Thursday, May 27, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum is located in the historical area of Makriyianni, southeast of the Rock of the Acropolis, on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, Athens. It is only 300 meters from the Acropolis and approximately 2 kilometers from Syntagma, Athens main city square. The Museum entrance is located at the beginning of the pedestrian walkway of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, which constitutes the central route for the unified network of the city’s archaeological sites. The Acropolis station of the Metro is on the east side of the Museum site.
The monuments of the Acropolis have withstood the ravages of past centuries, both of ancient times and those of the Middle Ages. Until the 17th century, foreign travellers visiting the monuments depicted the classical buildings as being intact. This remained the case until the middle of the same century, when the Propylaia was blown up while being used as a gunpowder store. Thirty years later, the Ottoman occupiers dismantled the neighbouring Temple of Athena Nike to use its materials to strengthen the fortification of the Acropolis. The most fatal year, however, for the Acropolis, was 1687, when many of the building’s architectural members were blown into the air and fell in heaps around the Hill of the Acropolis, caused by a bomb from the Venetian forces. Foreign visitors to the Acropolis would search through the rubble and take fragments of the fallen sculptures as their souvenirs. It was in the 19th century that Lord Elgin removed intact architectural sculptures from the frieze, the metopes and the pediments of the building.
In 1833, the Turkish garrison withdrew from the Acropolis. Immediately after the founding of the Greek State, discussions about the construction of an Acropolis Museum on the Hill of the Acropolis began. In 1863, it was decided that the Museum be constructed on a site to the southeast of the Parthenon and foundations were laid on 30 December 1865.
The building program for the Museum had provided that its height not surpasses the height of the stylobate of the Parthenon. With only 800 square meters of floor space, the building was rapidly shown to be inadequate to accommodate the findings from the large excavations on the Acropolis that began in 1886. A second museum was announced in 1888, the so-called Little Museum. Final changes occurred in 1946-1947 with the second Museum being demolished and the original being sizably extended.
By the 1970s, the Museum could not cope satisfactorily with the large numbers of visitors passing through its doors. The inadequacy of the space frequently caused problems and downgraded the sense that the exhibition of the masterpieces from the Rock sought to achieve.
The Acropolis Museum was firstly conceived by Constantinos Karamanlis in September 1976. He also selected the site, upon which the Museum was finally built, decades later. With his penetrating vision, C. Karamanlis defined the need and established the means for a new Museum equipped with all technical facilities for the conservation of the invaluable Greek artifacts, where eventually the Parthenon sculptures will be reunited.
For these reasons, architectural competitions were conducted in 1976 and 1979, but without success. In 1989, Melina Mercouri, who as Minister of Culture inextricably identified her policies with the claim for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, initiated an international architectural competition. The results of this competition were annulled following the discovery of a large urban settlement on the Makriyianni site dating from Archaic to Early Christian Athens. This discovery now needed to be integrated into the New Museum that was to be built on this site.
In the year 2000, the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum announced an invitation to a new tender, which was realized in accord with the Directives of the European Union. It is this Tender that has come to fruition with the awarding of the design tender to Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis and their associates and the completion of construction in 2007.
Today, the new Acropolis Museum has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square mete
rs, ten times more than that of the old museum on the Hill of the Acropolis. The new Museum offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century
In 1833, the Turkish garrison withdrew from the Acropolis. Immediately after the founding of the Greek State, discussions about the construction of an Acropolis Museum on the Hill of the Acropolis began. In 1863, it was decided that the Museum be constructed on a site to the southeast of the Parthenon and foundations were laid on 30 December 1865.
The building program for the Museum had provided that its height not surpasses the height of the stylobate of the Parthenon. With only 800 square meters of floor space, the building was rapidly shown to be inadequate to accommodate the findings from the large excavations on the Acropolis that began in 1886. A second museum was announced in 1888, the so-called Little Museum. Final changes occurred in 1946-1947 with the second Museum being demolished and the original being sizably extended.
By the 1970s, the Museum could not cope satisfactorily with the large numbers of visitors passing through its doors. The inadequacy of the space frequently caused problems and downgraded the sense that the exhibition of the masterpieces from the Rock sought to achieve.
The Acropolis Museum was firstly conceived by Constantinos Karamanlis in September 1976. He also selected the site, upon which the Museum was finally built, decades later. With his penetrating vision, C. Karamanlis defined the need and established the means for a new Museum equipped with all technical facilities for the conservation of the invaluable Greek artifacts, where eventually the Parthenon sculptures will be reunited.
For these reasons, architectural competitions were conducted in 1976 and 1979, but without success. In 1989, Melina Mercouri, who as Minister of Culture inextricably identified her policies with the claim for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, initiated an international architectural competition. The results of this competition were annulled following the discovery of a large urban settlement on the Makriyianni site dating from Archaic to Early Christian Athens. This discovery now needed to be integrated into the New Museum that was to be built on this site.
In the year 2000, the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum announced an invitation to a new tender, which was realized in accord with the Directives of the European Union. It is this Tender that has come to fruition with the awarding of the design tender to Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis and their associates and the completion of construction in 2007.
Today, the new Acropolis Museum has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square mete
rs, ten times more than that of the old museum on the Hill of the Acropolis. The new Museum offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st centuryGetting there:
- By bus:
Lines 24, 40, 57, 103, 106, 108, 111, 126, 134, 135, 136, 137, 155, 206, 208, 227, 230, 237, 790, 856, Α2, Α3, Α4, Β2, Β3, Β4, Ε2, Ε22 (Stop: Makryianni)
- By trolley:
Lines 1, 5, 15 (Stop: Makryianni)
- By metro:
Line 2 (Aghios Antonios-Aghios Dimitrios), Disembarking Station: Acropolis
- By car:
The Museum encourages visitors to use one of the several means of public transportation that serve the Museum (see above) and to avoid using their cars in the historic quarter of Athens.
The Museum provides no public parking facilities. Limited street parking is available at the following streets near the Museum: Hatzichristou, Dimitrakopoulou, Veikou, Mitseon, Parthenonos, Karyatidon. Paid parking facilities are available at Rovertou Gali Street and Falirou Street.
Tour Buses
A bus drop off point for groups is available at Hatzichristou Street and entrance for groups is at Mitseon Street.
Entrance
Public entrance at Dionysiou Areopagitou Street.
Entrance for groups at Mitseon Street.
Public entrance at Dionysiou Areopagitou Street.
Entrance for groups at Mitseon Street.
Hours
Tuesday to Sunday: 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
Monday: Closed.
Last admission: 7.30 p.m.
Galleries cleared at 7.45 p.m.
Closed: 1 January, 25 March, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 25 December and 26 December.
Admission
General admission fee: 5 euros.
Reduced admission fee: 3 euros.
Free admission
Tuesday to Sunday: 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
Monday: Closed.
Last admission: 7.30 p.m.
Galleries cleared at 7.45 p.m.
Closed: 1 January, 25 March, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 25 December and 26 December.
Admission
General admission fee: 5 euros.
Reduced admission fee: 3 euros.
Free admission
- Tickets from the Museum Ticket Desk
No restriction exists in the number of tickets available from the Ticket Desk during Museum opening hours.
- Tickets via the e-ticketing service
The Museum website provides an e-ticketing service for a restricted number of visitors during six (6) specific time slots. Tickets bought via e-ticketing can be collected from the Museum Ticket Desk.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Welcome! :)
Credits goes to: My e-twinning fellow members and teachers :)
Once again, have fun and enjoy the site. There's more to come...
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