It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of Greek Antiquity artifacts worldwide.

During World War II the museum was closed and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting.

[3] In 2023, the Greek government approved plans for a 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft) underground extension to the museum.

[4] The museum has an imposing neo-classical design which was very popular in Europe at the time and is in accordance with the classical style artifacts that it houses.

It reopened in July 2004, in time for the Athens Olympics and it included an aesthetic and technical upgrade of the building, installation of a modern air-conditioning system, reorganisation of the museum's collection and repair of the damage caused by the 1999 earthquake.

These mysterious human representations, which resemble modern art and inspired many artists such as Henry Moore,[11] came from the 3rd millennium BC old cemeteries of Aegean islands along with bronze tools and containers.

Mycenean civilization is represented by stone, bronze and ceramic pots, figurines, ivory, glass and faience objects, golden seals and rings from the vaulted tombs in Mycenae and other locations in the Peloponnese (Tiryns and Dendra in Argolis, Pylos in Messinia and Vaphio in Lakonia).

There are also finds from the citadel of Mycenae including relief stelae, golden containers, glass, alabaster and amber tools and jewels.

Standing 70 cm high and wearing a gown covered in hieroglyphs, the statue was found south of Alexandria in 1880.

Collections include sculpture work, Loutrophoros, amphora, Hydria, Skyphos, Krater, Pelike, and lekythos vessels, Stele, frescoes, jewellery, weapons, tools, coins, toys and other ancient items.

Artifacts derive from archaeological excavations in Santorini, Mycenae, Tiryns, Dodona, Vaphio, Rhamnous, Lycosura, Aegean islands, Delos, the Temple of Aphaea in Aegina, the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta, Pylos, Thebes, Athens, Vari Cave, the Antikythera wreck and from various other places in Greece.

[2] The museum houses the archaic terracota statuette daidala that inspired the designers of the 2004 Athens Olympics maskots Athena and Phevos.

Two of the newest exhibits of the museum include a 4th-century BC golden funerary wreath and a 6th-century BC marble statue of a woman, which were returned as stolen artifacts to Greece in 2007 by the Getty Museum in California, after a 10-year-long legal dispute between the Getty Center and the Greek Government.

[14] The museum houses a 118-year-old library of archeology with rare ancient art, science and philosophy books and publications.