The five museums converted to NPDD will operate without extended opening hours at Easter due to understaffing – Peak season has begun
Without extended hours they will operate it Easter the five “model museums” which turned me into a N.P.D.D. by its government SW.
Specifically, as emphasized by Association of Greek Archaeologists in contrast after museums where they remained in the Ministry of Foreign Affairsthe five which were converted into N.P.D.D., (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, the National Archaeological Museum, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki)not they have hire the necessary custodial staff and cleanlinessso that they operate with extended hours (8am – 8pm), like the rest of the archaeological sites.
“It’s the same Museums for which us he assured the government, through the Minister of Culture, that as N.P.D.D. I will modernizeThey ‘will get economic and administrative autonomyand extroversion” SEA emphasizes, adding that “in these five “N.P.D.D. model museums”, the entire winter season was spent with dominant her abandonment imagewith rooms closeddue to the understaffing of custodial staff and cleaning staff”.
SEA warning that it has already started the high traffic period emphasizes that “the government-appointed Boards of the five Museums they can’t even specify when the Museums will operate with summer hourswhile it is doubtful if open them all them roomsas the number of IDOCH staff positions they have advertised is less from the one who they need».
It is worth noting that while last year they were hired in total 296 antiquities to meet the increased operating needs of the 5 museums in question during the summer season, this year the scheduled recruitments are only 185.
“It’s about unprecedented situationwhich proves everything that the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were saying at the time, when we were on strike against the passing of Law 5021″ emphasizes SEA, stressing that “the complete failure of law 5021 is also fully reflected by the following data” for the operating hours of the five museums:
National Archaeological Museum: Tuesday: 13:00 – 20:00 From Wednesday to Monday: 9:00 – 16:00
Byzantine and Christian Museum and Loverdos Museum: Tuesday: closed From Wednesday to Monday: 9:00 – 16:00
Archaeological Museum of Heraklion: Tuesday: 10.00-17.00 Wednesday to Monday: 8.30-15.30
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki: Monday to Sunday 9:00 – 16:00
Museum of Byzantine Culture and White Tower: Daily 8:30 – 15:30
“The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion operates with half the rooms closed and with opening hours until 3.30 pm”
It is worth noting that indicative of the situation prevailing in the five museums is the fact that in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion today they are working the half rooms and with hours as of 3.30 pm
“This will be his schedule for the entire period of the Easter holidays” notes SEA while also responding to the chairman of the board of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion I. Gryspolakis, who issued a press release, trying to blur the waters for the situation in which the museum has fallen one year after the implementation of Law 5021/2023.
He himself, according to SEA issued “reality beautification press release”, while in an attempt to determine when the museum will operate with summer hours, he mentions sometime after Easter.
A year after he took over, “he is not able to give any timetable for everything he had lightly announced” notes the SEA about the chairman of the board of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.
In detail, the response of the local SEA branch in Crete to I. Gryspolakis:
“On 4/23/2024, the Chairman of the Board of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, I. Gryspolakis, issued a press release, trying to cloud the waters about the situation that AMI has found itself in one year after the implementation of Law 5021/2023.
Mr. Gryspolakis claims that “the 5 major museums of the country were upgraded”. Is it really so?
Before their “upgrade” the Museums were able to hire staff. In particular, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion prior to Law 5021 hired 80 IDOCH antiquities guards every year in time, so that on April 1 of each year (summer hours) it would be in full operation, with all its areas open and opening hours from 8.00 am. until 8:00 p.m.
After the institutional change brought about by Law 5021, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion today operates with half the rooms closed and with opening hours until 3.30 pm. This will be its opening hours for the entire period of the Easter holidays! So will the other four museums of Law 5021, whose visitors, for the first time in decades, will find the doors closed after 3 or 4 p.m.
According to what Mr. Gryspolakis mentions, the AMI will be able, perhaps sometime after Easter (the Press Release does not even specify when this will happen!) to operate with an 8-hour operation and with a double shift for only two days ( every Thursday and Sunday).
