Despite its cool, hard texture ... The rich, wine-red base and bold white veining give it a presence that softer marbles just don’t have. It’s a stone with heritage, having been quarried ...

Finally in 1803, the huge collection of marbles was packed up into about two hundred boxes, which were then loaded onto wagons and transported to the port of Piraeus to await their passage to England.

One, because the museum founders encourage kids to "use their marbles" (or brains) while they play. And two, because a wall that surrounds the museum is filled with more than 1 million marbles ...