The New Acropolis Museum was built at a distance of about 250 m from the south slope of the Acropolis.

Sheltered beneath the museum are the remains of a quarter of Athens from the end of the Neolithic period to the 12th century AD. Visible below the glass floors are extensive sections of the excavations such as men’s quarters of a classical house and part of a building complex of the early Byzantine period.
The ground-floor gallery comprises numerous dedications like loutrophoroi, black-figured plaques and plates, terracotta figures, black-figured spindle whorls, and miniature vases of various shapes, as well as objects of everyday use showing continuous habitation around the base of the Acropolis from the Neolithic period to the late Roman period.
The earliest exhibits comprise a group of undecorated Neolithic vessels found west of the Asklepieion. Found in wells of the late Bronze Age were vases showing the characteristic shapes of the period, like stirrup jars, kylikes, alabastras, and others. The Geometric and early Archaic periods are represented by pottery from burials.
Two Roman terracotta Nikee decorated a building south of the theater of Herodes Atticus, where a luxurious house was found. From the house come reliefs and the base of a funerary monument.

Archaic pieces

The gallery of archaic works includes a small unit devoted to prehistoric times, the Mycenaean phase of the Late Bronze Age. The objects displayed are plain, undecorated pottery; pottery with painted decoration; clay figurines; animals; seal stones; and a hoard of bronzes, a collection of tools that belonged to a smith.
During the 8th century, the Acropolis became an organized sanctuary honoring Athena Polias. A small temple was built on the site of the Mycenaean palace. A large bronze disc with the representation of the winged Gorgon is attributed to its pediment. The building activity on the Acropolis around 570 BC is connected with the Panathenaia and with Peisistratos. An example of archaic art is the pediment of the Hekatompedon, composed of three groups rendered in porous stone. Heracles fighting the sea god Triton, two lions devouring a bull, and the triple-body demon. The last is a group of three male figures who hold symbols of the elements and have bodies ending in entwined snake tails.
Attributed to the pediment of the other end is the group of a lioness rending a little bull.
Two enormous snakes with colorful scales fill the corners of the pediment.
The hemitone horses of a quadriga, a four-horse chariot, will have decorated the metopes of the temple.
The most characteristic sculptures of the archaic period are the korai (maidens) and the horsemen, dedications that once stood in the open within Athena’s sanctuary. Some of the korai examples come from Cycladic workshops. The early Athenian sculpture workshop is represented by the Moschoforos.
The earliest female statue of the sanctuary is the maiden with the pomegranate. The korai are the most famous archaic statues of young girls in a standing frontal pose, holding an offering for the goddess. They were dedicated to sanctuaries, or they were set up as grave markers.
The earliest Attic korai wear a Doric peplos. Later a combination of chiton and himation was introduced from Ionia and the Cyclades.
The Peplophoros owes her name to the old-fashioned type of garment she wears, the tight belt that helps to emphasize the molding of the hips. The lower part of her garment was decorated with a vertical series of animals.
The Chios kore is presented ornately with a dazzling array of folds, textures, and colors on her chiton. The decorative nature, elegant features, and dress indicate that this was a statue made in Ionia, as it contrasts with the robust features and sparse vertical lines of the Peplos Kore.
Sculpture in the Archaic Period developed rapidly from its early influences, becoming more natural and showing a developing understanding of the body, specifically the musculature and the skin. Most statues were commissioned as memorials and votive offerings or as grave markers replacing the vast amphora.
There is only one example of a kore who is not holding her dress. Next to this core, there is a sample of how this core looked in ancient Athens. The hair of the korai, along with some other characteristics, and the folds of their clothing were colored. The dominant color was red for the lips and hair, red and blue for the clothes, and black for the eyes. They wore many-colored jewels, indicating the brightness of their dressing. Thus, they symbolized the elegant, dressy Athenian of the 6th century BC.

Another masterpiece of this period is the Rampin horseman the earliest rider dedicated on the Acropolis.

The forepart of a horse without a rider was perhaps part of a sculptural group with horses that decorated the second Doric peripheral temple dedicated to Athena, the ruins of which lie south of the Erechtheion. Work of the same artist is probably the dog, the hunting dog that guarded the entrance of the sanctuary of the Brauronian Artemis.

Among the architectural creations of the developed archaic style is the pediment of the Gigantomachy.

The east pediment of the Old Temple represents the fight of the Olympian Gods against the rebellious giants. In the center, Athena strikes Engelados with her spear.

In the year 479 BC, after the Persian invasion of Athens and the burning of the sanctuary of the Acropolis, the works of art abandoned the archaic style and especially their famous smile. They express a new outlook known as the severe style.

The Kritios boy is considered to mark a turning point. With its chiastic pose, inner movement, and turn of the head, the figure introduces the classical rhythm seen in the statues of athletes. The head, known as the blond youth, with its feeling of introspection, is of great significance.

The relief of the pensive Athena represents the goddess in a quiet pose, contemplating a stele before her.

During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, dedications included bronze tripod cauldrons with supports decorated with geometric and floral motifs and mythological scenes. In the 7th century, the Acropolis cauldrons were set up on poros supports up to 2 m in height.

Exhibition of the sculpture of the Parthenon.

The gallery has the same orientation and measurements as those of the monument itself, and it is devoted to the three units of its decoration.
Metopes, a frieze, and pediments. It combines the authentic marble sculpture with plaster copies of all the sections that are today in museums and collections all over Europe.
The sculptures are arranged in order with the colonnade. The frieze illustrating the Panathenaic procession has been set around at eye level.
The metopes with mythical battles are carved in relief and set high in pairs between the metal columns. The pedimental sculptures illustrating mythical events are supported on low pedestals.
Exhibited in the inner atrium of the gallery are inscribed stelai with decrees, loan accounts, and lists of the treasures of Athena that are connected with the functioning of the Parthenon as the treasury of the city.

The sculptural decoration of the temple of Athena Nike.

The little temple of Athena Nike was made entirely of marble. The sculpture was of Pentelic marble. The acroteria on the roof were of gilded bronze. The frieze crowned the architrave on all sides. It comprises 14 blocks. The themes represented are the gathering of the gods on Olympus or the birth of Athena, battles between Greeks and Persians, and battles of mythological or historical content.