The New Archaeological Museum of Patras is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

located in the city of

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Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Description

The museum opened on July 24, 2009. The construction plans for the museum were initially announced by the then Minister of Culture,

Melina Mercouri Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri (, 18 October 1920 – 6 March 1994) was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a political family that was prominent over multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination a ...

. However, the construction plans did not materialise until 2004. Built on a plot of land, with 8,000 square metres of interior spaces, it is the second-largest museum of Greece. The area surrounding the museum comprises a pool, a shiny metallic dome and greenery. In the near future, the vacant land next to the museum will be turned into a cultural park. It houses collections about the history of Patras and the surrounding area from prehistory to the end of Roman times. The museum was designed by Bobotis+Bobotis Architects with an original cost of 21.5 million euros that ended up at a total of 25 million. It was originally planned to open in 2006, when Patras was the cultural capital of Europe, but despite the construction being ready, the structure remained empty, with the opening being delayed several times. The museum has four thematic sections, three of which are permanent and one is periodic. The periodic section will be hosting various exhibitions around the year. According to the archaeologists of the 6th Antiquity Conservancy, the 70% of the items exhibited are seeing the light of day for the first time in the past thirty years. The museum is open Tuesdays - Sundays, from 8am till 8pm during Summer Season (April - October), and from 8am until 3pm during Winter Season (November - March). The entrance fee for adults is currently 4 euro (August 2011).

Thematic Sections

In all sections of the museum, there are projectors showing optical informative material, depending on the items exhibited.

Private life

The first and bigger section, exhibits items of everyday life, working tools, cosmetics and jewellery from Mycenaean,

Ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and

Roman Greece Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian ...

, with the oldest being of 17th century BC. Apart from these items, this section includes partly reconstructed Roman residences, in natural size by the original materials. In the same place, there is also a part of one of the biggest

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

collections in Greece, consisting of 14 Roman mosaics covering a total of 250 square metres, vast majority of which are vertically placed. Most of these mosaics were discovered in ruins of luxurious urban residences in the city of Patras.

Public life

The section of the Public Life covers the period from 1500 B.C. until the 4th century A.D. There are maps of the Roman territory that frame the information material for the monumental topography of the city. There are exhibits from the Roman period, mainly related to commercial activities, social and administrative organization, cults and entertainment of the inhabitants.

Necropolis

The section of

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

is dedicated to tombs and items discovered in Patras and the greater region of

Achaia Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...

. It presents the burial architecture and its evolution from the prehistoric till the Roman times, not only by the items found but with the reconstruction of various types of tombs. In fact there are three totally reconstructed tombs, two Mycenaean and one Roman at their natural sizes with the skeletons and their gems. In the same place there's also information about the burial customs and beliefs, and the burning of the dead in Ancient Greece.

Periodic Section

In the periodic section of the museum, various exhibitions will be taking place around the year. The first exhibition, which lasts till the end of November, is dedicated to "Plants and their Culture in Europe" from the ancient world till today. Future plans include a sketch gallery and a lectures schedule.

External links

Greek National Tourism Organisation

''New archaeological museum of Patras''
Athens News Agency - Macedonian News Agency, 24. July 2009
''Theofanis Bobotis architects''

July 2009_109199 ''The historical legacy of Patra - City’s new archaeological museum''

Kathimerini ''Kathimerini'' (Greek: Η Καθημερινή, pronounced kaθimeriˈni meaning ''The Daily'') is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Athens. Its first edition was printed on September 15, 1919. and it is considered ...

English edition web site 24 July 2009
''Το γεφύρι της Πάτρας''

Eleftherotypia ''Eleftherotypia'' ( el, Ελευθεροτυπία, lit=freedom of the press) was a daily national newspaper published in Athens, Greece. Published since 21 July 1975, it was the first newspaper to appear after the fall of the Regime of the C ...

(Greek) article 26 July 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological Museum Of Patras

Museums in Patras Modernist architecture in Greece