Educational Programmes
The educational programmes are addressed to school children whose schools include the thematic unit about the Acropolis in their curriculum. The visit is organised each time around a specific subject and is determined by the age and knowledge of the children. The Department collaborates with schools on the basis of the interest of the teachers themselves. The schools’ application order for a programme is strictly followed.
Over the years many programmes have been developed and carried out. Special projects have been designed about the Acropolis and its monuments such as the ancient «Peripatos», the path around the Acropolis, the topography of the Sacred Rock through the texts of Plutarch and Pausanias as well as through the cult of the goddess Athena, the Parthenon Frieze, the construction of ancient temples and the restoration of the ancient monuments. These programmes were originally designed for school pupils as open day programmes. Today they are carried out as seminars for teachers. At the same time tactical programmes for pupils are organised on a daily basis.
Procedure for Participating in the Educational Programme
To participate in the educational programmes, the day and time of your visit must be arranged by telephone (210-9000903). Up to 45 pupils can take part in each educational programme. The educator accompanying the pupils is responsible for their supervision during their visit. For groups including more than twenty pupils, it is imperative that a second educator also accompany them.
More information available at the Acropolis Museum webpage.
Previous Educational Programmes
A Day on the Acropolis Working for the Conservation and Restoration of the Monuments
The Acropolis today resembles a large building site. There is scaffolding everywhere and men and machines work non-stop. The programme, which includes 20 workshops, emphasizes the architectural analysis of the monuments, ancient building methods, the damage the monuments have suffered during the 2500 years of their existence, and the complicated problems faced by the specialists in the scholarly work carried out in order to restore the most magnificent monuments of the best classical period. The archaeological site is organized so as to present visitors with a full perspective of these activities. Architects, archaeologists, civil engineers, conservators, marble sculptors and others are stationed around the site to present the various parts of the work. These presentations are coordinated to provide a full description of the temples and the restoration project.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "Restoration in Action: the Athenian Acropolis Project".
A Day at the Centre for the Acropolis Studies
The Centre for the Acropolis Studies is one of the oldest and most important specimens of classicism in Greece. Students have the opportunity to see in detail, through 25 workshops, many aspects of classical art such as the process of creating a marble sculpture, the creation of the work in clay, its transformation to plaster and its reproduction in marble, the process of producing a bronze sculpture with the lost wax method, as well as the creation of wooden, terracotta, gold and ivory statues. The pupils learn how moulds are made, and they try to make their own casts. In the courtyard of the Centre they observe the procedure of an excavation and the different stages followed by the archaeologists so that a piece of earth and its contents can contribute to our knowledge about the human past.
A Day Building an Ancient Greek Temple
Temples are the most important buildings of ancient Geek achitecture. During the programme pupils build, little-by-little, "their own" ancient Greek temple. Through 8 workshops, they become ancient Athenian citizens, architects, sculptors and craftsmen and they participate in both the decision-making and the building process. They select the god to be worshipped in the temple, they create the cult statue and the temple's sculptural adornment. They design the plan of the temple and make a model of it. They choose the order and produce a prototype capital; they draw the door as well as the door-frame of the temple.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "A Greek Temple".
A Day Celebrating the Panathenaia through the Parthenon Frieze
The Panathenaia was the greatest festival of ancient Athens. Splendid athletic contests were held together with competitions in rhapsody and music. A great procession, illustrated on the Parthenon Frieze, wound its way up the Acropolis on the 28th of the ancient month Hekatombaion, around the 15th of August.
In the programme, the pupils take part with their imagination in the festival of the ancient Panathenaia, in the artistic and athletic contests and in the great procession to the Acropolis. They participate in eight workshops, through which they have the opportunity to make scaled casts of Frieze blocks and paint them, to study the composition of the Parthenon Frieze, to carve marble, to observe the various types of ancient Greek dress, to recognize the musical instruments carried by the participants in the procession and to distinguish the different Panathenaic contests.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit The "Parthenon Frieze".
A Day with the Parthenon Frieze
A Day on the Acropolis with the Texts of Plutarch and Pausanias
Pupils walk around the Acropolis with Plutarch and Pausanias as their guides. To begin with, they read pieces from the ancient text of Plutarch about the life of Perikles; they learn about the specialties of his artisan-contemporaries who worked on the Acropolis and about the materials they used for making the statues and the buildings. Then they walk around the archaeological site and, on the basis of Pausanias' text, they try to locate what they cannot see using Pausanias' description, or, vice versa, what they now see but he did not. The programme is completed with a series of activities described in the relevant booklet.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "Let's Go to the Acropolis".
