Tip of the day 30/3/2023 – Industrial Gas Museum becomes 10!

• March 30, 2023

The Industrial Gas Museum of the Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens, the first industrial museum of Athens, completes 10 years of creative presence, having welcomed more than 150,000 visitors of all ages

On the occasion of 10 years of the Museum has been planned a series of anniversary activities that accompany its stable programme and reflect its multifaceted and extroverted activity: A workshop on the reuse of industrial heritage, adult evening tours, industrial routes in the city, a gala concert, a weekend dedicated to children and a series of actions to renew the museum exhibition invite young and old alike to a year of celebration.

In 2013, the Museum opened its doors with the aim of highlighting the historical value of the old Athens gasworks that provided light and energy to the city for almost 130 years. Through a 13-stop museum route, the visitor discovers a rare for European standards industrial monument – the only one that retains all its mechanical equipment in situ – that through its reuse remains alive.

Workshop on industrial heritage “Gas-working together: New perspectives” on March 4th.

Evening guided tours for adults accompanied by an early drink:  From March to November, from 19.00 – 21.00. The tours will take place on Thursdays 30 March, 6, 20 and 27 April, 11, 18 and 25 May, 5 and 19 October, 2 November.

Industrial routes in the city: From April to October, the museum team will organize 4 industrial walks with two themes for adults and families with children from 12 years old. The industrial walks, inspired by the flare gas plant, will familiarize participants with modern architecture, industrial heritage and the utilization of industrial monuments in the heart of the city, while revealing unknown aspects and secrets of the city’s recent history. The industrial routes will take place on Sundays 23 April, 21 May, 24 September, 22 October.

Open air concert: The Museum’s birthday will be celebrated with a big, fun party could not be missing, on Saturday 20 May, launching the concert summer at Technopolis. The beloved Greek artist Vassilikos will take to the stage and present his new project “The Grand Duet” shared with George Triantafyllou, an idea born before the quarantine and realized after it, with all the energy and passion that follows the time of isolation.

Two days dedicated to children: On the weekend of 14 and 15 October, young friends will have the opportunity to participate in their most favourite educational programmes, including art workshops, dance and STEAM workshops, theatre performances, performances and many surprises.

Augmented reality application “Athens IndustRy”:  With an eye on the future, the BMF enriches the museum route by including at the last stop, at Neos Ydataerio, the innovative augmented reality (AR) application “Athens IndustRy”, which aims to offer an exciting journey into the world of the city’s industrial history in an interactive way. In the highest building of Technopolis, which today functions as an Observatory and offers a 360-degree view of Athens, visitors have the opportunity to get to know, with the help of technology, well-known industries of Athens dating from the post-revolutionary years up to the 20th century.

Museum exhibition updated: The Museum is enriching its exhibition with two new items from its collection, namely two stamps of the French administration of the factory (1900-1937). At the same time, the digitisation of the book of the lancer’s itineraries (1930) now offers visitors the opportunity to “flip through” it digitally through a brand new video. Furthermore, a series of audio documents with memories and voices of workers have now been placed in specific parts of the factory, offering a more vivid and “human” version of the information. The sound documents are activated by a sensor, surprising the visitor and constituting a new exhibit and at the same time a new interpretive medium for the exhibition. In addition, the beloved video series “Stories of Objects” created during the pandemic period is “transferred” to the physical space. Through the use of QR codes at specific points, visitors discover the history of selected exhibits through the narratives of people and museum staff.