This magnificent exhibition in the Martin Gropius Museum in Berlin is devoted to the ancient Olympia shrine and its cult and to the contests held there that are revived every four years in the modern Olympic Games. Over 500 valuable loans from Greece will be on display. Important loans from the Vatican, Paris, Rome, Dresden and Munich will supplement the grand panorama. The world-famous myth associated with the name of the Olympia shrine in the Peloponnesus since ancient times will be presented in a presentation of the shrine showing the most valuable archaeological finds, a presentation of the ancient Games in Olympia and a documentation of the history of the excavations. The ancient shrine was founded circa 1000 B.C. for Zeus, the supreme god of the Ancient Greeks, and flourished for about 1,500 years. In classical times a great temple decorated with sculptures was built to Zeus. Reconstructions of the two gables of the Temple of Zeus, each measuring about 30 metres in length, have been erected to form the centrepiece of the exhibition. Significant finds from the excavations are shown against the background of the methods used: section drawings, find documentations, prospections. A special hall shows a collection of relevant loans from the Vatican, Athens, Rome and Dresden.