What really matters? The President of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion issues a press release beautifying reality. A year after he took office, and after numerous interviews he has given, he is unable to give any timeline for all that he had lightly announced.
But the most important thing is that, in a three-page Press Release, it does not answer basic things concerning the basic operation of the Museum:
From what date will the Museum have full opening hours (8am to 8pm)? Can the President of the Museum answer?
When will it get clean?
When will the necessary annual maintenance and supplies be made for the Museum to operate safely for the antiquities and visitors (air conditioning, technical systems, fire extinguishers, functional equipment, etc.)?
Does the Museum have an exhibition policy? What is the museum planning for 2024?
All of the above that the President does not even state in his announcement, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion achieved for decades as a special regional Service of the General Directorate of Antiquities. Because this was the legal form of the AMI, as well as the other 9 Museums of the Ministry (and not 210 as the President of the Museum erroneously claims) before Law 5021. We are certainly not impressed that the President who manages a Museum is a Legal Person under Public Law -and in fact the second most important in the country- does not even know the Organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After all, he has repeatedly demonstrated that he knows neither the Archaeological Law, nor the laws that govern the operation of public organizations, nor even Law 5021, because of which he was appointed.
The answers to the above questions, however, are much more basic for the visitors and workers of the Museum and the society of Heraklion than the issue of the restaurant door, which Mr. Gryspolakis considers major.
What has happened so far?
– Due to the alleged “upgrading” of the AMI to NPDD, the single Knossos-Museum ticket was abolished, while from April 1 the price of the AMI ticket, which visitors pay today to see half of the Museum (after the first floor, except for the fresco hall – it is closed). We can already imagine the corresponding increase in its tickets during the next tourist season. Always in the context of “upgrade”.
– In the summer of 2023, there was no air conditioning in the exhibition areas and the offices of the Museum, due to a breakdown, which was finally restored in September 2023, after two tourists fainted. Of course, we are not referring at all to the employees, who carried small fans from their homes and poured the sweat of their lives in Sahara conditions. The air conditioning system had problems, as the Press Release mentions, but it had been working continuously since 2001. After the Museum was converted into a supposedly “flexible” and “autonomous” NPDD, the air conditioning stopped working without repair for two summer months in 2023. Today again there is no signed contract for air conditioning maintenance. Let’s go wherever it comes out.
– Since 2023, there was no cleaning staff and there still isn’t. The whole museum has a cleaning staff! The cleanliness of the offices is left to the “patriotism” of some colleagues, who clean the toilets! You don’t exactly call it an upgrade, and if it’s called an “upgrade” anyway, the older downgrade is preferable.
– The Board of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion from April 2023 to the end of 2023 was supposed to prepare the transition to NPDD. In fact, he had outsourced a few thousand euros to external partners to achieve this. And yet, the first necessary administrative actions for the financial operation of the Museum were issued by the President only in March 2024. Even today, at the end of April, the “flexible” AMI of Mr. Gryspolakis has not managed to pay even 1 euro. The result is what we described above: to be in the air basic functions of the Museum. Instead of apologizing for the delays that expose the Museum’s Administration, the President of AMI is asking for change!
– It is funny that Mr. Gryspolakis claims that the Museums “are not yet fully functioning in their new form”. A year later, the “successful” NPDDs are not able to have their operating Organization, which according to Law 5021 they would have at the end of 2023. However, this was not the reason for the delay in the recruitment of seasonal staff. The reason was the Museum Administration’s basic ignorance of the laws governing staff recruitment procedures (PYS version). Ignorance of the law is not justified in managing a public organization.
