The principal pieces in the museum are Hermes and the Infant Dionysus (attributed to Praxiteles), some objects from the Temple of Zeus, the Nike of Paionios, as well as an oenochoe that belonged to Phidias.

The other building is dedicated to the museum store, and is separate from the main structure, located on the path to the archaeological site.

The banker Andreas Syggros spent 220,000 drachmas to fund the building and entrusted design and construction to two German architects and archaeologists who had begun excavating the site.

Wilhelm Dorpfeld and Friedrich Adler, the architects, oversaw construction of a neo-classical building which was erected on the hill of Drouva near the road from Olympia to the sanctuary.

[1] The statue of Apollo from the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus was depicted on the obverse of the Greek 1000 drachmas banknote of 1987-2001.