At this amazing three story building of 1713, we find collections with historic exhibits from the Prehistoric and Mycenaean periods, from Mycenae, Tiryns, Asine and the surrounding areas. The building with the great history and the continuous use for four centuries has a total size of 580 square meters. The exhibits are dated from Prehistoric, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze periods.
There, among the exhibits, the element that drives our imagination wild is a bronze panoply of the 14th BCE. It was found in the Tholos Tomb of Dendra and belonged to a Mycenaean ruler. The helmet is decorated with forty boar's tusks, a fact that suggests the soldier's skill. Due to its weight, they believe that perhaps it wasn't a battle armour but an official attire that may had "accompanied" the warrior-ruler to his eternal home.
A mirror of exquisite beauty and artistry was found at the acropolis of ancient Hermione. It was found in 1994 and belongs to the 5th century BCE. Instead of a handle, it features a Caryatid and on one side, a lion. Time erased its secrets and all reflections on it. Our attention is also attracted by the terracotta masks, the evil-deterring symbols from the Palace of Tyrins (7th century BCE) that were deposited during ceremonies. How much pain, how much fear and hope was installed onto them? Nevertheless, the exhibit with the greatest archaeological significance is the Mycenaean terracotta head of the 12th cent. BCE called "The King of Asine". This idol inspired the Nobel Prize winner Greek poet George Seferis in composing the poem with the same name that made ancient Asine famous all over the world.
"...and the king of Asini, whom we’ve been trying to find for two years now, unknown, forgotten by all, even by Homer, only one word in the Iliad and that uncertain, thrown here like the gold burial mask."
"The King of Asine" by George Seferis
