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Education |
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Introduction |
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| The Museum Kits are the most composite paedagogic material we provide. They contain a diversity of relevantly designed materials that can be activated through the personal way of each teacher. Each one contains books, transparencies, games, models of monuments and copies of ancient objects. In their entirety they provide a specially designed educational resource of alternative teaching for use either in the classroom or in some other place of cultural reference. The old-fashioned idea of a closed box full of gifts for the child to open is associated with modern technologies. Books, photographs, Cd-Roms and artifacts complement each other to provide learning and fun.
The Department’s Museum Kits, while thematically independent, can form an assemblage through which the culture of ancient Greece can be approached in a new way. Brought to life in vivid relief before the eyes of the pupils is the picture of a brilliant ancient Sanctuary (Museum Kit “Let’s Go to the Acropolis”), where the gods were worshipped (Museum Kit “The Twelve Olympian Gods”), in splendid temples (Museum Kit “A Greek Temple”), built of marble (Museum Kit “The Art of Stone Sculpture”), decorated with sculptures of unique artistic quality (Museum Kit “The Parthenon Frieze”). Worshippers dressed in beautiful clothes participate in the festivals (Museum Kit “Ancient Greek Dress”), with music everywhere apparent (Museum Kit “Ancient Greek Musical Instruments”). The children’s approach to the world of antiquity is thus both pleasing and constructive. Concurrently, they learn about contemporary scholarly research and the great technical work being carried out today on the Acropolis (Museum Kit , “Restoration in Action – The Athenian Acropolis Project”).
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Procedure for borrowing Museum Kits |
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The Museum Kits may be taken out on loan for one to three weeks, on agreement by telephone. The material is picked up and returned to the Centre for the Acropolis Studies by the educator on the agreed day between 9:00 and 14:30.
For receipt of the material a formal application must be made, signed by the director of the school and accompanied by a photocopy of the educator’s identity card.
The Museum Kits are lent to approximately 200 schools per year and are used by some 12,000 pupils. |
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Catalogue of Museum Kits |
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Let’s Go to the Acropolis |
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The purpose of the Museum Kit “Let’s Go to the Acropolis” is to help the pupil make a tour of the Acropolis and to imagine the brilliant sanctuary where the Athenians worshipped their patron goddess.
The Kit contains a model of the Acropolis Rock and the buildings of the Sanctuary at a scale of 1 : 800, the educational booklets “Let’s Go to the Acropolis”, “Let’s Go to the Acropolis Peripatos” and four posters showing the development of the Sacred Rock from prehistoric times to today. The pupil positions the buildings on the Rock, compares them, studies their measurements, their proportions, the function of each building and its orientation and precise location on the Rock.
The following booklets are also included in the Kit.
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A Greek Temple |
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Greece today is a land full of monuments with the forms of classical architecture. Every city has buildings in which we can recognize the same features of the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders.
The Museum Kit “A Greek Temple” helps both educator and pupil to study and understand temple architecture in a pleasant and creative way. It contains a model of the Parthenon at a scale of 1 : 800, three columns (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian), 16 rubber stamps with which the pupils can compose the three orders, and plastic moulds of Ionic and Lesbian cymatia.
With the assistance of a book describing the ancient temples, their use and function, their form, their sculptural and painted decoration and their construction, the pupils can study both ancient and neoclassical buildings. The book is accompanied by drawings and photographs of the best known temples preserved in good condition throughout Greece.
Included is the book:
"A Greek Temple" |
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The Art of Stone Sculpture
 The Acropolis today presents a similar picture as in antiquity when the monuments were being built. The sound most frequently heard by the visitor today and then is that of tools chiseling marble. The Museum Kit contains a piece of marble that has traces of tools that were used by ancient and contemporary Greek stonemassons. Included also are hammers and a series of tools corresponding to the tool marks on the marble. The teacher’s pack comprises texts, drawings, films, photographs of ancient quarries and posters showing the different kinds of marble found in Greece.
The purpose of the Kit is to give the pupils a chance to carve stone and marble so that they can understand the problems of the materials. They can also observe the traces left by the various tools and recognize them on the surfaces of ancient and modern buildings and sculpture.
