Some pupils in Years 7-9 enjoyed a wonderful evening in central Athens on Friday. First, they visited ‘Van Gogh Alive – The Experience’ at Megaro Mousikis. This is no ordinary art exhibition; our pupils found themselves interacting with art in ways they never imagined. From start to finish they were surrounded by a powerful and vibrant symphony of light, colour and sound that brought Van Gogh’s masterpieces to life as they walked right into the paintings. The exhibition provided an unforgettable multi-sensory experience!
From Megaro Mousikis the pupils headed to the National Observatory of Athens, on the Hill of the Nymphs overlooking the Parthenon and the lights of the city. Inside the beautiful Sinas building pupils learnt how this site has been used for astronomical observations since the 5th century BC. Pupils had the opportunity to examine the first optical telescopes of Greece, including the original telescope used by Juilius Schmidt to draw the most accurate map of the moon during that period as well as the meridian refracting telescope, which was used up until 1964 to measure the transit times of stars across the local Athens meridian to calculate the official time of Greece. However, the highlight of the observatory tour for the pupils was when they got to use the 5m Doridis telescope to observe a star 25 light years away.
