The Archaeological Museum of Tegea, the most powerful city in ancient Arcadia, Peloponnese, will be reopening its doors to the public. The museum is full of antiquities and ancient artifacts. The exhibition will be divided in four galleries. Gallery 1 will showcase artifacts from the Neolithic Era until the Archaic Period. It will include several narratives on major prehistoric sites of the Neolithic Era and the Bronze age, as well as important sanctuaries of the city. Gallery 2 will include a peculiar monument, the Arcadian Herms, and it will be followed by Gallery 3, where visitors will have the chance to see the city’s evolution from the Classical Period until the Roman Era. The exhibit will showcase the different aspects of city life in ancient times, such as economy (money, measures, trade), athletic contests, festivals and the world of the dead. Finally, Gallery 4 will present the development of the famous sanctuary of Athena Alea, around which ancient Greeks built the city of Tegea. The exhibit will cover the Geometric and Hellenistic periods. Moreover, the Archaeological Museum’s outdoor exhibition presents the aspect of Public Life in the ancient Greek city, with inscriptions referring to everyday life and the aspect of The Hereafter, with grave steles from the Classical and Late Roman period. The museum of Tegea has a long history. In 1906, Bishop Neilos donated a piece of land to the Archaeological Society of Athens and thus begun the construction of the museum, which was completed in 1909. However, things didn’t go smoothly after that. In 1935, the building roof collapsed, destroying sever artifacts and antiquities. Later, in 1941, most of the exhibits were buried or hidden so that the Germans wouldn’t have access to them. Finally, in 1967 the museum of Tegea underwent major reconstruction. Years later, in 1992, several artifacts were lost during a burglary, most of which were returned in 1994 and 1998.
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