New Acropolis Museum Opens in Athens
Best Views of the Parthenon and a Showcase of its Art and Artifacts
Jun 26, 2009
Built at the height of Athens’ Golden Age under the reign of Pericles (in the 400s BC), the Parthenon is most prominent building on the Acropolis. But because of its commanding position high above the city, it has until now been difficult to get a good view of the whole building.
Best View of the Parthenon
The top floor of the New Acropolis Museum houses the Parthenon Gallery, a glass enclosed, sky-lit space that is aligned with the Parthenon. Visitors will have unobstructed, 360-degree views of the ancient temple and surrounding city from this gallery.
Space below houses temporary exhibits and the permanent collection galleries, where priceless artifacts discovered in the continuing excavations of the site are displayed. A glass floor on the bottom level encourages visitors to look down into the excavations below. Solid walls of windows bathe the interior in light, and the building’s design reflects this natural light throughout the galleries to highlight the exhibits.
Original Caryatids from the Erechtheion
A glass ramp leads from the temporary exhibit space to the two-story space in the middle section, housing the permanent collection. Excavations on the Acropolis have uncovered many new artifacts, which are displayed here, along with the original caryatids from the Erechtheion. Those now on the building itself are copies; the originals are here to protect them from environmental damage.
A Home for the Elgin Marbles
The artifacts and art shown in the new museum includes statuary, decorative stone work and everyday objects found in the various excavations that are constantly in progress at the site. Along with the famous Erechtheion caryatids, the highlight of the collections are the original sculptures from the Parthenon frieze, shown in the top floor gallery alongside plaster casts of the pieces removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century.
Known to most of the world as the Elgin Marbles, these portions of the frieze were sold to the British Museum, and are now displayed in its Duveen Gallery. But they are the subject of widespread controversy. The Greek government has made numerous attempts to return the sculptures to the Parthenon, but one reason given for not repatriating them is the danger of environmental damage if they were to be restored to the Parthenon’s façade.
One of the hopes – and an impetus to building the new state-of-the-art museum -- is that it would provide a home for them at the Acropolis, but in a controlled environment. The hope is that this museum would remove that barrier to their return.
Visiting the New Acropolis Museum
The 226,000-square-foot New Acropolis Museum features, in addition to the galleries for the permanent collections and special exhibitions, a 200-seat auditorium, a multimedia space, a museum shop, a bar and a restaurant. The striking building is surrounded by landscaped gardens.
Admission will cost one euro ($1.35) through 2009, and the museum will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, except for Mondays. All public areas of the New Acropolis Museum are wheelchair accessible.
