Archaeological Museum of Samothrace — Attraction in Municipality of Samothraki

The museum is mismarked on the Google maps....take the road to the right not the left...and follow it to the end. Signposts are at the actual museum... Not at the road leading up. To park there takes about 1/4 mile off the walk to the valley of the Temple. The actual museum is not impressive. The MOST impressive thing they should have had would be a copy of the fabulous Winged Victory or Nike. It was not there.... Not even a picture. There is supposed to be a second statue .... Small, as old but not as ornate... A man at the motel said he saw the other the morning before and described the size..... But the museum people said there was nothing ( although there was a room blocked off.) The statue was supposed to be about two feet tall. The actual museum is free. It has a few signs, some photos and three large pieces... A very ornate alter piece very high up.... Photos of the excavation of the Temple site. I gave the museum very low marks because the entire reason we came was to see the replica of the Nike. (They even had a 1 foot statue of it in a downtown gift shop. ) The museum needs to order a larger one in and tell the dates, history and where the statue is now. I asked a lady when we were going into the site and a few hours later asked a man...... I consider the statue to be a big tourist draw... It's on most postcards... It was just a disappointing...

The temple and Museum of the Cult of the Great Gods are easy to reach from the main coast road. The museum is free while the grounds of the ruins are accessible for a 3€ fee. The museum could be, and has been, closed due to COVID-19. In September 2021 it's currently open. I made the mistake to visit the museum after the site, but in hindsight, due to the beautiful CGI video reconstruction and historical pictures, I would have had a easier time understanding what I was looking at if I had visited the museum first. The central trek cuts through the ruins on the left hill and the right hill and houses the biggest structures of the ancient initiation process, the ones that receive the most attention and pictures. The right hill is however quite extensive and although completely in ruins and flat, significant because it gives a better idea of how big the cult of the Great Gods had gotten. The left hill presents some very important structures but due to them being also very flat it is harder to appreciate, unless one has seen the museum video reconstruction. The treks on the right hand side run into a dead end. The whole thing is visitable in 20-25 minutes, but I ended up staying five hours just to absorb...

Although the museum is still unfinished, the parts that are open to visitors are interesting and exhibit artifacts in a modern way. Hope that the whole museum will be ready soon. The replica of the famous statue of Nike as I've heard will be placed soon on a basis at the entrance. Visiting the museum and watching the digital presentation of the ancient sanctuary really helped us understand the...