First exhibits at Athens University, 1837
The first university museum in Greece was established in 1837. The University of Athens opened a botanical garden with exhibits of plant samples on Iera Odos just three years after the university was founded. Now all Greek universities have at least one museum, and their collections now number more than 100. From paleolithic fossils of animals to the head of the brigand Giangulas, and from minerals to coins to the latest telecommunications technology, university museums cover a wide range. As Penny Theologi-Gouti, secretary of the International Committee of University Collections and Museums, told Kathimerini, the museums popularize the institute’s work and create a relationship between the university and the public. «In Greece museums are usually the result of research work, a collection of material from some field of research,» she explained. The exhibits are either collected by university researchers or come from private collections that are donated to the university. Inevitably, most of the museums are at the two largest universities in Greece – Athens and Thessaloniki – which have more than 40 museums and collections between them. Among them are museums of the archaeology of art, anatomy, anthropology, araniofacial development, and minerals. Some, of course, are so specialized that they concern only experts. The most popular ones are the museums of botany, zoology and paleontology, which receive school visits every day. «Pupils are interested in all kinds of museums, according to their age,» said Michalis Dermitzakis, deputy rector of Athens University and president of the university’s museum committee. «What matters is that they become more widely known.»
