Athens is certainly very rich in museums. You can find a museum dedicated to every age in Greek history. Given that I had seen a lot of Ancient Greece, I decided toward the end of my stay to see something more modern, although ‘modern’ is relative here. I’m talking about the Byzantine period, from 500AD onward. It was when Christianity first became the religion of the state, and when glorious pieces of art were first created in support of it. Many of these can be seen at the Byzantine Museum.

As you can see, it has galleries full of beautiful Christian icons from the last 1500 years.

Most have been taken from abandoned churches and monasteries – a good thing since works like this should be preserved, and seen. Unlike in Western Europe, where churches and cathedrals are tourist attractions, Greek Orthodox churches are rarely open to the public outside of worshipping hours, so places like this museum were the only chance I had of seeing these icons while in Greece.

As you can see, the style of these works is, I think, much more intimate than those in the large Cathedrals of the UK. Perhaps it reflects the kind of worship and prayer of the East, where one’s relationship with God throughout history has and always will be a personal thing.

I know I’ve overloaded you all with museums, but you can’t deny that one of the joys of travelling in Europe is the abundance of great museums. Athens certainly has its share, and thank goodness for that, considering its contribution to civilisation.

Today I am taking you to the National Archaeological Museum, which houses the major archaeological finds in Greece. Given Greece’s long history, it has everything from neolithic hand tools to classical sculptures and mountains of gold jewellery. This statue is an archaic depiction of the god Athina (which Athens has been named after), from the archaic period 2700 years ago. As you can see, the style is a bit more simplistic than those found on the Parthenon – not surprising given that Athina was created perhaps 500 years before.

Similarly, the men were also of the same style. One could picture the artisans honing their skills over the centuries to recreate the human image.

By the classical age, they were experts. Look at this bronze sculpture of the god Poseidon – exquisite. It almost could have been created yesterday – except that much of the skill to sculpt in such a way has been lost to technology.

There were room after room of really beautiful sculptures. It’s certainly a treat since Grecian sculptures are rare in Australian museums.

Then there were the jewellery from the Mycenaean tombs from 3500 years ago. These were excavated from the supposed tomb of Agamemnon (written about extensively by Homer).

Whether it was his or not, one thing for sure is that they loved their bling back then, as they do now.