Acropolis Museum to make its big debut online
Designed to house treasures from the 5th century B.C. and beyond, the new Acropolis Museum in Greece is choosing to announce its arrival in a 21st century A.D. way.
On Saturday, the Acropolis Museum will live-stream the opening ceremony on its website, where you can watch various E.U. dignitaries speak at the foot of the original ancient site. The new museum, which is located 300 meters downhill from the famous ruins, cost $181 million to build and will feature 150,000 square feet of space that will be able to accommodate an estimated 10,000 visitors per day, according to reports.
Many years in the works -- and beset with delays -- the museum is designed by architect Bernard Tschumi and makes extensive use of glass and steel to afford visitors views of the surrounding hills. The building also pays homage to the Acropolis by placing remnants of the much-treasured Elgin Marbles at the center of the museum.
The Elgin Marbles -- classical Greek sculptures dating from the 5th century B.C. -- have long been a source of dispute between Greece and the United Kingdom, the latter of which took many of the statues nearly 200 years ago. The Acropolis Museum was built in part as a response to British claims that Greece did not have a venue suitable to display the ancient works.
Admission to the new museum is set at one euro -- an enticement to tourists, whose spending makes up a large part of the Greek economy.
-- David Ng
Photo: A view of the new Acropolis Museum in Greece. Credit: Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP / Getty Images
With the construction of the new Acropolis Museum, I think now may be the time for the Elgin marbles to be returned to Greece, where they can be displayed in context in the fantastic galleries of the new museum, their conservation guaranteed.
The history of Lord Elgin is a rich and interesting one inseparably fused with the history of the Parthenon marbles. The controversy surrounding the subject was prevalent in Elgin’s day and has continued to cause indignation and heated debate ever since.
But did Lord Elgin plunder these classical masterpieces or did he in fact save them from "imminent and unavoidable destruction" for future generations?
http://marknotaras.blogspot.com/2009/06/elgin-swindler-or-saviour.html
Posted by: Mark Notaras | June 20, 2009 at 02:19 AM
The opening of the New Acropolis Museum has its own importance, mainly because it consists a brand new, strong argument in favour of Parthenon Sculptures' repatriation back to Greece. Until now, there was a British objection regarding the absence of a proper place which could host the Marbles in Athens - but the construction of the new museum changed that. It is the best place to host the ancient masterpieces, in sight of the holy rock of the Acropolis, in their original environment. It is therefore the place where the visitor can understand properly the historical and cultural context of the Sculptures, in relation with the Temple of Parthenon.
I sincerely believe that the British side must review its stance on the issue, as long as there are far more than one arguments which strongly advocate in favour of the Parthenon Marbles back home. Some major points have been presented in the following article of the undersigned:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/92096
Posted by: Nicolas Mottas | June 20, 2009 at 08:48 AM