LIFE & CULTURE
XpatAthens
International Museum Day & European Night of Museums 2019
Family Programs
On Saturday 18 May 2019 our little friends who visit the Museum will be able to participate in the two free family programs ‘Experience the Panathinaea Festival with all my senses’ (3-5 years old) and ‘What happened to Athena’s statue from the Parthenon?’ (6-9 years old). The programs will be held in Greek only by the Museum Archaeologist-Hosts.
The cranes of the Acropolis
On the occasion of this year’s International Museum Day, the Acropolis Museum produced, in collaboration with the Hellenic Mint, commemorative medals dedicated to the cranes of the Acropolis. On the cornice of the first Parthenon (570 BC), cranes (geranos, in Greek) were depicted in horizontal flight, rendered in soft colors and in dense formation. For the ancient Greeks, the crane symbolized intelligence, alertness and good fortune. The medals will be available for purchase in the Museum ground floor Shop.
*Photo credit: Discover Greece
Abandoned Bear Cubs Prepare For Life In The Wild
Bradley and Cooper, a pair of orphaned cubs that were rescued by ARCTUROS in Nymfaio, Greece, are being trained to learn how to survive alone in the wild. Even though the cubs are still only 4 months and still bottle-fed, they will soon have to hunt for food alone in the Greek forest. The cubs were found in a sheep pen in a village of Kozani; however, it was too late to reunite them with their mother.
"We teach them what they need to know; where to find food, what they should eat, how they will make their nest in the winter," said Melina Avgerinou, a caretaker at ARCTUROS. "According to the season, we try to teach them what their mother would have taught them in nature," she said.
It will take about a year to teach the bears basic survival mechanisms that will enable them to live alone in the forest. To do so, trainers hide food in the forest for the cubs to find and discourage them from having too much contact with humans.
The bears will hibernate in the sanctuary and will be moved into the forest before waking; to make sure that they can survive in the wild they will be tagged and tracked. Bears that do not manage to adapt to their natural habitat are returned to ARCTUROS.
ARCTUROS' communications officer, Panos Stefanou said he cannot say for sure whether the bear cubs were named after famous actor Bradley Cooper, but he said that they looked a bit "rough and cowboyish" when they were found in the sheep pen.
To read this article in full, please visit: ekathimerini
ARCTUROS is a non-profit, non-governmental, environmental organization (NGO) founded in 1992, focusing on the protection of wildlife fauna and natural habitat, in Greece and abroad.
The foundation of ARCTUROS was driven by the constant need to solve the problem of bear and wolf imprisonment; a common occurrence at the time. It was that need, which led to the creation of a complete action framework, under the umbrella of ARCTUROS.
Click here if you're interested in adopting a bear, a wolf, or a sheperd dog.
ACS Athens S.T.E.A.M. Experiment Blasts Off Into Space!
ACS Athens is one of the three non-US-based K-12 schools to have ever sent an experiment with Blue Origin.
spACS 1 experiment investigates the viscosity of honey under microgravity conditions, which is a Physics-based experiment on fluidity. The honey is carried in a 3D-printed container designed, prototyped, and built by an ACS Athens student.
The investigating team, formed in late 2017, is international and consists of 14 students and six ACS Athens faculty members beginning with Dr. A Karampelas (Principal Investigator), Dr. L. Tsigaridi (co- Investigator), Dr. I. Kerkines, Dr. E. Prodromidi, Ms. V. Poulou, and Mr. S Arsenikos.
The student-built electronics of the spACS 1 experiment consist of a microcomputer, temperature and humidity sensors, a motor, LED lights, and a camera. They have researched both the science and mathematics of fluidity and have been conducting extensive relevant experiments since the first phase of the project.
The rocket was successfully launched on Thursday, May 2nd, from Blue Origin's West Texas Facility and the launch was broadcasted live. This payload flew onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard space vehicle. The New Shepard vertical takeoff and vertical landing vehicle is capable of carrying hundreds of pounds of payloads per flight and will ultimately carry up to six astronauts to altitudes beyond 100 kilometers, also known as the Karman Line, the internationally-recognized boundary of space.
The investigating team was thrilled to watch the rocket launch and is looking forward to proceeding to the next phase of their experiment. “We have been working hard for months on this experiment. It feels like a miracle to watch the successful launch live!” Qi L., a student member of the team, commented.
Dr. Antonis Karampelas congratulated the team and expressed his pride in their work. “This is the students’ achievement; my role was to consult and support their work. We need to show trust to the students and provide them the opportunity to develop their talents. All students can learn!” he highlighted.
