New Acropolis Museum (3472449933).jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Acropolis Museum ( el, Μουσείο Ακρόπολης, ''Mouseio Akropolis'') is an
archaeological museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as Na ...
focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes, from the
Greek Bronze Age Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea. There are three distinct but communicating and interacting geographic regions covered by this term: Crete, the Cyclades and the Greek mainland ...
to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It also lies over the ruins of part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. The museum was founded in 2003 while the Organization of the Museum was established in 2008. It opened to the public on 20 June 2009. More than 4,250 objects are exhibited over an area of 14,000 square metres.


History

The first museum was on the Acropolis; it was completed in 1874 and underwent a moderate expansion in the 1950s. However, successive excavations on the Acropolis uncovered many new artifacts which significantly exceeded its original capacity. An additional motivation for the construction of a new museum was that in the past, when Greece made requests for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the United Kingdom, which acquired the items in a controversial manner, it was suggested by some British officials that Greece had no suitable location where they could be displayed. Creation of a gallery for the display of the Parthenon Marbles has been key to all recent proposals for the design of a new museum.


Competitions for the new museum

The first architectural competition to design a new museum was held in 1976 and was limited to participants from Greece. Both the 1976 competition and one that followed it in 1979 failed to produce any results mainly because the plots of land selected for the proposed constructions were deemed unsuitable. In 1989, a third competition for the design of the new Acropolis Museum was announced that would be international. A choice of three possible sites was provided. This competition was won by the Italian architects,
Manfredi Nicoletti Manfredi Nicoletti (16 June 1930 – 29 October 2017) was an Italian architect. Biography Nicoletti is considered a pioneer in Bioclimatic urban and architectural design. In the 1970s his book ''L'ecosistema urbano'' (The Urban Ecosystem) - a t ...
and Lucio Passarelli. After delays throughout the 1990s, work on the construction of the museum based on this third design progressed to the stage of excavations for the foundations, but these were stopped due to apparently sensitive archaeological remains on the site, leading to annulment of the competition in 1999. In retrospect, the location of the new museum was rather straightforward: the large lot of the unused "Camp
Makrygianni Makrygianni or Makriyanni ( el, Μακρυγιάννη, ) is a neighborhood of Athens, Greece. Also known as Acropolis, it is located in the south side of Acropolis of Athens, Acropolis and bounded between the avenues Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, ...
"
gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...
barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
, opposite the Theater of Dionysus. The barracks were built on public land and a limited number of expropriations of surrounding private houses were needed to free up the necessary space. The main building of the old barracks, the neoclassical "Weiler Building", has been renovated and houses the Museum of the Center for the Acropolis Studies. The fourth competition had made no provision for the preservation of the ancient site. These were met to a degree only after local and international ( ICOMOS) campaigners exposed this oversight and it became the final competition. The new plans were adjusted so that the building was elevated above ground, on pillars. Competition was open only to architectural practices by invitation and it was won by New York–based architect,
Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French-S ...
, in collaboration with the Greek architect Michael Photiadis. Excavation has revealed two layers of modest, private roadside houses and workshops, one from the early Byzantine era and another from the classical era. Once the layout and
stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigrap ...
of the findings were established, suitable locations for the foundation pillars were identified. These traverse the soil to the underlying
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
and float on roller bearings able to withstand a Richter scale magnitude 10 earthquake. As construction work neared completion, the operation to move the historic artifacts the distance from the Acropolis rock to the new museum started in October 2007, took four months, and required the use of three
tower cranes A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy objects and transporti ...
to move the sculptures across the distance without mishap. Greek officials expressed their hope that the new museum will help in the campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.BBC News
''Cranes move Acropolis sculptures'', Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
Athens Press Agency, Macedonian Press Agency
, ''New Acropolis Museum to open in stages in 2008'', Retrieved on 2008-10-18.