Included are the books:
M. Korres, “From Mt. Pentelikon to the Parthenon”
S. Mavrommatis, “Photographs from the Works on the Athenian Acropolis”
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Restoration in Action : The Athenian Acropolis Project |
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A major technical project but also an extensive research programme are being carried out on the Acropolis for the conservation and restoration of the monuments. The Museum Kit presents this restoration project with the help of a photographic exhibition, special books and DVD films.
Through the photographs of S. Mavrommatis an itinerary to the interventions at the Acropolis monuments is followed. This exhibition is accompanied by the book “Photographs of the Athenian Acropolis. The Restoration Project” which illustrates the reasons for which intervention was necessary, the work site preparation for intervention and the main works on the monuments.
The theory behind the methods used, the international ethical principles, the basic canons followed during the interventions are presented in the synoptic book “The Works of the ESMA on the Acropolis of Athens” by Ch. Bouras, K. Zambas and S. Mavrommatis.
A series of films by K. Drakopoulou, S. Mavrommatis, M. Paraschi, D. Vernicos and K. Vrettakos on the restoration works offer the possibility to organise a film festiival at school.
The educational resources of the Kit are integrated through cards with interdisciplinary links to several subjects throughout the curricullum, through professional orientation and through the arts.
Included in the Museum Kit are the books:
“Photographs from the Works of the Athenian Acropolis”
“The Works of the ESMA on the Athenian Acropolis”
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The Parthenon Frieze |
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The Parthenon Frieze is a continuous band of figures in relief that ran around the upper part of the main temple building, inside the outer colonnade. Its theme was the procession to the Acropolis that took place during the Great Panathenaia, the festival held in honour of the goddess Athena. The Frieze is 160 m. in length and about 1 m. in height. Some 360 human and divine figures are depicted and more than 250 animals, for the most part horses.
The Museum Kit contains a small model of the Parthenon, moulds for the 16 blocks of the west Frieze at a scale of 1:20, a mould of the head of the goddess Iris at actual size, 10 photographs of selected blocks at a scale of 1:5, a photographic reconstruction of the entire Frieze, a Parthenon Frieze Reconstruction Game, a CD Rom, educational booklets and the book “Parthenon Promenades”. The pupil can play, make his/her own casts, combine and study that wonderful body of classical sculpture.
The following publications are included:
"Parthenon Promenades"
"A Day with the Parthenon Frieze"
"The Olympian Gods at the Parthenon Frieze"
"ΤΩΝ ΑΘΗΝΗΘΕΝ ΑΘΛΩΝ (Prizes from Athens) (Prizes from Athens)"
"Photographic Reconstruction of the Parthenon Frieze"
"The Parthenon Frieze Reconstruction Game"
"Cd-Rom "The Parthenon Frieze""
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The Twelve Olympian Gods |
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The ancient gods represent universal human values and symbols. For thousands of years their myths have inspired poets, writers, musicians, painters, sculptors, in brief, civilization itself.
Focussing on the representation of the Olympian gods on the Parthenon Frieze, the Museum Kit contains the book "The Twelve Olympian Gods".
The Museum Kit also contains twelve basic booklets, one for each divinity, giving a description of the god/goddess, his individual characteristics, the myths about his cult, his chief epithets, his symbols, his main sanctuaries and the plants and animals that were dedicated to him. The information about the god is illustrated with a characteristic head, a statue, a vase, a coin, a temple that was dedicated to him, and a work of art from the Renaissance to the present.
The Museum Kit has also a series of cards illustrating characteristic myths about each divinity, and a series of cards-games showing works of ancient and more recent art representing the gods in sculpture, on vases, on coins, on postage stamps; the same also for plants and animals sacred to the gods, and a card devoted to “Symbols and Clues” in both the ancient and the modern world. A card-game with twelve figures-gods shown in different colours encourages the child to create his own gods, to chose the colour that best suits each one, to paint the figure and to add the symbols.
