Better known for the unique, dramatic landscape of the Meteora district and its historic monasteries, the town of Kalambaka also has a little known but excellent natural history museum with an extensive mushroom collection (full name the Museum of Natural History of Meteora and Mushrooms Museum), which this year was short-listed for two European Museum Academy awards.
Talking to the ANA on Tuesday, curator Nikos Pallas said he was “extremely pleased” that it was nominated as a candidate for both the Luigi Micheletti award for European science and industry museums and the DASA award focusing on excellence in learning opportunities.
Noting that these awards promoted innovation and quality learning opportunities, Pallas said both areas “are a priority and main concern of our museum that is constantly battling to avoid becoming static and to offer original and exceptional experiences to its visitors.”
The winning museums will be announced in March 2017.
The museum has a large collection of specimens representing some 300 species of birds and mammals and a complete ‘mushroom museum’ with all the main species of mushrooms, which is the first of its kind in Greece. It also uses innovative means of presentation, displaying its collection through the use of dioramas that show the animals and plants within their natural environment, based on the type of ecosystem they naturally inhabit.
The mushroom museum is designed to show all three phases of their development and a comprehensive view of how they fit into each ecosystem, as well as organising whole-day activities that include a truffle hunt, cooking and tasting as part of the day’s visit to the museum.
For more information, visit the Meteora Museum website here.
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