The container of the experiment will be returned to ACS Athens a few days after its successful landing so that the students can process and analyze the collected data. Stay tuned for more information! Rocket Launch Photos Courtesy of Blue Origin.
The video launch is available by Blue Origin here!
More information about the experiment can be found here!
For more information about Blue Origin click here!
* Photo Courtesy of Blue Origin.
Women Of Passion, Women Of Greece
Three mythical female figures, Medea, Maria Callas and Melina Mercuri, travel among a crowd of passengers by a train of the 50’s.
Medea, the tragic figure of ancient Greek drama, blinded by her deep love for her husband, murdered her own children.
Maria Callas, the internationally celebrated opera diva, devoted her life to music and let her fate be sealed by a “fatal” romance.
Μelina Mercouri, one of the most beloved greek actresses, singer, and politician, who starred in the most well-known international films, fought for culture and democracy.
The departure station of this journey is ancient Greece while contemporary Greece is its destination. The tragic ancient drama heroine Medea, meets the two great priestesses of modern Greece, Maria and Melina. A common feature unites their different paths, and that is passion. Passion for life, passion for love, passion for creation, passion for freedom. History, culture, the power of the human soul, the struggles for democracy come alive by an actress and a musician, who accompany us to this fascinating journey of creative memory, humor and emotion where Greece is at the same time the starting point and final destination, with the feelings of people all over the world as stopovers.
Shows:
Every Saturday at 19:00 hrs (as of June 1, 2019
The shows may be followed by dinner in the Wagon Restaurant or at the open-air Bar & Restaurant “Apovathra” (dishes from 5€ / glass of wine 3,5€ / spirits 6€)
The theatrical performance is under the auspices of the Greek Tourism Organization and with the kind support of the Organization of Culture, Sports & Youth of the City of Athens while it has been attended with great interest and emotion by the President of the Hellenic Republic, English-speaking audience of various nationalities, women societies and unions, ambassadors, diplomats, Greek expatriates, high-school and university students, etc.
XpatAthens is proud to be a Media Sponsor of Women Of Passion, Women Of Greece
Liar Wanted - Pallas Theater
Needless to say, its subject-matter—lying in politics—is as relevant today as it ever was. Thodoros Silvertongue, or Thodoros the Liar (played by Alexis Georgoulis) declares himself a professional liar and leaves his village for Athens and a job in which he can put his talents to good use. A chance quarrel and a punch landed on a fellow passenger on the tram—his boss-to-be Ferekis, a Member of Parliament (played by Giorgos Partsalakis)—will clear the way for a brilliant career as the MP's private secretary; a career founded in the brazen, blatant lies he comes up with to justify his employer’s failure to deliver on the promises he made his angry voters before the elections. Thodoros the Liar undertakes to take care of all his master’s problems with ministries, prisons, unions and... cabaret artistes, and in record time. But his successful career as a very special secretary brings him into conflict with the MP's wife, the lovely Jenny (Natalia Dragoumi). Can he succeed against such a powerful opponent? That will depend on Agis (Argyris Angelou) and the sexy Pitsa Kitsa (Apostolia Zoi in her first theatrical role), the nightclub singer who has captivated the entire male population of the capital!
Liar Wanted examines one of our species’ most obvious characteristics: our talent for blocking out and embroidering reality. Thodoros the Liar represents escape from an ugly and miserable reality. The flight from harsh truth to hope and dreams. He needs to believe that, dirt poor as he is, he will one day be rich. His survival instincts are strong. He is the provincial who, unable to make ends meets back home, packs up his bag and moves to Athens to seek his fortune; to become someone. To do that, Thodoros needs to keep the dream alive inside. It’s the only way he can make his lies come true and make it through difficult times.
Wanted Liar is a timeless work which has as much to say today as it did when it was written. It should come as no surprise that it has played to packed houses and rave reviews in the US, Canada, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Romania. For it is a powerful, universal work.
*SURTITLES IN PALLAS THEATER - THEATRIKES SKINES SA offer the opportunity to all foreign visitors and residents of Athens as well as theater-lovers with hearing difficulties to watch the performances at PALLAS Theater.
Fast Forward Festival 6 - Onassis Stegi
How do we coexist in the contemporary metropolis? How can we interact, and how can we talk about things that are foreign to us, unfamiliar, different?
