Beemuseum
Country of origin: Greece (Rhodes)
Contact person: –
E-mail: beemuseum@mel.gr
Website: https://beemuseum.gr/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/311094562292169
The museum was founded by the Dodecanesou Beekeeping Company and works with over 70 beekeepers from nearby islands. The museum welcomes more than 30 000 visitors a year.
It is a unique interactive museum, also in a European context. It presents bees, beekeeping and honey with 100 exhibits and 5 interactive surfaces, with experiential and gamification elements, a tasting and sales area, visual aids and an educational room. The museum’s garden is also a pollinator education garden and a bee-themed playground. https://beemuseum.gr/image-gallery/
When arriving at the Bee Museum, you will be offered Melekouni, the traditional sweet of Rhodes, whose Guinness World Record (biggest) prize is also on display in the museum. Melekouni, which originated in ancient Greece, is a traditional snack in Rhodes, offered at weddings and baptisms. It is a healthy sweet with an excellent taste and high nutritional value. Aromatic thyme honey, natural sesame, orange and lemon peel, spices and almonds are the main ingredients.
The theme of the exhibition:
As well as the history of ancient beekeeping, you can learn that many Greek islands, including Rhodes, used stone cells in beekeeping for a variety of reasons, through spectacular stations.
In the museum, you can find out some surprisingly interesting facts about bees, illustrated with pictures: for example, a queen bee can lay 500 000 eggs in her 2-3 year lifetime; or , 4 kg of nectar are needed to make 1 kg of honey. 13 000 bees need to travel 177 000 km to collect this from 3-4 million flowers.
The interactive games (online, labyrinth) can also be incorporated by beekeepers into their own programmes: https://beemuseum.gr/interactive-applications/
Not only the life of the bees but also the characteristics of the honey varieties are illustrated by infographics. Visitors can also taste – and buy – the most common types of honey in the shop. The honey tasting includes a description of the honeys, their characteristics and production sites. A unique feature is the 100:1 human-sized hive and bee installation on the ceiling. The mock-up is very lifelike, and visitors can observe the adult bees “up close” alongside the egg and larval stages. The museum also has a viewing hive with magnifying glass and cameras, where you can follow the life of a bee colony live.
Source: https://beemuseum.gr/