– Not only has the bureaucracy not decreased, it has increased dramatically. The AMI as a special regional service of the GDAPK made its planning (Action Plan) which was approved by the KAS at the beginning of the year and then implemented by simple decisions of its Director. This is how the Museum operated for many years, increased its visitors, completed the re-exhibition project, had extroverted actions, had museum programming announced on time, periodic exhibitions and events for the public, collaborations with other scientific bodies and museums, educational and research programs, which were planned since the end of the previous year and implemented every year by the employees of the Museum. Today, the same actions either do not take place at all or require the approval of the Board of Directors that meets once a month!
-Furthermore, the employees do not know anyway the programs that are made without them for them, since the agenda of the Board of Directors. it is a sealed secret and is not published anywhere (although there is an obligation to publish for the NPDD). Everything is discussed and decided behind closed doors, where the unqualified board of directors, appointed from above, decides on everything, even the things they don’t even know how to handle.
Let’s now go to the “malfunctions found”, according to Mr. Gryspolakis:
“The Hall of Periodical Exhibitions is not accessible from the Museum area”. It should be noted that long before its “upgrading”, the Museum as a special regional service had taken all the actions in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, to plan the access from the garden. It was not implemented because there was no financial possibility. Now regarding the “upgrading” of the Museum, let’s see if the pre-existing study – we emphasize – will be implemented and when.
“Inadequate salesroom.” The sales area is small but the issue of “viewing it” could be solved with some tasteful signs. It should be noted that there was again from previous managements the desire to make the building of the EOT opposite the Museum a shop, whenever we are not talking about the originality of the President’s thinking, since again, as in the case of the Periodical Exhibition Hall, the reason it was not implemented until now it was the lack of political will.
“The refreshment room is inadequate.” The Museum’s refreshment room is not inadequate. It is a very beautiful cafe in the garden of the Museum. The problem of Mr. President of the Board of Directors is that it doesn’t have a restaurant. Indeed, the private person who will rent it will make more money, but we do not believe that this will improve the lives of the citizens of Heraklion, nor that it should be a main concern of the Museum Administration. After all, the Museum’s garden is also a place to rest and view exhibits for all visitors, and it would be good not to close access to any visitor who has paid a ticket to the Museum, but is not interested in paying the private person who manages the cafe.
Indeed the lecture hall can be upgraded. But despite its problems, it has audiovisual media and has successfully hosted many Museum actions in the past. Neither such an upgrade is an original idea, nor did it need a board to make it happen.
“The museological presentation of the exhibits needs an immediate upgrade, as the information regarding the origin and identity of the exhibits is not presented.” This point is the most problematic in what the president mentions. He argues that the exhibits of the Museum have no origin and identity. Objects of this kind, as he presents them, could only be bootlegs! The only items in the Museum that do not have provenance are the exhibits in Room 23, which come from two private Collections, Yamalakis and Metaxas. All the other exhibits in the Museum not only have an origin and an identity, but their exhibition is designed around that identity and their origin! This statement of the president is insulting, with which the credibility of the second largest Museum of the country is affected. With his words, the President of AMI proves once again that a year later he has not yet met the Museum he was called to manage!
The Maintenance lab works perfectly and has modern technological equipment, despite what the Chairman of the Board says. Of course it could be upgraded further, but this is not a major problem.
Until now, the shop was under the responsibility of ODAP, which is also a NPDD with a government-appointed Board of Directors. Attempts to upgrade the Museum’s sales were made in the past, when the Museums were asked to make specific proposals for the items for sale. Their proposals were never implemented due to a lack of political will again on the part of the appointed Boards of Directors of ODAP and the Ministers who appointed them. The new shop with “responsibility of the Board of Directors and not of ODAP”, will be assigned to private individuals. We will see if this event will increase the Museum’s income.
