New Acropolis Museum

What I can see

The new Acropolis Museum with a total area of 25,000 m² and 14,000 m² showrooms is 10 times bigger than the old museum, located on the rock of the Acropolis. It contains approximately 4,000 objects, all of which have been found on the Acropolis, arranged by period, from the Mycenaean to the Roman era. Among the most important exhibits are the archaic statues that adorned the Acropolis in the 6th century BC (many of which retain their original colours) and, it goes without saying, the Parthenon sculptures (5th century BC) considered the epitome of ancient sculpture. It is perhaps the only archaeological museum building in the world where such an extensive use of glass has been made. The design philosophy was based on three visual and conceptual axes: i) the Antiquity: the ancient city is visible beneath the building and the light of Attica bathes the sculptures as it was in their time, ii) the modern city: Athens invades the visitors’ field of vision reminding all that this is our past, rather than something foreign. Similarly, the museum invades the city with its spotlighted antiquities shining at night through the glass panes. iii) The future: the building is an innovative museologic and museographic perception; it is itself a large sculpture whose robust angles clean-cut edges are reminiscent of the crystalline structure of Penteli marble, used to fashion most of the Acropolis masterpieces. Moreover, the museum is a miniature of the Acropolis Rock crowned by Parthenon hall, a jewel on the crown of not only the museum, but the modern city of Athens as well. This room has the same orientation as the Parthenon. The frieze and metopes have been arranged in the same way as on the monument itself, while plaster copies replace the architectural elements currently situated in the British Museum.

What I can't see

The museum was constructed for two main reasons. The first was the inadequacy of the old museum, which was too small and crowded with exhibits. The second was to refute the argument of the British Museum that Greece does not have a space appropriate enough for it to return the Parthenon sculptures, which Lord Elgin removed, and partly destroyed, in the 19^th century, splitting most of the sculptures between the two countries. The New Acropolis Museum is a fine example of a 21^st century museum. In 2010, the British Union of Tourism Journalists voted it as the best museum in the world. The building is among the 6 final nominations for the European Prize for Contemporary Architecture “Mies van der Rohe”. The location selected for the museum’s construction has been the cause of heated debates about whether it should be built over an archaeological site, since in addition to the risk of potentially destroying the antiquities, there was apprehension regarding the potential emergence of a postmodern building in that milieu. Eventually, the building’s basement is sufficient evidence to the respect paid to the antiquities by the adopted architectural design, while the skepticism regarding the appropriateness of the selected design has been constantly diminishing, since both the Athenians and visitors seem to increasingly embrace it.

Info

• Address: 15 Dionysiou Areopagitou St.
• Postal Code : 11742
• Phone: +30 210 9000900
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Website: http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/

Bibliography