing, 2 rooms on the left and 2 on the right and you are done! It takes maximum 10 minutes to visit the whole museum. It is so small and poor that the entrance should be free.

Had the potential to be so much better. A lot of the exhibits are not labeled and the staff showed little interest in explaining anything. Plus we got bitten to death by the resident mosquitoes!

The history of Sparta is still being recovered. It is not there yet. Give it a few more years. there is just 3 or 4 rooms of artifacts and no real English information. A lot like what you would see at Pompeii but 1/100 of the amount and 1/2 the quality.