The International Council of Museums (ICOM), in its effort to highlight the role of museums in modern society, established May 18 as International Museum Day in 1977. The message of this anniversary is to make museums carriers of cultural exchanges “with the aim of enhancing education, promoting mutual understanding, peace and cooperation among peoples”. May 18 is dedicated each year to a specific theme concerning museums, their role in modern society and the protection of cultural heritage. The theme of the celebration of International Museum Day 2023 is “Museums, Sustainability and Quality of Life”. By highlighting cultural and natural heritage, as well as contemporary creation, museums contribute substantially to improving the quality of life.

The Helmi Natural History Museum of Zakynthos, in celebration of International Museum Day on May 18, in collaboration with the painter, writer, storyteller and psychodynamic color therapist, Zoe Nikitaki, invites you to the program “The Magic Garden of Our Heart”. The Helmi Museum is considered one of the best and most comprehensive natural history museums in Greece and the Balkans. 3,000 specimens welcome you and allow you to admire the beauties of the natural heritage of Zakynthos as well as other regions of the planet. Birds, fish, shells from the seven seas of the world, plants and animals that have disappeared from the Earth, minerals and rocks unfold their history.

Zoë Nikitaki, who brought the folk tales of Zakynthos to life through her book of the same name, published by Trimorfo Publications in 2012, and having three decades of experience with children through museum-pedagogical programs, experiential fairy tale workshops, educational art programs and fairy tale performances throughout Greece and Cyprus, in collaboration with the Helmi Museum of Natural History will implement an Experiential Fairy Tale Telling, Visionary Imagination and Creation Workshop for children. Using the magical world of fairy tale art and imaginative practices of visionary imagination and creation, children will experience that the gifts that each creature carries from all the kingdoms of nature and Heaven on the wonderful journey of life are the treasure of all of us, the magical garden of our hearts, which can change our lives, our world and the planet. In order to preserve the biodiversity and beauty of the wonders of our planet, we are called to discover each of us the wonderful gift that we carry within us and to seek how with this gift we can help all the kingdoms of nature, humanity and our planet. The shell, the stone, the tree, the animal, the bird, the human, each have a special, unique and unrepeatable gift. The gift of each creature is connected to the gifts of others. Life is a magical network that depends on the threads of all of us, each thread is beneficial in a unique way and this great secret can only be understood within the Magic Garden of our Heart, where all the creatures of the planet live. The transformation of the planet begins within us!

The goal of the educational program is:
1. to cultivate sensitivity for our brothers from all the kingdoms of nature
2. to activate the imagination and strengthen the creativity, but also the environmental consciousness and awareness of children through the knowledge, truth, but also the poetry that fairy tales can hide
3. to understand the preciousness and importance of the gifts that we all bring and are called to perceive. If we discover them, the magical garden of our heart will be revealed, we will blossom and the world around us will blossom too.

The program is aimed at students from second to fourth grade of primary school.