All the illustrations in the booklets with the best-known representations of the gods are included in the game of recognizing the gods, “Who is Who on Mt. Olympus”. The game is based on connecting photographs of a representative head, a sculpture, a vase, a coin, a temple, and a later work of art for each divinity.
With the help of the booklet "The Olympian Gods at the Parthenon Frieze" the pupils can observe the gods in a photographic reconstruction that shows the scene as it once was in the central part above the entrance to the temple. They can try to identify the divinities and their symbols.
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Ancient Greek Dress
 Ancient Greek dress is a fascinating part of everyday life in antiquity for the pupils and it is a common feature of nearly all ancient sculpture and vase painting. The Museum Kit contains copies of the basic types of ancient dress – for men (short and long himation, exomis or one-sleeved tunic and chlamys or cloak) and for women (peplos, sleeved chiton with himation, sleeveless chiton with himation). The accompanying material, pins, brooches, sandals and also texts and transparencies, likewise helps the pupil to study and to try out the clothing. This helps them also to be able to recognize the various types of garment in whatever museum may have a collection of ancient sculpture and vases.
The Museum Kit includes a leaflet showing ancient dress as it is seen on the Parthenon Frieze. |
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Ancient Geek Musical Instruments |
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The ancient Geeks considered music to be a necessary part of every intellectual, religious, artistic or social activity, and of everyday life. They believed that it moulded the character and was the best way to bring up the young. Music was taught at school and private music lessons were given at home. Music accompanied the contests and was present everywhere.The Museum Kit contains copies of ancient instruments: strings (lyra), wind (two auloi with mouthpiece and halter, a salpinx [trumpet], Pan pipes and a horn), percussion (drum, cymbals and clappers). Aided by transparencies, books, drawings and a tape, the pupils can study and play the instruments. They can also learn to recognize them in sculpture and vase painting.
The instruments were made by G. Polyzos.
A leaflet with drawings is included with the Museum Kit.
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Museum Kits Donation Programme |
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The first Museum Kits were designed in 1990, to be lent out to schools and other educational institutions.Until 2001, the Department was providing around 200 schools per year with 15 Museum Kits on 7 different subjects.
In 2001, an extensive special programme was completed, with the designing and reproduction of four Museum Kits in multiple copies("Let’s Go to the Acropolis", "A Greek Temple", "The Parthenon Frieze" and the "The Twelve Olympian Gods"). The new Museum Kits have evolved from the original form of 1990-1993. They are now more flexible, easier to use and can be reproduced in numbers.
Most of this material has been a standing donation of the Ministry of Culture to a network of selected schools and educational institutions throughout Greece and abroad. The choice was based on a specific evaluation procedure and most of the institutions received the Kits after a special seminar on the contents and use of the Museum Kits in the educational process.
More specifically:
The Museum Kit "The Twelve Olympian Gods" was originally designed for the “Melina project: Education and Culture” and was selected in 2001 by the Hellenic Ministry of Education to be given as educational resource-material to specific schools. Until today it has been given by the Ministry and the YSMA to 500 schools and educational institutions throughout the country.
Funding by the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation enabled the Service to produce the Museum Kit "Let’s Go to the Acropolis" with 100 copies in Greek and 100 in English. Additional funding from the Bodosakis Foundation provided 100 copies of the Kit "A Greek Temple". The assistance of the "Association of the Friends of the Acropolis" has been valuable throughout.
These two Kits were distributed to educational institutions in 2001-2002, in 47 provinces of Greece. In May 2003, a special symposium was held to evaluate the results of the use of the two Museum Kits by the various institutions.
The Museum Kit "The Parthenon Frieze" was given to 95 institutions in Greece after an in-depth seminar organised in the framework of the special programme "The Panathenaia through the Parthenon Frieze". In May 2004 another special symposium was held to evaluate the results of the use of this Museum Kit by the various institutions.Distribution was spread over primary and secondary schools in both large and small cities and in the islands as well, over Universities, Museums and Libraries.
Approximately 200 Museum Kits have been donated abroad, to schools with special Classics Department, to large Museums and Universities.
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| Created by V.Fotopoulos |
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