Gino and I have been to Athens twice before and have visited the Acropolis that many times, as well, so we decided since Kris and Nichole were off on their own, we’d skip it and instead spend our time at the new Acropolis Museum. It was a good decision.
This enormous, modern building is a work of art in itself. Boasting 226,000 square feet of concrete and glass, this museum was constructed to house over 4,000 artifacts found on and around the Acropolis.
The adjacent building reflected in the enormous glass walls of the museum.
Hovering over the archaeological site of Makrygianni, this impressive structure sits on the ruins of ancient Athens from Roman and Byzantine times. Rather ironically, these ruins themselves were only discovered during the preparatory digging for the construction of the museum.
As you walk along the wide, sweeping entrance, views of the newly discovered ruins below are visible through the clear glass floor. Excavations below ground level are on-going and you can see bits and pieces slowly emerging. Once excavation has been completed, this lower site will be open to the public to view close-up.
The edges of the entrance are lined by a railing and you can lean over and toss coins into an ancient well just below. Wanting to be sure to stay in the good graces of the ancient Gods and Goddesses, we tossed in a few coins ourselves.
The Acropolis Museum cost $200 million to build, replacing a hundred year old museum that was stuffed into the base of the Parthenon. With five floors, it holds ten times the number of artifacts that the old one was able to display. But probably the most important thing about the construction of this shiny, new museum is that it proves to the British that the Greeks now have an adequate and safe home for the so-called Elgin Marbles and to hopefully secure their return to their homeland.
In case you don’t know the story, two centuries ago, Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, ripped off (literally and figuratively) over half of the Parthenon’s friezes, along with numerous sculptures, precious metopes and pediments. For almost 200 hundred years, these cultural treasures have been held hostage in the British Museum. I was sickened to read that the body of a particular Goddess is in London, while her head remains in Athens. Similarly, the front part of a torso of Poseidon is in London while the rear part is in Athens.
Despite emphatic pleas from the Greek government, as well as from people around the world, for the return of this cultural heritage to its rightful place, the Brits have refused, claiming the Greeks had no place to store the items safely away from the deteriorating effects of acid rain and other elements. But now there is no excuse. To date, however, the Brits have been unyielding. For this reason, I will not visit the British Museum in London until these Greek treasures have been returned to their rightful owners.
After you’ve paid your entrance fee and wander a bit inside the spacious receiving hall, a wide glass-floored ramp leads you up to the next level. As you walk upwards, be sure to look down. Beneath the glass you’re walking on you can see displays of ancient artifacts, such as pots and small household items, which were found during the museum’s construction.
These are actual artifacts displayed under the glass floor. It’s weird to walk right on top of them.
Other floors are filled with statues and artifacts from the Acropolis and its immediate environs. The enormous, floor to ceiling glass plate windows allow unobstructed views of the Acropolis and the Parthenon just yards away. This provides for a unique experience. The Parthenon’s remaining friezes are set into position as they had once appeared on the actual Parthenon and as you walk around the perimeter of the display, you have a clear view of their original site gleaming from the top of the hill.
In this display, the missing pieces of the panels that make up the Parthenon’s frieze are filled in with white reproductions, cleverly contrasting with the mellowed bronze originals. By including these stark missing pieces, you get a sense of the complete work of art while at the same time being reminded of what had been brutally amputated by the great Lord Elgin and his British cronies. It’s very effective.
The museum also has a huge, open café where we indulged in an iced coffee, resting our feet and sensibilities before further explorations. Stepping outside onto the wide veranda, we stood in the fresh air for a literal breather and gazed across at the Parthenon, nothing between it and us but air.
The glass veranda floor made it look like we were standing on water.
One part of the museum houses the original Caryatids, which date from the 5th century B.C.E.
At the Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis, replicas of these amazing pillars in the shape of women stand in place of the originals which are now inside, safe from the caustic acid rain that in recent times has been slowly eating them away. You can watch how the originals are meticulously being cleaned up with lasers. Brilliantly, the operation is being carried out right where the fabulous monuments stand in the museum, so that even though they are being worked on, they are still available for the public to view.
I took no photographs inside the museum since it was not allowed. You will just have to go see it for yourself.
After thoroughly exploring this most impressive place, we returned outside, back into the warm Athens afternoon, pausing for a moment to collect ourselves.
Melinda Trips 2012: Greece and Italy 