The Benaki Museum is a sprawling complex set inside an old family mansion. The house was donated in 1931 along with 37,000 Byzantine and Islamic pieces. An additional 10,000 pieces were added later. This large number is matched only by the large mansion that houses the collection. It started off on the first floor and we were lulled into believing that the artifacts could be studied at a leisurely pace. We started with the ancient items from as far back as 6000 BCE then we worked our way through the Hellenistic period from 300 BCE. All very interesting and of the highest quality. As we turned the corner we see another wing with early Christian artifacts from the 3rd to 8th century CE. Icons, mosaics, paintings and even an entire altar were housed in this wing. We reached the end of this wing and saw a sign "Collection Continues" and an arrow pointing up the stairs. It sure did! In fact there were four or five more levels of the museum. We had already been here for two hours after visiting a different museum eating lunch, so we had to pick up our pace. The rest of the collection contained Greek handicrafts, clothing, textiles, furniture and ceramics. As we continued past these items, there were giant silver belt buckles and more religious items. Finally on the fifth floor we saw some musical instruments, farming implements and silver items once owned by sailors. The collection finally finished just as we were running out of steam. We wanted to find the bathrooms before we got on the metro and were given directions to the floor 2 and a half. We never found those bathrooms but we did find some at floor -4 although it seemed like we were not authorized to use these facilities. Off to the metro we headed. It was very busy and we had to stand for a stop or two. Then we shopped at a huge store, AB, at the end of the line then taxi back to the house.
Row upon row of very early clay artifacts
The axes are from 6000BCE
A Trojan jug with obsidian blades and sling stones in the background
Cycladic figures
This jug is from 600 BCE, it is over 2500 years old
Some fantastic gold pieces
Seal Rings were used to seal documents with a hot wax seal and the design is equivalent to today's signature
A gold cylinder also used to imprint a design into hot wax
Perhaps this is a honey jar? The design reminds me of a honeycomb
Many of the figures had stylistic postures
The headless horseman!
Bridal accessories
The designs on the various pottery pieces were superb
This Perfume pot was from the 6th century BCE
As were these gold Sphinxes
This gold bull had enamel eyes is 2500 years old
A reconstructed base was attached to this small perfume bottle
A hodgepodge of small figurines
Looking up to the second floor
It was like a zoo; pigs, turtles and possibly a monkey to the left
So many steps leading up
Love the owls
There were some serious hair-dos back in those days
The Aphrodite collection from the 2nd century BCE
This pot looked very similar to the necklaces housed next door
Here are the matching necklaces
What a impressive set of necklaces
Golden snakes bangles
The B52's beehive hair-dos really were classics
Some Egyptian influences were present
Time for the early Christian wing
Arched ceilings
Silver crosses
Icons aplenty
Ann entire altar
Oh no, stabbed by St George
The dragon never wins
A map of the Aegean sea in the center and the Adriatic to the left. Crete is the biggest island
Nautical based jewelry from the 1600's
A huge and beautifully decorated dodecanese tent. It is a covering that hides the bridal bed from prying eyes. This item is from 17th to 18th century CE
We took the selfie as the sticker on the floor indicated we should
The blank faces make them seem more modern, all they need is a cell phone in their hand
Rock a bye baby
A collection of hand painted plates
This on made me think that it is the progression of the mad as he ate more and more meals off of this plate
Another plate collection
The textiles were out of this world
Mother of pearl spoons and the start of the big belt buckle craze
A flask for a soldier
We are making our wat thought the second floor
There were two rooms that were salvaged from Koazani the home of the Takiatzis family. The paneling was transferred to the museum and the entry to the house was reconstructed.
This was one serious entryway
Another suggested selfie-spot
The ceiling had so many levels
A close up of the wall
The second room had all wooden paneling
Not sure if these figures are supposed to look like skeletons
Now we see the big belt buckles
Some are big and some are huge
A painting from an eye witness to the explosion at the Parthenon
More period clothing
Even the kids had the fancy clothes
Another room of religious artifacts
A wooden carved altar
No expense spared
Master works of wood carving
Islamic influences on the ceramics
A great hat
Mother of pearl inlay on this guitar
One of thousands of artifacts
Lyre
A fish shaped needle holder
Another fish motif but this time a gunpowder holder
This thresher board was eight feet by four
The farmer would stand on the other side and the rocks in the wood would break off up the dried corn kernels and crush them
One of the most unique items were these wooden glover used by farmers
Rods used the the making of wool
