Release Date 09 March 2012

View the ancient artefacts inspiring local school pupils 

What did the ancient Greeks do for entertainment? Where do our modern games come from? In Olympic year, the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology at the University of Reading has teamed up with two local schools to illustrate how ancient societies helped forge our lives today.

A group of University of Reading Classics students have developed a programme of workshops which they will deliver in Reading schools, Maiden Erlegh and Kendrick, over the next few months. Working together, the students and pupils will create an innovative installation, inspired by the ancient collections housed at the University's Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, to show how similar we are to the ancients.

The installation will bring to life a variety of new technologies and interpretation methods including sculpture, sound and digital animation. It will be exhibited outside the Museum from May. There will also be an indoor exhibition of the processes and original objects that inspired the project in the University of Reading's Library.

The workshops and exhibitions form part of Stories of the World. This national project is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and aims to showcase to a worldwide audience innovation and excellence in museums, libraries and archives.

Alice Le Page, Education Officer and Assistant Curator of the Ure Museum, said: "We are very excited to be a part of the project. The pupils will be able to explore the fascinating collections held at the Ure Museum and demonstrate their perspectives on culture, history and their relevance today. Our students will also enhance their communication, planning and development skills and benefit from working in a team environment.

"The project also offers young people the chance to explore the importance of classics in the modern world. The modern Olympic Games was inspired by the Greek tradition and where would we be today without Pythagoras' theorem or Athenian democracy? Better understanding of the past can help us shape our future."

The Ure Museum houses one of the finest but perhaps least widely known collections of Greek and Egyptian archaeology in the UK. It has played a vital part in the teaching and research of the University over the past hundred years. The collection consists of approximately 2000 objects and is made-up primarily of material from the Greek and Greco-Roman civilisations of the Mediterranean.

For more information about the Ure Museum email ure@reading.ac.uk tel. 0118 378 6990 visit http://www.reading.ac.uk/Ure/index.php

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For all media enquiries please contact James Barr, press officer, on 0118 378 7115 or email j.w.barr@reading.ac.uk

Notes for Editors

The Ure Museum houses one of the finest but perhaps least widely known collections of Greek and Egyptian archaeology in the UK. It has played a vital part in the teaching and research of the University over the past hundred years. The collection consists of approximately 2000 objects and is made-up primarily of material from the Greek and Greco-Roman civilisations of the Mediterranean, most notably Greek and Etruscan ceramics and terracottas. Other stunning artifacts include prehistoric pottery, as well as metal and stone artifacts of Greek and Roman date. There is also an important collection of Egyptian antiquities, ranging from the Pre-dynastic to the Roman period.

Stories of the World is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, and aims to showcase to a worldwide audience innovation and excellence in museums, libraries and archives. The project is led by the MLA in partnership with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

In the spirit of the London 2012 Games, Stories of the World welcomes the world to Britain by using our rich collections to tell inspirational stories about the UK's relationships with the world. Young people are at the heart of the project, working in partnership with curators to uncover objects that tell stories that resonate with their interests. It is the largest youth participation project ever delivered by museums - with more than 1500 young people already recruited as curators to lead and develop the projects.