American School of Classical Studies at Athens 4.2

The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is one of 17 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece. The center is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.General informationFounded in 1881, the ASCSA is the most significant resource in Greece for American scholars in the fields of ancient and post-classical studies in Greek language, literature, history, archaeology, philosophy, and art. The mission of the School is to advance knowledge of Greece in all periods, as well as other areas of the classical world, by training young scholars, sponsoring and promoting archaeological fieldwork, providing resources for scholarly work, and disseminating research. The ASCSA is also charged by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism with primary responsibility for all American archaeological research, and seeks to support the investigation, preservation, and presentation of Greece’s cultural heritage.The School offers two major research libraries: the Blegen Library, with 94,000 volumes dedicated to the ancient Mediterranean world; and the Gennadius Library, with over 120,000 volumes and archives devoted to post-classical Hellenic civilization and, more broadly, the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean. The School also sponsors excavations and provides centers for advanced research in archaeological and related topics at its excavations in the Athenian Agora and Ancient Corinth, and it houses an archaeological laboratory (the Wiener Laboratory) at the main building complex in Athens.