Release Date 01 May 2012

Members of the public are invited to see ancient history come to life at the launch of a new student exhibition in the University of Reading's Ure Museum.

The innovative new work, which has been produced as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, will be showcased for the first time on Saturday 5 May. In celebration there will be a chance for all the family to decorate their own Greek style pots, play some ancient games and learn about animation, in the atmospheric setting of the Ure Museum, which houses around 2,000 ancient Greek and Egyptian archaeological finds.

In a series of workshops University Classics students have worked alongside pupils from local schools to create the unique take on ancient Greek art. Pupils at Maiden Erlegh and Kendrick have designed and created giant versions of some of the museum's ancient pots, which will be brought to life with digitally projected animations, inspired by the friezes that are commonly seen on pottery from the period.

The project was undertaken as part of the ‘Stories of the World' initiative, which aims to get young people working with curators, filmmakers, artists, writers and musicians to explore and reinterpret museum collections, giving a new perspective on the stories that tell us about our place in the world.

Alice Le Page, Education Officer and Assistant Curator of the Ure Museum, said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to be involved with the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. We hope that the exhibition showcasing the students' creativity and hard work will give people a new appreciation of the ancient Greeks, especially as the modern Olympic Games were inspired by the Greek tradition.

"There will be lots of things for everyone to do and see including the chance to decorate your own Greek style pots. There is also a talk at 2.30pm to give people a ‘behind the scenes' account of how the exhibition was put together how the newly created animations were brought to life."

The launch is taking place from 2-5pm at the Ure Museum (situated in the HumSS building) on the University's Whiteknights campus; guests are welcome to drop in at anytime.

Following the launch, the exhibition will run from Monday 7 May until Friday 8 June 2012 in the foyer of the Whiteknights Library.

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

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact Becki Rassell, Communications Officer, on 0118 378 8408 or email b.rassell@reading.ac.uk.

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Notes to 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 2,000 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 artefacts include prehistoric pottery, as well as metal and stone artefacts of Greek and Roman date. There is also an important collection of Egyptian antiquities, ranging from the Pre-dynastic to the Roman period.