A new museum for an ancient land: Patras University Science and Technology Museum

Abstract

That university museums have a major role to play in contemporary life and are far more than the fortuitous outcome of random collecting is amply illustrated by the project of Patras University. Located just outside the city of Patras with a view over the Gulf of Corinth to the mountains of central Greece, it lies on a self‐contained campus of about 240 hectares and is now the third largest institution of tertiary education in the country. Its decision to create a Science and Technology Museum was seen as vital to its mission as a major venue for scientific research and knowledge. The author is a member of the museum’s preparatory team and is co‐chair of the ICOM/CIDOC/Ethno Group. She was formerly secretary and vice‐chair of the ICOM Hellenic National Committee. Her publications include texts in The International Core Data Standards for Ethnology/Ethnography (Collections Ethnographiques et Documentation Muséale), ICOM Study Series, 3, 1996, as well as its Greek version published in The Handbook for the Documentation of Ethnographic Collections, Athens, 1998.