The European Night of Museums (May 16) and the International Museum Day (May 18) will be celebrated in Athenian museums with a number of special events. The following is a short list.

The Acropolis Museum is holding a two-day event: it will kick off with sky watching, stargazing and an outdoor jazz concert (May 16). On World Museum Day (May 18), curators will present ancient myths linked to real and mythical birds, such as roosters, owls, the sphinx and the siren. In addition, the National Mint will mint a commemorative coin depicting a rooster.

In Greek mythology, the rooster named Alectryon was a youth, charged by Mars to stand guard outside his door while the god indulged in illicit love with Venus. The rooster fell asleep, and Helios, the Sun, walked in on the couple. Mars turned Alectryon into a rooster, which never forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning.

The National Archaeological Museum will host an event (May 18) with the Museum’s curators explaining to the public their work on the statues of the Antikythera shipwreck. Meanwhile, a bronze statuette of Artemis (4th century BC) will be exhibited for the first time.

The Byzantine and Christian Museum will hold an event on Byzantine gastronomy answering questions such as “What did the Byzantines ate? What gourmet delicacy did they like and how did they prepare it? A celebration dinner, will also take place on May 16; The Sam Roma band and Angeliki Toumpanakis will perform live at the Museum.

Finally, the Benaki Museum, will hold guided tours to its current exhibitions with free admission, educational programmes for children and its 3rd Books Bazaar, on May 17-19. Pepper 96.6 radio station will broadcast live from the Museum.