26/7/2007: The exhibition "Athens-Sparta: 8th - 5th cent. BC", organised by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, the National Archaeological Museum and the 5th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, has been inaugurated on July 26th 2007, by the Minister of Culture, Mr. Giorgos Voulgarakis.Two paramount city-states of ancient Greece illustrate their very different social and artistic legacies. The exhibit underlines the realities of the time: Athens lavishly encouraged artistic creativity, which became the fountainhead of Western civilization. Laconic, militarist Sparta spent sparingly on the arts, yet managed to produce its own notable works, as shown by the celebrated objects on display.

Highlights of the exhibition include treasures such as: a marble statue of a hoplite, known as "Leonidas", from the end of the 5th century B.C., a marble statue of an Athenian Kore from the Acropolis Museum, from the 5th century B.C., bronze figurines of hoplites from Sparta, from the 8th to the 6th centuries B.C., Attic marble reliefs and grave stele from the late 5th century B.C., arrowheads and spearheads from Thermopylae, the famous 5th century battlefield.

This exhibition, which has been presented for the first time in New York, at the Onassis Cultural Foundation, includes loans from the Acropolis Museum, Epigraphical Museum, Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, National Archaeological Museum, the Numismatic Museum, 3rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, the Archaeological Museum in Marathon, the Archaeological Museum in Olympia, the Archaeological Museum in Rhodes, and the Archaeological Museum in Sparta, all located in Greece.

Duration: 6 months [ 26/07/2007-26/01/2008 ]