Last minute preparations are continuing for the opening of the New Acropolis Museum in a few weeks time.

From:
Athens News Agency

06/04/2009
Preparations for New Acropolis Museum

Last-minute preparations continued on Sunday at the New Acropolis Museum in central Athens, located some 400 metres beneath the south side of the Acropolis Hill. Landscaping and urban renewal works around the new state-of-the-art museum will continue up until the grand opening in three weeks. The new museum will display thousands of artifacts previously stored in other museums’ warehouses, while the facility is expected to bolster Greece’s long-standing demand for a return of the sliced-off Parthenon Marbles and friezes, currently held by the British Museum.

The New Acropolis Museum has gained huge amounts of press coverage – in part because of its inextricable linkage with the issue of the Elgin Marbles. As one of the worlds leading architects is building next to one of the worlds most famous structures though, it is not surprising that the architectural press is also interested in the project.

From:
Architectural Record

Tschumi-Designed Acropolis Museum Opens At Last
June 2, 2009
By David Dillon

The New Acropolis Museum, Bernard Tschumi’s minimalist counterpoint to one of the world’s great archaeological sites, officially opens June 20, eight years after he won an international competition to design it, and three decades after the idea for a new Acropolis museum first surfaced.

“The design was chosen for its simple, clear, and beautiful solution that is in accord with the beauty and classical simplicity of the museum’s unique exhibits,” says professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, president of the private organization overseeing the project. The original Acropolis museum, completed in 1873, will reopen as a gallery.
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