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Collection of Ancient Sculpture, Epigraphy and Casts

The collection comprises casts of ancient Greek sculptures that are currently on exhibit in various museums of Greece and abroad, such as the British Museum, the Munich Glyptothek and the Louvre. There is a number of casts that are of particular importance, because they were constructed based on earlier additions to the original sculptures, such as the Sounion Kouros, the Artemision horse, and the sculptures of the west pediment of the temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina. There is also a plaster cast of the restored Nike from Aigina that now decorates Furtwaengler’s tomb in the First cemetery of Athens. Among the most important exhibits of of the collection is the cast of the Hertz head type of Athena Parthenos’ Nike, the original being located in the Palazzo Venezia in Rome and rarely visited. The collection also includes original marble sculptures of the classical period, a stone sarcophagus from the Athens Metropolitan Railway excavations (kindly donated by the 3rdEphorate of Antiquities) and four marble funerary vessels (lekythoi and loutrophoroi) that are on loan from the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

To familiarize both the visitor and student with aspects of the ancient art of sculpting, the collection provides an educational display of marble working tools and a pointing machine.