Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 04/06/2026 17:15:00

A small interactive museum in a restored neoclassical mansion on Iraklidon Street in the Thissio district of central Athens, the Herakleidon Museum was founded in 2004 by the Greek-American collectors Pavlos and Anna-Belinda Fyros as a private cultural foundation dedicated to the intersection of art, science, mathematics and technology. The institution has operated as a non-profit civil company since 2008 and is one of the more innovative small museums anywhere in Athens. The host building is a fine example of late nineteenth-century Athenian neoclassical residential architecture. The property was originally two separate adjoining buildings that have been joined through a small courtyard restoration project, with the original neoclassical exterior detail carefully preserved and the interior adapted to museum function. The Thissio neighbourhood around the museum has been one of the most heavily restored districts of central Athens over the past three decades and combines historic neoclassical architecture with a relaxed residential atmosphere. The current permanent exhibition, opened in 2018 under the title EUREKA, Science, Art and Technology of the Ancient Greeks, was developed in collaboration with the Association for the Study of Ancient Greek and Byzantine Technology and presents the principal scientific and engineering achievements of ancient Greek civilisation through interactive working models. The exhibition covers ancient Greek mathematics, mechanics, hydraulics, optics, astronomy and music theory through a series of carefully reconstructed devices. The principal individual highlight of the permanent collection is a large-scale fully functional working model of the Antikythera mechanism, the second-century BC Greek astronomical calculator recovered from a shipwreck off the small island of Antikythera in 1901. The model is built in transparent acrylic to allow visitors to see the various interlocking gear trains in operation, making it one of the most educationally clear presentations of the original mechanism anywhere in the world. The museum operates an extensive programme of educational seminars, lectures, art workshops and music evenings supplementing the permanent collection. A particular emphasis is placed on educational programmes for school groups, with custom-designed sessions in mathematics, science, archaeology and artificial intelligence for various educational levels from primary through to university students. The museum was recognised by the Council of Europe and the European Commission in 2024 for its achievements in cultural storytelling and was selected as the honoured institution by the Hellenic National Committee of ICOM for 2025.