Location

The museum is located by the southeastern slope of the Acropolis hill, on the ancient road that led up to the "sacred rock" in classical times. Set only , away from the Parthenon, and a walking distance from it, the museum is the largest modern building erected so close to the ancient site, although many other buildings from the last 150 years are located closer to the Acropolis. The entrance to the building is on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street and directly adjacent to the
Akropoli metro station Akropoli ( el, Ακρόπολη) is a station on Athens Metro Line 2. The station opened on 15 November 2000, as part of the extension from to , The source reported that the opening ceremony took place at 12:00 on 15 November 2000, with the pub ...
the red line of the Athens Metro.


The building

The design by
Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French-S ...
was selected as the winning project in the fourth competition. Tschumi's design revolved around three concepts: light, movement, and a tectonic and programmatic element. The collections of the museum are exhibited on three levels while a fourth middle-level houses the auxiliary spaces such as the museum shop, the café, and the offices. On the first level of the museum, there are the findings of the slopes of the Acropolis. The long and rectangular hall has a sloping floor, resembling the ascension to the rock. Following the hall is a large trapezoidal hall that contains the archaic findings. On the same floor, there are artifacts and sculptures from the other Acropolis buildings such as the Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the
Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaea, propylea or propylaia (; Greek: προπύλαια) is a monumental gateway. They are seen as a partition, specifically for separating the secular and religious pieces of a city. The prototypical Gree ...
and findings from Roman and early Christian Athens. Visitors are intended to see the latter during descent in order to keep the chronological order: they will first be directed to the top level, which displays the Parthenon marbles. The top level of the Museum sits askew on the lower levels to achieve the same cardinal orientation of the ancient temple on the Acropolis. The spacing of the columns of the Parthenon hall is the same as that of the ancient temple and the use of glass walls on all four exterior walls allows the natural light to illumine the Parthenon marbles as they do on the ancient temple. The 48 columns in the Parthenon hall mark the outline of the ancient temple and form a colonnade for the display of the Parthenon marbles. For ease of viewing, the pediment marbles are displayed at eye level in front of the end columns; the metopes are displayed on the columns, two per column, but not as high as in the ancient temple; and the frieze are displayed behind the metopes, forming a continuous band around the walls of a rectangular space set inside the columns, as in the ancient temple but not as high, again for ease of viewing. From the north side of the Parthenon hall, one can see the ancient temple above on the Acropolis. As the museum is built over an extensive archaeological site, some parts of the floor uses glass to allow visitors to see the excavations below. The museum also has an amphitheatre, virtual theatre, and hall for temporary exhibitions.


Controversy

A controversy erupted over the plans of the new museum and whether it was appropriate to build it on the archaeological site in
Makrygianni Makrygianni or Makriyanni ( el, Μακρυγιάννη, ) is a neighborhood of Athens, Greece. Also known as Acropolis, it is located in the south side of Acropolis of Athens, Acropolis and bounded between the avenues Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, ...
neighborhood. Another concern was whether a large modern building would fit well into the landscape. In 2007, another controversy erupted over the proposed demolition of two historic buildings. Thes are in front of the museum, numbers 17 and 19, Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, facing the
Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...
. Bernard Tschumi has been showing photographic images of the space in front of the museum edited to remove the two buildings and nearby four-story-tall trees. The Greek Government had the two buildings de-listed historically although one is Neo-Classical and the other an example of Art Deco architecture. Protests against the proposed demolition came from international agencies such as INTBAU and ICOMOS.


Awards

* On 13 May 2010, it was awarded the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) Award of Excellence and Sustainability. * On 8 November 2010, the Museum won the British Guild of Travel Writers' (BGTW) award in Globe category for the Best Worldwide Tourism Project for 2010. * The Museum received 2011 AIA ( The American Institute of Architects) Institute Honor Award for Architecture. * It was among the six finalists competing for the 2011 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – the Mies van der Rohe Award. * In 2012, the Museum was given the Keck Award for its conservation and restoration of the
Caryatids A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...
by the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) in Vienna. * Acropolis museum ranked 6th in the TripAdvisor's Travellers Choice Awards of the 25 Best Museums in the world for 2018.


