PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ABOUT ARCHAEOLOGY AND ITS INTERRELATION WITH MUSEUMS: A CASE STUDY OF THEARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUMS IN ATHENS, GREECE

Abstract

It is a fact that antiquities are ubiquitous in Greece, both as a source of inspiration for creators
producing culture and as a transmitter of messages in day-to-day communication. The present
study is an attempt to engage in discourse on the discipline of archaeology -the discipline that
studies antiquities- and its interrelation with museums –as one of the principal means by which
people gain access to them. The conclusions of the study aim at shedding light on questions
pertaining to the public’s perceptions about the field of archeology in Greece, the way this
relation affects the visiting pattern in archaeological museums, as well as the ways the
museums themselves produce images and shape the Greeks’ perceptions of the past. The study
focused on archaeological museums, with emphasis on archaeological museums of Athens,
because a large, if not the largest, percentage of museums in Greece are subsumed within this
category. The systematic mapping of the different perceptions of the Greek public about the
aforementioned issues was realized through quantitative research on a sample of 434 people.