The collection of Prehistoric, Ancient Greek and Roman antiquities includes several exhibits from the dawn of Prehistory to the end of the Roman era such as gold jewels, collection of vases and sculptures, unique coins, outstanding examples of miniature work in faience and ivory, examples of glasswork, marble portraits and funerary steles. The exceptionally rich Byzantine collection links the ancient Greek world to that of modern Greece and is divided into two groups. The first group includes unique examples of bronze and silver household and ecclesiastical vessels, miniature sculptures and enamels, ceramics, manuscripts etc. The second group includes Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, a number of household vessels from the early Byzantine period, a collection of Byzantine jewellery as well as a large group of crosses, reliquaries, amulets and miniature steatite icons. The collection of historical heirlooms recreates the history of modern Greece from the end of the 18th century onwards. Many of the objects are connected with the Philhellenic movement and others date to the reigns of King Otho and King George. It includes also authentic swords and other weapons which belonged to the heroes of 1821, personal belongings such as Ioannis Kapodistrias’s seal and Lord Byron's pistols, manuscripts written by the poets Dionysios Solomos, Constantine Cavafy, Kostis Palamas, and Yannis Ritsos, and the Nobel prize certificates and gold medals won by the poets George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis.