Today is International Museum Day and to celebrate the Acropolis Museum has opened it's doors to a day of free admission. I have to admit this Museum is top of my list to see. I cannot believe I have not been yet and am itching to go.
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| Image from e-architect.co.uk |
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| Image from wallpaper.com |
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| Image from theacropolismuseum.gr |
It has had write ups all over the world and just from these images you can see how beautiful it looks. Here is a little history:
The Acropolis Museum was first conceived by Constantinos
Karamanlis in September 1976. He also selected the site, upon which the Museum
was finally built, decades later. With his penetrating vision, C. Karamanlis
defined the need and established the means for a new Museum equipped with all
technical facilities for the conservation of the invaluable Greek artifacts,
where eventually the Parthenon sculptures will be reunited.
For these reasons, architectural competitions were conducted in 1976 and 1979, but without success. In 1989, Melina Mercouri, who as Minister of Culture inextricably identified her policies with the claim for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, initiated an international architectural competition. The results of this competition were annulled following the discovery of a large urban settlement on the Makriyianni site dating from Archaic to Early Christian Athens. This discovery now needed to be integrated into the New Museum that was to be built on this site.
In the year 2000, the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum announced an invitation to a new tender, which was realized in accord with the Directives of the European Union. It is this Tender that has come to fruition with the awarding of the design tender to Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis and their associates and the completion of construction in 2007.
Today, the new Acropolis Museum has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters, ten times more than that of the old museum on the Hill of the Acropolis. The new Museum offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century.
For these reasons, architectural competitions were conducted in 1976 and 1979, but without success. In 1989, Melina Mercouri, who as Minister of Culture inextricably identified her policies with the claim for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, initiated an international architectural competition. The results of this competition were annulled following the discovery of a large urban settlement on the Makriyianni site dating from Archaic to Early Christian Athens. This discovery now needed to be integrated into the New Museum that was to be built on this site.
In the year 2000, the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum announced an invitation to a new tender, which was realized in accord with the Directives of the European Union. It is this Tender that has come to fruition with the awarding of the design tender to Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis and their associates and the completion of construction in 2007.
Today, the new Acropolis Museum has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters, ten times more than that of the old museum on the Hill of the Acropolis. The new Museum offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century.
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| Image from nytimes.com |
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| Image from nytimes.com |
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| Image from nytimes.com |
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| Image from european-destinations.blogspot.com |
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| Image from amaliapolis.com |
As you can see from the above images it is rich in cultural history and has such an abundance of ancient artifacts, that is is hard to know where to start. I regularly visit the Acropolis when I am in Athens, my Aunt and I for years used to have a day visit and then, whilst supposedly taking the dog for a walk, would nip into town to see it lit at night. I watched the painstaking restoration of the Acropolis and it's freezes, all done by hand with what looked like a severly undersized paintbrushe for such a large task. This building seems to do justice to all that hard work and it is a fitting rest place for all the gorgeous artifacts, freezes and statues that now reside there.
Please visit the official website of the museum for more information www.theacropolismuseum.gr
A worthy site of interest for all your guests and yourselves.
NY
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