Other information

* The entrance fee to the museum was €1 for the first year and €5 thereafter. As of 2019, the entrance fee is €10. * The excavation below ground level continues. The site and process are visible through the ground level glass flooring. Of June 2019, the site is available for visitation. * The Acropolis Museum was selected as the motif for a commemorative Euro coin edition: the €10 Greek Acropolis Museum commemorative coin, minted in 2008 to mark the relocation of the museum. On the obverse is a panoramic view of the Acropolis and the new museum lies at the base. * During the August full moon nights, the museum remains open until midnight and welcomes visitors for free. Night concerts also take place on the museum's courtyard. * In the first two months since the museum opened, it was visited by 523,540 people (an average of 9,200 a day). Of these, 60 percent were foreign visitors. During the same two-month period, 409,000 hits by unique visitors from 180 countries were recorded by the museum's website. * Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art in Vienna lent (October 2014 - February 2015) to the Acropolis Museum a quadriga with the goddess Nike from the collection of Theophil Hansen, an architect of neoclassical buildings in Greece and central Europe in the 19th century. * The University of Sydney's Nicholson Museum lent (December 2014 - December 2015) to the Acropolis Museum a model of the Acropolis done in
Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
. The model contains more than 120,000 Lego bricks and took about 300 hours to build by Ryan McNaught. * The
Silver Cup Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical cond ...
designed by Michel Bréal and awarded to the
Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
Winner
Spyros Louis Spyridon Louis ( el, Σπυρίδων Λούης , sometimes transliterated ''Spiridon Loues''; 12 January 1873 – 26 March 1940), commonly known as Spyros Louis (Σπύρος Λούης), was a Greeks, Greek water carrier who won the first mod ...
at the first Modern Olympic Games (1896) is displayed at the Acropolis Museum. The Cup remained in the Acropolis Museum until the completion of the
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center ( el, Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος) is a complex in the bay of Faliro in Athens which includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece (NLG) ...
where it is now exhibited. * Hermitage Museum lent (March 2016 - October 2016) to the Acropolis Museum three golden Scythian exhibitions. The three objects were two vessels and a piece of jewelry. These masterpieces of metalworking were crafted by the Greeks at Crimea that had developed a close relationship with the Scythians. * In June 2016, Samsung inaugurated a digital classroom at the Acropolis Museum. The digital classroom addressed to students of primary and secondary schools. This digital classroom was the first "classroom" which was set up in a Museum in Greece and the fifth in Europe. * The US President Barack Obama visited the Acropolis museum during his visit at Athens (November 15–16, 2016). * On March 24 - October 31, 2017, Documenta 14, the fourteenth edition of the art exhibition
documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...
took place at the Acropolis Museum. *On June 21, 2019, Greece's Acropolis Museum opened an excavation site underneath its modern building, allowing visitors for the first time to walk through an ancient Athenian neighbourhood that survived from the Classical era to Byzantine times.


Gallery


See also

* Elgin Marbles * Old Acropolis Museum, now closed and scheduled to house workshops for the ongoin
Acropolis Restoration Project


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Official siteThe Parthenon frieze

Color the Peplos Kore

Athena, Goddess of the Acropolis

Google Art Project

Acropolis Museum - Ebook by Latsis Foundation



Review of the Acropolis Museum at UNRV.comVirtual tour of the Acropolis Museum
provided by
Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...
*


Videos


New Acropolis Museum Receives 2011 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture

New Acropolis Museum, Athens - Opening Ceremony Video Projections
{{Authority control 2008 establishments in Greece 21st-century architecture in Greece Museum, new Ancient Greek culture Archaeological museums in Athens Greek culture Landmarks in Athens Modernist architecture in Greece Museums established in 2008 Museums in Athens Museums of ancient Greece in Greece