Work on its creation continues at a rapid pace National Museum of Marine Antiquitiesin Piraeus, which will be ready to welcome its visitors in 2026.

The new building under construction is organically connected to the industrial building of SILO, on its southwest side, in order to ensure the necessary spaces for the hosting of an innovative and innovative museum. More than 2,500 exhibits and a crowd will be presented technological applicationshaving well-equipped maintenance laboratories and storage areas. Alongside the new building, the conveyor belt, which served the loading of ships, is highlighted and projected. The National Museum of Marine Antiquities will highlight the treasures of the Greek seaswhile at the same time it will constitute the iconic cultural landmark for the country’s largest port. The project of the National Museum of Marine Antiquities is financed with the amount of 93,000,000 euros from the resources of Tpoor recoverywhich manages the Ministry of Culture. This is the largest work of culture in progress today.

The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendonistated: “A decades-long vision is now entering the final stretch for its implementation and completion. The evolution of our homeland, from prehistory to the present day, is directly connected to the sea, shipping, seafaring. The main purpose of the creation of the National Museum of Marine Antiquities is, through the findings of our seas, to highlight Greek civilization in its long history, in its long historical and uninterrupted duration, in a space where marine antiquities will be exhibited exclusively. We want to highlight these characteristics in the National Museum of Marine Antiquities, almost unique in its kind: it is an emblematic work of culture, in a landmark building for Piraeus, on the Etioneia Coast. We save and highlight an important industrial building, the SILO, which we connect with a modern building. Thus, the necessary conditions are created for the creation of a model, pioneering museum. The unique richness of the Greek seas acquires its ideal place of hospitality. The design of the exhibition space results from the commitments of the geometry and structure of the existing shell, but also of its extension. The structure and layout of the building defines a sprawling exhibition, which in turn requires approaches that make it readable for visitors. It requires rest and break areas, making it necessary to differentiate from space to space/thematic unit, so that the public has the possibility of easier perception of the succession of themes, constantly finding new points of interest. We take advantage of modern technological means and will deliver, in 2026, another major museum, fully accessible, offering its visitors a unique experience of diving into the past, with stations in time, sunken settlements, shipwrecks, model ships, hulls and cargoes of merchant ships, maps and diagrams. It is clear that the operation of this museum introduces Piraeus to international cultural destinations”.

The construction of the museum, started in December 2023with interventions in the first phase on the building of the Wheat Warehouse, which operated from November 1936 until the end of 2010. The SILO shows severe damage, both to its metal elements and to its optical brick structures. With the addition of the new building, a single narrative is created, in which the required spaces are created, which support the museological study and the exhibits, but at the same time are – and in themselves – points of a route, which “dives” into the past (building Silo), “emerges” on the surface (new building) and returns to the present, through the space identified with the building’s recent industrial past (beltway). The museum premises, total area 26,380 sq.mare distributed in exhibition spaces for permanent and periodical exhibitions (7,550 m2), in spaces for educational programs and scientific activities (amphitheatre, library, multimedia), maintenance laboratories, spaces for providing services to visitors (reception, cloakroom, shop, refreshment room, restaurant , doctor’s office), administration offices.

Central goal of the museographic study it is the guarantee of universal accessibility both on a physical level (ramps, elevators, spacious movement spaces between the exhibits), and on an intellectual level (gradation of information material, tactile exhibits, information reading levels, etc.). The performance of the exhibition scenario is achieved -mainly- by the use of showcases (mainly built-in or freely arranged in the space), pedestals and special constructions, exhibition lighting, digital media and applications, supervisory-information material and signage in printed and/or digital form.

The processing and “maturing” of the museological study at the stage of its fusion with the corresponding museographic one, dictated the 2021 study amendment. In the definitive museological study – which recently received the positive opinion of the Museum Council of the Ministry of Culture – the changes identified concern the exhibition material, which increases by approximately 300 finds, exceeding 2,500 exhibits, the structure of the exhibition narrative, which acquires new sections, is re-evaluated and specialized, but also the final selection of accompanying interpretive media, which vary and cover a wide range of options, conventional and digital rendering media, staging environments and mockups.

The exhibition narrative is structured in six thematic axes:

1. Sea, Environment, Man,

2. Enalia Archaeology,

3. “Time capsules” at the bottom…stations in time”,

4. Approaching the past piecemeal. An open issue to manage,

5. Marine cultural heritage open to society,

6. Shiloh and Piraeus, intertwined stories. The course of the exhibition is predetermined and starts from the SILO building, where thematic axes 1 and 2 will be located.

Thematic axis 3, which is the most important axis and richest in findings, is located in the new building. Axis 4 is on almost the same level as axis 3. Thematic axis 5 is developed on two levels, which are connected by scale. Thematic axis 6 is placed inside the conveyor belt, where the visitor passes from the +8.85m level. of the new building.

The visitor can tour the “inside” of the existing building, see places to which he would not normally have access, and in this way understand its function. The hive structure of the granary is revealed to the visitor as he navigates the exhibition through a smooth path of ramps, a continuous line that follows the sequence of the thematic units of the museological study presented in both the existing and the extension section.