PREVIEW · A MULTI-YEAR, GROWING PROJECT

Virtual Archaeological Museum of Sparta

Laconia’s ancient heritage is scattered across museums worldwide. This virtual museum brings it back together on one screen, object by object, each with its find-spot, its present home and its documented history.

Enter the World Collection Reconstructing Sparta

What this museum is

Bronzes made in Spartan workshops, cups painted in Laconia, and thousands of lead offerings from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia now sit in New York, London, Paris and elsewhere, as well as in Sparta itself. Nothing here is moved or claimed. The museum gathers, virtually, objects whose origin and ownership history are published by the museums that hold them, and links every card to that museum’s own record.

It has three wings: the World Collection of Laconian objects held abroad; the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Sparta; and Reconstructing Sparta, which uses Pausanias and the excavations to rebuild the ancient city’s plan and buildings.

This is a multi-year project. The starter set below is small on purpose: only objects we could verify today are shown, and the Roadmap sets out how it will grow.

Marble bust of a helmeted hoplite, the so-called Leonidas — **“LEONIDAS”**Hoplite statue, 480–470 BC, found on the acropolis of Sparta in 1925. Archaeological Museum of Sparta, inv. 3365. Photo: George E. Koronaios, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

OUR FIRST ARTIFACT

Our first artifact: a Spartan warrior in Hartford

A bronze officer in a crested Corinthian helmet and tightly wound cloak, made around 510–500 BCE, probably in Sparta. Bought by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1906 and given to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in 1917 (inv. 1917.815). Photographs of the object at the museum by Pericles Gregoriou.

Find-spot to be confirmed

Draped warrior (“Spartan warrior”), bronze statuette

DATE: c. 510–500 BCE (late Archaic)
MATERIAL: Bronze (modern red stone base)
FIND-SPOT: Not published by the museum. The museum attributes it to “Greek, probably Sparta”.
HELD BY: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
INV. NO.: 1917.815
PROVENANCE: C. & E. Canessa, Paris (dealers); bought by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1906 as one of 52 ancient bronzes for £20,000; lent to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; shipped to America in 1912; given to the Wadsworth Atheneum by J. P. Morgan Jr. in 1917 (credit line “Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.815”). Size 15.1 × 5.3 × 3.2 cm (OUP, The Spartans, photo caption; Bowdoin gives 14.5 × 5 × 4.5 cm without base). Find-spot unpublished. Online collection record link pending (collection site unreachable 31 Oct 2026); details from the museum’s own wall labels.
RECORD: Museum record ↗

Image: Photograph of the object at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art by Pericles Gregoriou (owner); museum images are not openly licensed. Checked via: Wadsworth Atheneum wall-label PDFs (thewadsworth.org), Bowdoin College Museum of Art “Figures from the Fire” (2023), OUP The Spartans caption; museum collection record link pending, 31 Oct 2026

THE COLLECTION SO FAR

25 objects · 5 museums

Every object below links to its museum record.

Find-spot to be confirmed

Bronze mirror with a support in the form of a nude girl

DATE: 2nd half of the 6th century BCE
MATERIAL: Bronze
FIND-SPOT: Not stated in the Met's open-access record; Laconian attribution is the Met's.
HELD BY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
INV. NO.: 38.11.3
PROVENANCE: Credit line as published by the Met: “Fletcher Fund, 1938”.
RECORD: Museum record ↗

Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0). Checked via: Met Collection API record (collectionapi.metmuseum.org), 31 Oct 2026

Find-spot documented

Bronze figure of a warrior

DATE: 6th century BC
MATERIAL: Bronze
FIND-SPOT: Sparta (Greece), per the British Museum record
HELD BY: British Museum, London
INV. NO.: 1929,1016.6
PROVENANCE: Purchased from Theodoros A. Zoumpoulakis (British Museum record). Described by the museum: “Bronze figure of a warrior. He once held a spear in his raised hand.”
RECORD: Museum record ↗

Image: Mary Harrsch / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Checked via: British Museum Collection Online record (via web search index), 31 Oct 2026. Museum photo is CC BY-NC-SA, so a Commons photo is used.

Find-spot documented

Gold bull’s head (jewel?)

DATE: Mycenaean; 14th century BC (?) per the Louvre
MATERIAL: Gold (sheet, granulation)
FIND-SPOT: Amyklai (Amyclées), Laconia, per the Louvre record
HELD BY: Musée du Louvre, Paris
INV. NO.: MND 966 ; Bj 2081
PROVENANCE: Former collections Edme-Antoine Durand and Comte de Caylus; purchased 1825. The Louvre notes the body it was once attached to was stolen in 1830. Not on display.
RECORD: Museum record ↗

Image: Unknown artistUnknown artist / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Checked via: Louvre Collections record (via web search index), 31 Oct 2026. Note: the Commons file dates it to the 16th c. BC; the Louvre record says 14th c. BC (?) and is followed here.

Mount Taygetos seen from Sparta — **TAYGETOS**The mountain wall west of Sparta. Photo: Pericles Gregoriou.

Stone remains called the Tomb of Leonidas — **THE “TOMB OF LEONIDAS”**In the modern town. Photo: Pericles Gregoriou.