ATHENS – The Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, Kostas Kotsanas, the Athens annex, was nominated as the European Museum of the Year 2019 by the European Museum Forum (EMF) before completing one year of operation.
Since 1977, the European Museum of the Year (EMYA), under the auspices of the Council of Europe, annually celebrates best museum practice across Europe and encourages innovation in museum society. This year’s EMYA will be announced in May 2019.
The Museum of Ancient Greek Technology Kostas Kotsanas, having these characteristics, highlights and presents to the public an extremely important but relatively unknown aspect of ancient Greek culture: technology.
With more than 150 interactive exhibits and reconstructions of ancient Greek inventions, classified into 24 thematic units, children and adults come in contact with the wonderful creations that ancient Greek technology has bequeathed to mankind.
The aim of the Museum is to explain that ancient Greek technology was shockingly similar to the beginnings of modern technology and to demonstrate its importance for the modern Culture of Technology.
The nomination to the EMYA is another honor added to a set of important awards and international honors the original Kotsanas Museum has received during its 15 years of operation. It is noted that the Museum is being honored by UNESCO and National Geographic as part of the promotion of Europe’s World Cultural Heritage Monuments.
Finally, at the Kotsanas Museum as a single organization, has been awarded in recent years the Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site. The distinction confirms the museum’s appeal to the international audience and the positive response of its visitors to its originality and presentation of its exhibits.
At the same time, its traveling exhibitions around the world have been hosted by major archaeological and technological museums, universities and international organizations such as the European Patent Office of The Hague, Munich and Vienna, the Lyon Technical University, the Varese and Basle Archaeological Museums, the National Library of France, the University of Connecticut, the Melbourne Hellenic Museum, Galileo Park, the National Museums of Science of South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as at the historic Library of Alexandria.
It should be noted that the Kostas Kotsanas Museum, a model museum both in Greece and abroad, is a non-profit organization operating from the outset without any subsidy from any public or private organization.
The opening of the Museum in Athens on January 8, 2018, together with the existing exhibitions in Katakolo Ilia and Ancient Olympia, completes the triptych of the Kotsanas Museum and the complementary panorama of the unique technological miracle of antiquity.
More specifically, the Museum in Athens features the exhibitions “Ancient Greece – the beginnings of the Technologies” which presents more than 100 interactive exhibits, and “Ancient Greek Musical Instruments and Games” with 42 fully functional musical instruments.
It will soon open its doors and touring exhibition titled “EUREKA – think like Archimedes” with fully interactive exhibits dedicated to the great mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer of ancient times.
The Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, Kostas Kotsanas
Address: Pindarou 6 and Akadimias, Athens,
Tel: 30 211 4110044, +30 6907292002
Opening hours: 9 AM-5 PM daily and weekends.
More information is available online: kotsanas.com.
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