The 6th Fast Forward Festival once again disrupts our certainties about art and life, exploring the notion of the commons and of solidarity initiatives from several perspectives and fields of knowledge with the tools of art and CULTURE. Hybrid performances, installations and video works, which arise from monthslong collaboration with experts and local COMMUNITIES, while also exploring atypical public and private spaces, are presented for two weeks in the heart of the city.
Athens Digital Arts Festival Celebrates Its 15th Birthday
● impressive interactive installations
● web art by COSMOTE Fiber
● top-of-the-top Video Art & Animation projects
● explosive DJ Sets
K.BHTA (Friday, 10/5) and Athens Voice Radio 102.5 (Saturday 11/5)
This two-day event will include some of the most impressive works by artists who have participated in the entire history of the Festival, as one of its main aims is to promote artists and to develop the Cultural and Creative Industry in Greece. The tribute will feature live sets, in a super-festive mood.
May, the festival’s milestone, the cradle that brought it to life, is the perfect time for this retrospective action that is dedicated to its history. Returning to its roots, ADAF reactivates, this time, the ex- shopping center FOKAS, at 41 Stadiou Street, in the heart of the city, with a great celebration of contemporary culture in Athens. The celebration continues at the newly renovated Pedestrian Street of Miltiadou Street Athens which will be transformed into a large summer cinema on the 1st and 2nd of June, for a 2-day full of Video Art & Animation screenings as well as special tributes and premieres.
We invite all of our supporters, participants, and friends of the Festival to join us in the 15th birthday of ADAF and to celebrate the 15 years of contemporary culture in Athens.
See you there!
It's Easter In Greece!
Trireme Olympias-Sailing To History
Set up in 1982 by the historian and academic, John Morrison, naval architect, John Coates, and writer Frank Welsh, the Trireme Trust was created to investigate a centuries-old controversy about the nature of the trireme, the most significant warship of the ancient Mediterranean world. Their collaboration resulted in the building and launch in 1987 by the Hellenic Navy of a full-scale reconstruction, the Olympias, powered by 170 oars arranged over three levels.
A series of six sea-trials between 1987 and 1994 demonstrated that the ship could be rowed efficiently and fast, despite the universal academic opinion that a three-level arrangement of oars was wholly impracticable. In 2004, Olympias was used to carry the Olympic flame across Piraeus harbour shortly before the opening of the Athens Olympic Games.
In September 2004 the Naval Supreme Council decided to designate the trireme as an exhibit in a specially designed space of the Naval Tradition Park. It was also agreed that the trireme should be assigned to the command of the Battleship Averof at the Hellenic Maritime Heritage Park.
Hellenic Maritime Heritage Park
Flisvos 175 10, Paleo Faliro
Telephone: 210 9888211
Operating Hours
Tuesday to Friday: 09:00 - 14:00
Weekends: 10:00 - 17:00
Article Sources: Hellenic Navy & The Trireme Trust
The 4 'Greekest Places' In North America
Luckily, the Greeks all over the world have managed to keep their culture very much alive, sometimes preserving traditions and customs more than the people in Greece.
Recently, the Pappas Post compiled a list of North America’s Greekest places, neighborhoods, and monuments; the places that make the United States and Canada significant fountains of Greek culture.
1. Nashville Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee
The Nashville Parthenon was built for the World Fair in 1897 to the exact specifications of the original. It’s quite surreal seeing it in its full glory, even containing inside the golden and ornate statue of Athena — the original left only in literature and long melted away by invaders as victors’ wartime booty.
2. Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Canada
Claiming to be the “largest Greek neighborhood” in North America, Danforth Avenue is a mecca for all things Greek in Toronto. Dozens of restaurants, coffee shops and the Taste of Danforth one of the largest Greek street festivals in the world make this place unique and profoundly Greek.
3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This museum holds the most extensive collection of ancient Greek artefacts outside of Greece. Great effort has been made to collect and preserve ancient Greek relics and Byzantine artefacts, mainly thanks to Greek-American benefactors Mary and Michael Jaharis, who have an entire gallery named after them in the museum.
4. Mt. Olympus Park, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Mt. Olympus Park is like a big, fat, Greek Disneyland, featuring 44 water slides, seven rollercoasters, a wave pool with nine-foot waves, eight go-kart tracks, and numerous kiddie rides with attractions like a life-size Trojan Horse, roller coasters named after Hades, Cyclops, Pegasus and Zeus, Pan’s animal farm, and Poseidon’s underwater go-kart track.
To read the full list of Greekest places in North America, please visit: The Pappas Post