INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Indianapolis Children’s Museum invites everyone to their new exhibits Take Me There Greece and Treasures of Ancient Greece. These educational and entertaining exhibitions which both opened on June 15 and run through January 2020 offer a uniquely Greek experience for all ages.

In Take Me There Greece, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum built an entire Greek village, including a taverna, olive oil factory, homes from Athens and Corinth, a bakery, periptero, and more.

Museum-goers can explore the vibrant culture of contemporary Greece where modern life goes on against the backdrop of some of the most stunning monuments of the ancient Greek world. Through art, food, music, dance, and architecture, everyone can discover what life in Greece is really like.

The interactive activities in exhibition include gathering locally-sourced food, preparing authentic meals, and sharing them in the Genetos Taverna (restaurant), casting nets to provide fish for local markets, filling bottles with olive oil, baking and serving bread and baklava, visiting typical houses in Athens and Corinth, gathering in a family courtyard, and even helping to save the sea turtles. Attendees can care for rescued loggerhead sea turtles, count, measure, and protect turtle eggs, and feed turtles their favorite meal- squid pieces, shellfish, and fish.

Non-Greek speakers can also learn how to say “hello” and other Greek phrases. Other activities include Play a Part: A Big Fat Greek Reception in which participants help plan and prepare a Modern Greek wedding reception. Working in teams to make decisions on table decorations, party favors, and dance costumes, children ages 6 and up and their families can learn about Greek culture and wedding traditions, and then join in a celebratory Greek dance.

Beyond the Mainland: Island Excursion explores the sights, sounds, and smells of one of the 6,000 Greek Islands for all ages.

Take Me There: Greece offers a glimpse into one of the most culturally-rich countries in the world, without leaving Indiana. This one-of-a-kind exhibit promises to encourage the appreciation of other cultures in a way that goes far beyond textbooks. Because when we learn how people in other countries live their daily lives, we can accept and respect our neighbors- next door and around the world!

After reminiscing about being back in Greece, the Museum’s exhibition the Treasures of Ancient Greece presents more than 150 objects including scientific inventions, sculptures, jewelry, armor, vases, and more for a trip back in time. The items are on loan from Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, and other museums across Greece. Bronze ballots and a replica voting machine are just a few of the artifacts that demonstrate how the world’s first democracy shaped the politics of today.

One of the extraordinary stories that is told in the exhibition is that of the famed Antikythera Mechanism. “We are very excited to share a model of what is believed to be the world’s oldest analog computer,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “It will help families understand how a civilization from long ago predicted eclipses of the sun and moon in relation to big events like the ancient Olympics.”

“It was found by divers in the beginning of the 20th century close to the island of Antikythera and after being excavated by Jacques Cousteau and the Greek Ecological Service. Even today we have excavations in the same area of the shipwreck of the Antikythera because it was found in the shipwreck with other objects and with many statues. We’re waiting for more results about this shipwreck and what was together with the Antikythera mechanism,” said Dr. Maria Vlazaki, Secretary General, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport.

More information about ICM and the exhibitions, Take Me There Greece and Treasures of Ancient Greece, is available online: https://www.childrensmuseum.org/.