Living, Working, Musing & Misadventures in Greece

A practical guide to living, working & traveling in Greece, plus insider tips and personal stories from an American in Athens

Museums and archaeological sites in Greece temporarily closed

mouseio

Three major museums in Greece are in partial operation or closed, after the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced irregularities in the recruitment process, withdrew all job vacancies and is faced with staff shortages. The Delphi archaeological site is also partially closed from January 22 until further notice.

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens and award-winning Byzantine Museum of Culture in Thessaloniki will offer visitors limited access to exhibitions for at least three weeks, and the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens only opens on days specified on its Web site under “News.” A total of 29 museums and 24 archaeological sites are affected, though the majority are located in lesser known regions (see list below).

In an attempt to eliminate waste in the public sector and par down the country’s deficit, government ministers decided to not renew or replace 4,000 temporary contracts that expired December 31. However, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture opened recruitment on December 14 for 2,584 hourly, fixed-contract workers it needed to staff museums, archaeological sites and monuments, which are an integral part of the tourism industry, Greece’s #1 source of income.

*Article updated February 1, 2010

Museums

National Archaeological Museum of Athens (Top floor closed on weekends; no discount in admission)
Byzantine Museum of Culture in Thessaloniki (7 of 11 rooms are closed; admission price reduced by 50%)
Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens

Ancient Olympia Museum (Digital exhibition closed)
Archaeological Collection of Trikala
Archaeological Museum of Argostoli
Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos, Crete
Archaeological Museum of Astypalaia
Archaeological Museum of Atalantis (Open weekends only)
Archaeological Museum of Karpathos
Archaeological Museum of Kassos
Archaeological Museum of Leros
Archaeological Museum of Lykosoura
Archaeological Museum of Nisyros
Archaeological Museum of Pellas (Closed weekends)
Archaeological Museum of Rhodes (Epigraph & Prehistoric Collection closed)
Archaeological Museum of Thebes
Archaeological Museum in Thessaloniki (Six rooms closed)
Archaeological Museum of Veria (Closed weekends)
Athens Numismatic Museum (Schliemann Mansion) – ‘B’ Floor closed; museum closed Sunday
Byzantine Museum of Symi
Byzantine Museum of Kastellorizo
Folklore Museum of Rhodes
Mourtzinos Castle Museum in Kardamyli
Nikolaos Vouvalis Mansion on Kalymnos
Nicolaides Mansion on Patmos
Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes – Two permanent exhibitions on ground floor closed; castle and other areas open

* Museums at Delphi and Sparta report shortages, but they were not listed as closed on the ministry’s list

Sites

Archaeological site of Delphi – Partial closure due to landslides caused by earthquakes; free admission
Archaeological site of Lato
, Crete
Archaeological site of Malia
, Crete
Archaeological site of Sesklo, Magnesia
Archaeological site of Europos, Kilkis
Archaeological site of Palatiani, Kilkis
Archaeological site of Lefkas (Open weekends only)
Archaeological site of Amfipoli, Serres
Archaeological site of Florina (Hellenistic city)
Archaeological site of Petras
Archaeological site of Pelinnas, Trikala
Asklepieion of Trikala
Temple of Apollo, Karditsa
Archaeological site of Sikyona, Karditsa
Archaeological site of Kieriou, Karditsa
Archaeological site of Itonias Athena, Karditsa
Archaeological site of Peristeria
Archaeological site of Vravrona
Byzantine Collection of Ag. Germanos Prespa
Castle Antirion
Castle Arta
Castle Fanari (Ithome Karditsa)
Castle Mytilene
Castle Vonitsa

Reopened

Archaeological Museum of Dion

*Article will be amended as changes are announced.

Sources

Δελτία Τύπου 11/1/2010” — Το Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού
Δελτία Τύπου 13/1/2010” — Το Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού
Δελτία Τύπου 15/1/2010” — Το Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού
Κλείνει προληπτικά λόγω της σεισμικής ακολουθίας, τμήμα του αρχαιολογικού χώρου των Δελφών” — Το Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού
Κλειστά μουσεία και αρχαιολογικοί χώροι λόγω έλλειψης προσωπικού” — Diorismos.gr
News and Announcements” — Byzantine and Christian Museum
Κλείνουν τα μουσεία για χάρη της «διαφάνειας»” — Ta Nea
Ministry cites personnel shortage for closed museums, sites” — ANA-MPA
Acute lack of staff affects museums” — eKathimerini
Διαμαρτυρίες για τα 49 κλειστά μουσεία και αρχαιολογικούς χώρους” — Ta Nea

Related posts

My bisque phat Greek Acropolis
Greece by moonlight
Live Your Myth in Greece 2008

2 Comments »

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by toomany tribbles and Living in Greece, Living in Greece. Living in Greece said: From livingingreece.gr: 45 Museums & archaeological sites in Greece temporarily closed http://ow.ly/VJEP [...]

  FMS wrote @ January 26th, 2010 at 22:42

Interestingly, I am reliably informed through a legal challenge by a Greek citizen that a very large number of state hospital appointments were made illegally, was thrown out of court for lack of “legal standing”. This is the delightful Greek idea that you have to prove personal damage before you can complain about illegal activities: you may not complain to the courts that the state is doing illegal things.

On the other hand, another Greek citizen succeeded in legal action culminating in the Council of State against the Foreign Ministry, concerning illegal appointments. It seems that the Ministry has no intention of removing the employment from the “lucky winners” (ND supporters).

So, why is that low-pay jobs are of greater legal importance? Also, this is a particularly clever way of boosting tourism by shutting down museums and archaeological sites…

Sorry folks, Pasok has lost it before they have even started. Just as ND lost it about 2 weeks after they started. When will Greeks wake up to their political reality, and demonstrate on the streets about that instead of demanding handouts for doing fu^*all? There is no hope for this country.

Your comment

HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes