The Athens Olympic Museum, one of the latest additions to Greece’s long list of museums, opened its doors to the public this month, showcasing the history of the Olympic Games and Greece’s special role in the Olympic movement, as the birthplace of the Games.

Housed on the premises of Golden Hall shopping center in the northern suburb of Maroussi, it is connected via a footbridge with the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens “Spiros Louis,” the main venue of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, offering visitors an unprecedented experience: A journey through the long and glorious history of the Games through a chronological narrative.

The museum’s permanent exhibition illustrates how the Olympic Games evolved through time, highlighting three important Greek-centered themes and periods: the birth of the Olympics in ancient Olympia, in the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece some 2,500 years ago, their revival in the 19th century with the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, and the return of the Games to their homeland, with the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004.