Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

The museum covers Macedonia from prehistory to late antiquity, and two objects alone justify the visit. The Derveni krater is a bronze and tin vessel of the fourth century BC, about ninety centimetres tall, cast and worked with a riotous relief of Dionysos and Ariadne surrounded by maenads, the finest surviving metalwork of the classical Greek world. The Derveni papyrus, found charred in a nearby grave, is the oldest surviving manuscript in Europe, a philosophical commentary of the fourth century BC on an Orphic poem, and is inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register. Around them are gold wreaths of astonishing delicacy, worked as oak and myrtle leaves, grave goods from Macedonian tombs, Roman sculpture and mosaics, and a section on the prehistoric settlements of the region.

What you actually see

• The Derveni krater - the great bronze vessel with its Dionysian relief.
• The Derveni papyrus - Europe's oldest surviving book, charred and fragmentary.
• The gold wreaths - funerary crowns worked as oak, myrtle and olive.
• The Macedonian tomb finds - grave goods, weapons and jewellery.

When to go

Year-round; the museum is air-conditioned, which makes it a good option in the heat of a Thessaloniki summer. It can be combined with the Byzantine museum next door on the same afternoon.

Honest expectations

The building is large and the displays dense; two hours is a minimum and three is realistic. Labelling is good in Greek and English but heavy on detail. The papyrus is displayed in low light and is hard to read as an object.

Nearby

The Museum of Byzantine Culture is next door; the White Tower and waterfront are five minutes away.