Ever wonder how tornados form or what forces make Maxwell’s wheel spin? The answers to these and other questions can be found in a new museum that recently opened its doors in Kyiv’s Podil district.
Called Experimentanium, the popular science and technology museum is situated in a six-story building not far from Kontraktova square metro stop. It has exhibition items illustrating the natural sciences and occupies more than 2,000 square meters of space. It’s filled with interactive exhibits and experiences – that is, everything can be touched.
“In Ukraine it’s the first museum of its kind. Similar ones can be found all around the world,” says Olga Honchar, Experimentanium’s guide.
Several rooms are dedicated to the main branches of physics while the basics of anatomy can be studied in the biology room. In separate rooms, visitors can make huge soap bubbles, see how clouds and tornados form, and walk through a glass labyrinth.
“The main aim is to take children’s attention (away) from computers and to create a family-friendly place that is interesting to visit both for adults and kids,” says Oksana Hlavatska, business development director at Experimentanium.
The exhibition starts with items that demonstrate the rules of mechanics. One of them is a huge model of Maxwell’s wheel, a disc mounted on a horizontal axle, suspended on two threads from above. Museum goers can interact with it and view the process of energy conservation.
The next room is the acoustics room, perhaps the most popular. It’s filled with a piano, drums, a model of an organ, as well as other musical instruments that show the basic rules of sound quality.
Optical illusions are in the next room where you can walk through a glass labyrinth. Models of human brains and fetuses at different development stages are on display in the museum’s biology room.
Each room is rather spacious. And there are explanatory notes in Ukrainian, Russian and English next to each exhibited item. Visitors can also hire a guided tour in any of three languages.
The museum’s gift shop sells a huge variety of puzzles and development toys. The café inside for now only hosts birthday parties. Its staff organizes themed parties such as, stories by Lewis Carroll and by other fairy-tale gurus. Prices start at Hr 1,700.
A real chemical laboratory also is housed in the museum. Experimentanium’s research scientist conducts live experiments there every weekend, which costs Hr 50 to witness.
Opened in mid-September, Experimentanium has already become very popular among Kyivans. On the weekend it hosts up to daily 1,000 visitors, according to its guides. Schoolchildren are the most frequent visitors so far.
“It’s very hard to explain physics to kids. But here they can try, touch and feel all those scientific theories described in books,” says Olga Pshenycha, who teaches math at Kyiv Boarding School No.2 for mentally challenged kids. She came to the museum with a group of children on the day Kyiv Post visited. “Honestly, I don’t like physics but this place I find to be very exciting,” she adds.
Experimentanium
2a Verhnyi Val St., (044) 417-40-33, (099) 256-71-27
9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m., 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. (weekend and holidays)
Admission fee – Hr 75 (85 at the weekend), Hr 55 for kids under 16, free for kids under 3, Hr 230 (family ticket), Hr 30 for disabled people. Guided tour – Hr 100 (up to 15 people), Hr 60 (for schoolchildren)
Children under 18 must be accompanied by adults.
KyivPost staff writer Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected].
