Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently visited the construction site of a new underwater archaeology museum in Piraeus, near Athens, which is scheduled to officially open in 2026. "Greece has needed a museum like this for decades," the Prime Minister said during his visit.
According to Excelsior, the museum, which will exhibit ancient archaeological artifacts discovered in the sea, is the largest cultural project currently underway in Greece. With a total budget of over 93 million euros (equivalent to 97 million USD), the project is financed by the EU.
Spanning an area of 26,000 square meters, the museum will occupy part of the docks of Piraeus. It will incorporate existing elements from a storage silo built in the 1930s, combining with architecture from old warehouses dating back to that era.
"Thousands of finds discovered over the years in the depths of the Greek seas," including over 2,500 antiquities currently stored in Pylos, Rhodes, and Paros, will be exhibited in the new building, said Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni.
By exhibiting artifacts recovered from underwater excavations over many years, the museum aims to illustrate Greece's enduring connection to the sea and its influence on the broader Mediterranean region.
Piraeus was the main port of Athens and the most important maritime center, from which the famous three-tiered warships, known as triremes, set sail to conquer the Mediterranean.
Currently, a small archaeological museum in the city is displaying a bronze naval projectile and a marble eye attached to a trireme dating from the 4th century BCE. The new museum will expand upon this foundation, offering a more extensive collection of underwater artifacts and shedding light on ancient naval warfare and seafaring.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq