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FAMILIES

For families with 6-10 year olds - take a backpack and 'time-travel’ through different periods of Europe’s past! Kids will smell, feel and live history as never before, through role-play games in a 1960s Travel Agency, walking in the shoes of an astronaut or grappling with robots. Family Spaces are available in 24 languages and accessible during opening hours of the museum. Extra facilitated learning activities are on: Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 14:00 to 17:00. Entrance is free. No reservation required.

The museum is family-friendly, with baby-changing facilities and access for buggies. Parents may feel certain aspects of the permanent exhibition are only suitable for children over eleven years old.

Don't forget to check our What's On page for listings of special events for families and children! For these events we recommend a minimum age for children of six years old.

Europa

MEETING PRINCESS EUROPE AND PRINCE CADMUS

The story of Europa and Cadmus originates from Greek mythology. They were the children of the King of  Phoenicia. The God Zeus fell in love with Europa and turned himself into a white bull in order to trick her, carrying her away from her homeland. Her brother Cadmus set off to rescue her, introducing the Phoenician alphabet on his travels - a forerunner to most modern European alphabets. The continent of Europe was thus named after Princess Europa.
Map

MAPS AND NAVIGATION

Europe appears small when looked at from another continent. Explore how the look and shape of European and world maps have changed over time as more information about the world became known. Such maps gave fresh insights to people: new land and sea-routes, access to alternative types of food, meetings with different kinds of people and cultures.
19th century

LIFE IN 19TH CENTURY

This gallery tells us about life in 19th century Europe. This was a time of great advancement for some people and extreme hardship for others. People across Europe were moving from the countryside to work in big industrial cities. Life for underprivileged children was particularly hard with the majority having to work in terrible conditions and receiving no education.
Children exploring colour-coded 19th century map

LIFE IN 19TH CENTURY

While it was a luxury for wealthy Europeans to have such items, the production of such types of food in European colonies often inflicted terrible suffering on people living in those countries. Some artefacts associated with colonial cruelty can be seen in this display case. Also, notice how the map has colour-coded the European empires and their colonial possessions.
Make your holiday plan

PROJECTED VIDEO EXPERIENCE

The video animation in the “Travel Agency” section depicts the story of Europe through poetic visuals, featuring mythical figures such as Zeus and Europa, and museum objects such as the Zastava car and Tedis the Teddy Bear. The story unfolds without the need for a voiceover, and is thus accessible and enjoyable for all ages and language skills. Discover the history of Europe in a brief, fun, and accessible way!
Activity wall in museum with children

THE FAMILY SPACES DISCOVERY WALL

Let the fortune wheel decide what character you will become! Learn more about your character, their life conditions and the rights  your character had in the past. Then time travel back to the past by dressing up and selecting the proper scenery! Make a picture as proof you travelled back in time.  Next, explore our discovery wall to see how scientists, inventors, artists, architects and engineers imagined the world’s innovations in the past, and how we are still using many of their innovations. Did it inspire you to create something new? Take your pencil, draw your new robot invention and show it to the public.
Girl looking into model submarine

INVENTORS, TECHNOLOGY AND TRAVEL

Leonardo da Vinci was a genius of the Italian Renaissance whose areas of interest included invention, painting and engineering. He is very famous as the painter of the Mona Lisa. Leonardo is known as well for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle and a sort of submarine. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or even feasible during his lifetime.
Colourful piano in museum

ART AND MUSIC: SYNESTHESIA

Kandinsky associated colours with sounds. In many art works he tried to express how music and sounds were linked. You can also try this on the discovery wall. Make your own connections between art and music on this coloured piano.
Designs of European houses

ARCHITECTS

The German art school was operational from 1919 to 1933, combining crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the simple geometric approach to design that it publicised and taught. The Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. It was established with the idea of creating a ‘total’ work of art in which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together.

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