About the Exhibit
Virtual Museum? How does that work?
The Museum of Lost Cities’s Eurymachia exhibit is run through Gather.town, an online space originally made for conferences during the pandemic. In Gather, you can create an avatar and walk around the environments and interact with some items like you are in a video game (a very cute pixel-art video game!).
In Gather, moving close to another person will initiate a video and voice call, so you can talk to other people in the space who are close to you. There are also presentation spaces where everyone in the room will be able to see and hear one person if they are standing on a certain tile. There is also a text chat where you can talk to everyone in the room, just the people near you, or just a specific person.
Here’s a link to the Gather.town help page for more information.
This Gather thing … do I need an account? Do I have to have a microphone and camera?
No, you don’t need an account to use the Gather space! Having an account will mean that every time you join Gather, you’ll have the same avatar and you don’t have to re-customise it, but it is absolutely not required to enter the Museum.
It’s also not necessary to have a working microphone and camera. You won’t be able to talk or be seen in the Gather if you don’t have them, but you can still come in, use the text chat, and explore the Museum space.
I have questions about how to use Gather, or about accessibility.
Here is Gather’s About Page, where there is more information about the features available.
Alternatively you can use the contact form on this site to message us directly, or e-mail info@museumoflostcities.org with any specific questions.
What happens if someone is annoying me or being unpleasant?
We understand that in public spaces, there’s always a risk of unpleasant behaviour. As we are a very small organisation, we unfortunately can’t promise to have someone constantly in the space to help monitor people’s behaviour.
If you are joining when there are no Museum staff present, Gather has some settings that can help. If a particular other user is annoying you, you can mute or block them. Muting them means you won’t be able to hear them (and Gather will let them know they are muted); blocking them means Gather won’t let you connect via voice and video call (and Gather will not let them know that they have been blocked).
Gather avatars cannot interact with each other, so nobody will be able to touch your avatar or move your avatar without your permission.
If you’re still concerned, there will be a schedule posted on the website and in the Discord indicating when a Museum staff member will be on the Gather. The Museum staff will be able to mediate issues, and kick or ban people if necessary. You can also sign up for a Museum tour (or ask our staff about arranging a private tour for you and some friends!) to make sure the Museum staff are there for a guided experience.
Does Museum entry cost anything? What about the tours?
Museum entry is free, and so are the tours! We get our funding through other organisations, so it’s one of our goals to make museum entry free for all. Likewise for the tours: they’ll always be free, too.
See below for information on the Archive Box. Unfortunately there may be a small fee associated with those due to postage costs.
In general, we are going to make our best efforts to offer all Museum events for free, or for the lowest cost possible.
How long will the exhibit run?
While no specific end date is set, we anticipate that the Eurymachia exhibit will run until sometime in late September.
About the Archive Box
So, what is the Archive Box?
In addition to the information in the exhibit, the Museum is offering more information about the Bronze Age, along with the diary that Dr Adelaide Simons so kindly donated to us. For anyone interested in more about the dig site, about Dr Simons, or about the collapse of the Bronze Age, this is the perfect way to dive a little deeper into the events that inspired this exhibit!
Each Archive box will also have a couple of replica dig site artefacts, for your very own museum collection!
How do I get one?
Right now, you can register interest in one using this form. This is not a hard commitment; this is just you letting us know that you’d like to be kept informed when we announce the firm dates and the prices. It only collects your e-mail, no other personal details.
How much will they cost?
We’re still finalising the cost and looking at options for the artefact replicas, so unfortunately we can’t give a firm price just yet. We’ll post that information here when we have it.
When will I get my archive box?
That information is also being finalised. We’ll announce it as soon as we can.
Can you tell me exactly what’s in my archive box?
Nope! But we can give you a general idea. Each box will have at least one replica dig site artefact, some information about the Bronze Age, some specific information about Eurymachia, and part of Dr Simons’s dig site diary. We won’t be pulling the curtain back too far: We’re leaving the exact contents as a little surprise for you when you open the box.
The Museum of Lost Cities 