We would like to inform Mr. Gryspolakis that in the Archaeological Museum of Mesaras, a museum belonging to the Ephorate of Antiquities of Heraklion, i.e. the Archaeological Service, there is already a digital hologram of the Phaistos Disc, available to visitors, and indeed very successful. It was created in the context of the planning of the Messara Museum exhibition by the EFA of Heraklion in collaboration with the ITE. So what Mr. Gryspolakis proclaims is not even original, nor does it need a Board of Directors or a private sponsorship to be realized! We should also inform you that the hologram of the disc of Phaistos in the Mesara Museum was the only way for a visitor to the Museum to see one of the most important finds of Mesara, which is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. Digital holograms of finds that the visitor sees in the Museum’s showcases are probably an announcement that lacks museological meaning. In a museum with half the rooms closed and without cleanliness, it probably lacks meaning in general.
Finally, commenting on the point where the chairman of the board refers to the extroversion of AMI, with the example of the Exhibition in China, we want to remind him that sending a Museum objects that will form part of the exhibits of an exhibition abroad is a daily operation of all of museums in the country and abroad, is not an “achievement” and does not constitute extroversion in itself. The extroversion of the Museum is the relationship it first develops with the residents of the city where it is located, with visitors, with other institutions and with the public abroad.
The change of regime at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion has so far only brought problems. When the Organization is published, then its planned policies, as stated by the Chairman of the Board, will begin to be implemented. Then his Administration will be judged by the result. A year after he was placed in charge of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, the results are already much worse than before Law 5021 came into effect. And this can no longer be covered behind any privileged relations with government actors or the media” .
In detail, the joint announcement of 5 Associations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“Easter with closed Museums: the failure of Law 5021 in practice
Easter visitors will find the doors of the country’s 5 largest museums (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, National Archaeological Museum, Byzantine and Christian Museum, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki) closed, as the necessary security and cleaning staff have not been hired. so that they operate with extended hours, like the rest of the archaeological sites (8am to 8pm). They are the Museums that 1 year ago were converted by the government into NPDD (Law 5021/2023).
They are the same Museums for which the government assured us, through the Minister of Culture, that as N.P.D.D. they will modernize, acquire economic and administrative autonomy, and extroversion. In these five “N.P.D.D. model museums”, the entire winter season was spent with a dominant image of abandonment, with rooms closed, due to the understaffing of custodial and cleaning staff. The application of the summer schedule from 1.4.24, took place normally in all the archaeological sites and the remaining Museums of the YPPO, after the procedures for the recruitment of emergency custodial staff were completed in time. However, the same did not happen in the “flexible”, “autonomous” N.P.D.D., which operate at a different speed than all the rest, with winter hours, while the period of high traffic has already begun.
The government-appointed Boards of the five Museums cannot even specify when the Museums will operate with summer hours, while it is doubtful whether they will open all the halls, as the number of IDOCH staff positions they have advertised is less than what they need. Indicatively, while last year a total of 296 colleagues were hired to cover the increased operational needs of the 5 museums during the summer season, this year the planned hiring is only 185.
This is an unprecedented situation, which proves everything that the employees of the Ministry of Education and Culture said in time, when we were on strike against the passing of Law 5021. The Ministry of Culture does not even answer for the situation in which the Museums have fallen, in terms of hours, the cleanliness, the necessary annual care of the technical systems, the complete absence of political exhibitions, the theft of cables from the garden of the Byzantine and Christian Museum.
The complete failure of Law 5021 is also fully reflected by the following facts:
National Archaeological Museum Tuesday: 13:00 – 20:00 From Wednesday to Monday: 9:00 – 16:00
Byzantine and Christian Museum and Loverdos Museum Tuesday: closed From Wednesday to Monday: 9:00 – 16:00
Archaeological Museum of Heraklion Tuesday: 10.00-17.00 Wednesday to Monday: 8.30-15.30
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki: Monday to Sunday 9:00 – 16:00
Museum of Byzantine Culture and White Tower Daily 8:30 – 15:30
Unified Association of Ministry of Attica, Mainland and Islands Employees Association of Greek Archaeologists Panhellenic Union of Antiquities Conservators Panhellenic Association of Employees of Higher Technological Education Graduates of the Ministry of Culture”.
