Free Entry to Museums, Historic Sites, Workshops Across Greece Over Weekend

State-owned museums and historic sites across Greece will be accessible with free entry over the weekend in the context of European Heritage Days from September 24th to September 25th.

An additional rich schedule of free activities includes workshops, talks, guided tours, and digital events available to the public throughout the country from Crete to Thrace.

Coordinated by Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports, certain activities were scheduled for Friday, and there is free entry to all state archeological sites, museums, and monuments offered for two days over the weekend beginning on September 24th.

Free entry cultural heritage events across Greece

The theme for this year’s European Heritage Days in Greece is “Sustainable Heritage— preserving the past for future generations.”

“Can the objects of the Museum deliver a green message? They definitely can,” the Archaeological Museum of Chania says in a Facebook post about its pop-up exhibition for European Heritage Days.

Specific objects from the museum’s permanent exhibition are connected with Goal 14—Life Below Water, “one of the [seventeen] Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015 by the member states of the United Nations, hoping for a prosperous world on a healthy planet,” it is stated.

“[European Heritage Days] events will be looking at both tangible and intangible aspects of heritage and aim to particularly highlight and encourage the appreciation of restoration techniques using original and sustainable materials and the continuity of traditions and skills,” the Ministry said in an announcement.

The theme will also look at how historic places, buildings, and biodiverse environments “can be enjoyed by current and future generations by explaining past actions and current practices as well as showcasing new technologies and digitalization as tools for future preservation.”

The free events are diversified according to the local heritage of each part of Greece, with focus on the use of sustainable resources and materials that eliminate the environmental footprint, also aiming to highlight “the significance of continuity as well as the promotion of traditions and skills at [a] local/national level but also beyond European borders.”

Events include, for instance, a creative look at recycling practices throughout history at the Museum of Byzantine Culture and a workshop to repair broken toys drawing inspiration from the collections at the Hellenic Children’s Museum.

Besides original workshops, talks, and guided tours, the program also features online streaming events and social media content, such as a series of posts inspecting the birds and animals located in the archeological sites and museum exhibits in Delphi.