A Day on the Acropolis with the Texts of Plutarch and Pausanias
A Day on the Acropolis in Search of the Goddess Athena
The pupils walk around the archaeological site and learn the topography of the monuments on the Sacred Rock through a search for the statues of the goddess Athena, who was worshipped on the Acropolis in many different forms. They learn about some of the statues, the various materials of which they were made, their size and their connection with the buildings and the place. They also describe the characteristics of the goddess, her symbols, and tales from the myths and her worship in ancient Athens. They visit the Acropolis Museum where they look for statues of the goddess Athena on the basis of what they have learned. Then they place self-adhering pictures of the various statues of the goddess on a perspective drawing of the Acropolis Rock.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "Let's Go to the Acropolis".
A Day on the Acropolis in Search of the Goddess Athena
Let's Go to the Acropolis Peripatos
The subject of the programme is the ancient Acropolis Peripatos, the road that in antiquity ran around the Acropolis. The aim of the programme is to familiarize the pupils with the topography and the many unique monuments that were built on the Acropolis slopes.
The programme is presented through two booklets. One is addressed to the educator and describes each monument. The other, for the pupil, is a guide to the ancient Peripatos in the form of a tale. The hero of the tale is Menon, a little boy who lives in Athens at the end of the 4th century B.C. He follows the course of the Peripatos around the Acropolis seeking the sanctuary of the god Asklepios.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "Let's Go to the Acropolis".
Let's Go to the Acropolis Peripatos: Booklet for the Educator Let's Go to the Acropolis Peripatos: Booklet for the Pupil
A Day with the Parthenon Frieze
The pupils learn about and study the Frieze, that unique sculptural entity of the classical period illustrating the Panathenaic procession. They observe the copies of the entire Frieze exhibited in the Centre for the Acropolis Studies and an educational model of the Parthenon at a scale of 1:20, with a photographic reconstruction of the entire Frieze in place on the model of the monument.
A workshop completes the programme in which the children compose the Panathenaic procession. With the help of the booklet and a little boy as guide, they identify the participants in the procession, the gods, the officials, the youths and old men, and the sacrificial animals.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "The Parthenon Frieze".
A Day with the Parthenon Frieze
A Day in Search of the Olympian Gods at the Parthenon Frieze
After a general introduction to the Acropolis and its monuments, the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon is discussed in detail with particular reference to the Frieze. Using the relevant booklet, the pupils try to find the identity and the symbols of the gods. In the workshop that follows, the pupils take part in a theatrical game in which they represent the deities just as they saw them on the Parthenon Frieze.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "The Parthenon Frieze".
The Olympian Gods at the Parthenon Frieze
Let's Go to the Acropolis
With the help of the models exhibited in the Centre for the Acropolis Studies, the pupils have the opportunity to learn about the topography of the Sacred Rock and each monument with its myths, its architecture and its sculpture. The purpose of the programme is also to enable the pupils to study the history of the monuments and the attitude of people toward them through the ages. The programme ends with a tour for the pupil giving information about the history of the Sacred Rock and the development of the area diachronically, from Neolithic times to the present, with special emphasis on the Classical period. The educator's booklet has the same thematic units, but more photographs and a more detailed text.
The programme can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit "Let's Go to the Acropolis".
Let's Go to the Acropolis: Booklet for the Educator Let's Go to the Acropolis: Booklet for the Pupil
Acropolis Promenades
A Day on the Acropolis Restoring the Erechtheion.
A Day on the Acropolis Photographing Monuments.
A Day on the Acropolis in Search of Votive Offerings.
A Day on the Acropolis in Search of Animals.
Monuments and Environment.
Programmes about the History of Athens and of the Acropolis
Hadrian's Athens
Morosini, the Venetians and the Acropolis
Disjecta Membra: Plunder and Dispersion of the Parthenon Sculpture
Ancient and Neoclassical Buildings
A Day in Neoclassical Athens, at the Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Athens.
A Day at the Saripolos Mansion, at the Museum of Cycladic Art.
Ancient Tiles and Antefixes in the periodical exhibition at the Centre for the Acropolis Studies.
Ancient Prototypes and Design
Designing the New Acropolis Museum: Designing the Galleries, the Exhibits' Presentation, the Products for the Shop
Designing Logos and Advertisements after Ancient Prototypes.
Designing Books about the Olympian Gods.
Current Educational Programmes
The Parthenon Sculpture
The educational programme is held at the Acropolis Museum and is addressed to pupils (9-12 years old). Pupils watch a short film presentation on the Parthenon and its sculptural decoration, and then visit the Parthenon Gallery. With the help of models and casts, the pupils observe the sculpture and participate in special workshops.
In each programme 45 persons (pupils and teachers) can participate. A minimum of 2 teachers should accompany every school group of more than 25 pupils. Pupils can buy the special booklet “The Parthenon Sculpture” to support their understanding of the sculptures (special price for schools : 2 Euros per booklet).
The programme can be combined with the use of the museum kits “The Parthenon Frieze”, “The Twelve Olympian Gods”, and “A Greek Temple” as well as with the online application of the Parthenon Frieze.
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