Eureka, Science Art and Technology of the Ancient Greeks

The Idea

The decision of Museum Herakleidon to focus on its educational work, inevitably led to its evolution into a museum of Science and Technology, since the exhibits had to support teaching. Actually, Firos couple wanted to focus on ancient Greek Technology. Perhaps the Alexandrian origin of Paul Firos and the historic past of Alexandria influenced their decision.

In March 2016, the Professor of Philosophy of Hellenic Open University and of NTUA, Mr Byron Kaldis, brings in contact the Museum Herakleidon and the China Science and Technology Museum. In order to ensure the validity and scientific documentation of an exhibition that would represent the country and its history in one of the largest museums of its kind in the world, Paul Firos seeks and achieves the close cooperation with the Greek Association of Research on Ancient Greek and Byzantine Technology (ΕΔΑΒυΤ). In fact, the Professor Emeritus of NTUA and President of ΕΔΑΒυΤ, Theodossios Tassios, becomes the chief scientific consultant. It was in the beginning of 2017, when the collaboration between the two museums and the creation of EUREKA were officially announced. It was also the perfect occasion for this fact to be the first official communiqué as part of the year of cultural exchanges between Greece and China, that was just beginning.

The Preparation

The formalization of ΕΔΑΒυΤ–Museum Herakleidon cooperation was followed by feverish preparations. The exhibits of ΕΔΑΒυΤ were collected for inspection and repairs in a place chosen and hired specifically for this purpose. An order of a series of exhibits for the Museum's collection had already been placed, before.

In the summer of 2017, this space converted in a creation workshop, the exhibits were checked, repaired, others were manufactured on site, tested, photographed, filmed and in the end were packaged and travelled to Beijing.

Α number of important people were engaged in our endeavor: Professors Theodossios Tassios, Claire Palivou, who curated the exhibition, Manolis Korres, Kyriakos Efstathiou, Giannis Seiradakis, Xenophon Moussas, Stephen Miller, Giorgos Karatheros supported scientifically this gigantic effort. Dimitris Maras, Babis Karkatsoulis, Spyros Economopoulos, Ilias Sarakasidis, Kanelos, Giannis Exintaris, ISA Hoti offered their expertise and construction capacity. The new Acropolis Museum, the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina, the Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, the Μunicipality of Samos, Mrs. Georgia Karakalou lent exhibits to complete the collection. Eleni Nomikou and Fotini Belliou supervised the whole procedure here and in Beijing.

In China

The exhibits were packed with care, loaded in two large containers and began their journey from Piraeus to China, in mid-August 2017. In October of the same year, EUREKA arrived in Beijing, followed by our team from Greece, the curator of the exhibition Mrs Claire Palivou, the responsible for the museographical design Mrs Fotini Belliou and the technicians Giannis Exintaris and Sophia Papadopoulou. With the help of our Chinese partners and of the Greek Embassy in Beijing as well, with the contribution of our sponsors like the Institute of Research and Technology, of Daes Company in the insurance of the exhibits and of Hublot in the offer of two collectible watches inspired by the Antikythera Mechanism, a vast industrial space of 1500 square meters turned into an impressive presentation of some of the most brilliant technological achievements of the Greek civilization.

The inauguration took place on November 1st in an exultant way with the presence of the founders of Museum Herakleidon, the Secretary of ΕΔΑΒυΤ, members of the Greek Diplomatic Mission, the President of the Academy of Sciences of China, the head of the Federation of Sciences and Technology, the President of the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing and a large number of media representatives.

The exhibition stayed in Beijing until the beginning of March 2018. During this period, it received more than 2,500 visitors daily, the response of whom was moving. Beijing was followed by Jinan, the capital city of the province of Shandong, and the Museum of Science and Technology there, with similar success.

In Greece

After Jinan, the adventure of EUREKA outside the borders ends (for now) and the collection returns to be furbished, to be enriched with new constructions, to be redesigned in order to adapt to both buildings capability and to the exhibition design by our co-organizers and, after returning the loan works, to be presented to the Greek public.

Out of all thematic units of EUREKA, the Technology of War and selected items that refer to Astronomy and to Automata shall be exhibited until the mid-summer 2019. A different museographical design is already being attempted, a fresh approach to the subject in order to escape from the classical form of exhibition.