Museum of Criminology Athens
The Criminology Museum is located within the grounds of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and is one of the very few institutions of its kind in Greece.
It presents the history of crime through documented cases and materials connected mainly with notorious crimes of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Founded in 1932 by Professor Ioannis Georgiadis (1874–1960), the museum began as a systematic collection of criminal and forensic evidence gathered for educational and research purposes. Today, it operates as a non-profit academic institution, serving as an important teaching and research space for students of medicine, law, and police academies, as well as for scholars in forensic medicine, toxicology, and criminology.
The museum’s collection includes around 1,500 exhibits of significant historical and scientific value, organized into several thematic sections.
A major part of the collection is dedicated to forensic medicine and includes human remains such as mummified and skeletal specimens, as well as preserved pathological samples. Among the most notable and sensitive exhibits are embalmed heads of early 20th-century Greek outlaws, along with 19th-century prepared specimens of tattooed human skin collected during autopsies.
Another section includes ligatures and nooses used in historical cases of suicide and homicide, as well as wax anatomical models created for educational purposes. These models illustrate wounds and injuries resulting from violent deaths, including homicides, suicides, and accidents. The forensic archive also contains medico-legal documents, crime scene photographs, police records, and anthropometric identification cards based on the Bertillon system.
The toxicology collection features historical drugs of abuse, substances related to poisoning cases, laboratory reagents, and educational mushroom models representing both edible and poisonous species.
In the criminological section, the museum displays a reconstructed guillotine—the only one ever used in Greece for judicial executions. Additional exhibits include edged weapons such as knives, swords, bayonets, and sabers, as well as firearms and ammunition ranging from early muzzle-loading weapons to modern cartridge systems. Military artifacts from various conflicts, especially the Second World War, are also included.
The museum further preserves collections related to witchcraft, including amulets, talismans, and symbolic objects, as well as early counterfeit banknotes from Greece and other European countries.
Due to the sensitive and scientific nature of its material, the Criminology Museum is open to the public only by appointment. It continues to function as a vital academic resource, contributing to the study of forensic science, criminal behavior, and the social impact of crime.
