Don’t miss the chance to visit the famous Acropolis Museum in Athens. Moreover, until the end of July 2013 you will have the opportunity to discover there the colours of the Museum’s archaic statues, the Archaic Colours.

For ancient Greeks and their society, colour constituted a way to mark various attributes. The blond hair of the gods projected their power; the brown skin of warriors and athletes was a sign of virtue and valour, while the white skin of the “korai” expressed the grace and radiance of youth.

Driven by the importance of archaic colours, the Acropolis Museum wants to conduct research on its unique collection of archaic statues, which retain their colours to a small or large extent, and to open a very extensive discussion with the public and various experts on colour, its technical issues, its detection using new technologies, its experimental use on marble surfaces, its digital reconstruction, its meaning, as well as the archaic period’s aesthetic perception of colour.

In this context, the Acropolis Museum organises brief presentations with focus on Archaic Colours that are held by Museum archaeologists – hosts with rich visual material, both in Greek and English.

Also, with Family Backpack Archaic Colours the Museum invites families to discover the archaic colours through the following games:

• The game of discovering details in archaic statues, where colour is preserved.
• A painting box, which contains original mineral colours and pencils for children to colour the “Peplos Kore”.
• The DOMINO with some of the designs – in a variety of colours freely selected – that decorated mainly the clothing and the earrings of the archaic “korai”.

Visitors can also participate in the Archaic Colours initiative from home, through the online digital interactive game Colour the Peplos Kore.

Whatch the video of the initiative here.