The National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece's largest repository of antiquities, is embracing digital technologies to offer visitors new experiences.
With the support of 1.5 million euros in EU funding, the museum is undergoing a comprehensive digital transformation to modernize and enhance its profile. A new secondary website, ds.namuseum.gr, allows visitors to book activities and plan their visits. The museum will be offering 32 thematic guided tours, with nine available at a time, allowing visitors to explore specific areas of interest. Additionally, visitors can enjoy virtual tours and create personal folders to save memories of their visit.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni emphasizes the importance of museums adapting to social needs and becoming more than just repositories of cultural heritage. The aim is to provide an experience that caters to the requirements of the era and the new generation. The museum has introduced various digital features, including information stations, a circular kiosk sponsored by Aegean Airlines that offers free audio tour devices, and a series of three-digit codes that visitors can input into the audio tour device to listen to relevant excerpts about the exhibits. These special podcasts, available in six languages, cover 883 exhibits, and separate texts have been created for guided tours in sign language and for the visually impaired.
The museum will soon launch a mobile application featuring its most iconic exhibits, and nine digital information islands have been placed in different rooms, providing visitors with videos that are automatically coordinated with their devices. Plans for an expansion of the museum are underway, with the agreement for the required studies expected to be ratified in Parliament in early 2024. The completion timeline and sections of the museum that will be closed will depend on the ratification date. The museum also aims to address staff shortages and will submit a request to the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection in 2024 to fill the vacant positions.
