He might have accepted that the Acropolis Museum is now going to be built, despite his earlier opposition to the project. However, Petros Tatoulis the Deputy Culture Minister is still unhappy with the amount that is being spent on the restoration of the Acropolis monuments.

From:
Kathimerini

Saturday December 11, 2004
Tatoulis balks at Acropolis costs

Confirming reports of funding cuts for the Acropolis conservation and restoration work, the Culture Ministry said yesterday that budgeting for the marathon project had to be “rationalized” and rendered “credible.”

Deputy Culture Minister Petros Tatoulis, who is on a visit to Albania, said he was unhappy with the planning and budgeting by archaeologists and architects leading the massive project — which started in 1975.
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The colossal task of restoring the Acropolis can be split down into a number of smaller projects focussing on the individual buildings within the site. Dr Tassos Tanoulas who is in charge of the restoration of the Propylaea (the gateway building through which you pass to enter the Acropolis) is speaking in London about the part of the restoration work that he has overseen.

From:
Kathimerini

Saturday November 20, 2004
King’s College London to host lecture on history and restoration of the Propylaea by Dr Tassos Tanoulas

This Monday, November 22 at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Strand Campus of King’s College London, the Greek Archaeological Committee (UK), with its president Matti Egon, a founding member, and her husband Nicholas, is presenting a lecture by Dr Tassos Tanoulas, the architect in charge of the project of restoring the Propylaea, which the Culture Ministry began in 1982.
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Following its display at the Benaki Museum & at University College London, the exhibition of photos of the Acropolis restoration by Socratis Mavrommatis is appearing at a gallery in Fairfield County, Ohio.

From:
Fairfield County Weekly

Polishing History

by Mike Sembos – September 9, 2004

And you thought I-95 construction was taking a long time… The restoration of the Acropolis in Athens began in 1975, and though evidence of continuing projects were well hidden for the Olympics, it continues indefinitely. Socratis Mavrommatis , the chief photographer of the Acropolis Restoration Service (ARS), has been documenting the progress on film. The 100 or so black and white photos that will be on exhibit at Fairfield U’s Thomas Walsh Gallery starting Wed., September 15, are organized into four sections–the Acropolis before restoration began, the preparation, the work itself and the monuments throughout the process. Peruse up-close architectural shots, views of the Parthenon’s marble floor and frieze and a large color photograph of the Acropolis taken from the nearby hill of the Pnyx, among others.

Following years of excavations, the north slopes of the Acropolis (the area above Plaka) are open to the public once more.

From:
Kathimerini

Wednesday September 1, 2004
North slopes of Acropolis open

For the first time in years, the entire Acropolis hill has become accessible to visitors after the Culture Ministry opened the north slopes of the ancient citadel to the general public.

A ministry announcement said yesterday that the area — which was closed off during the 1990s but had not been officially accessible before that — will acquire its own entrance before the end of October from Theorias Street, on the upper reaches of the Plaka district.

Until then, visitors can reach the north slopes from the entry to the Theater of Dionysus and the ruins on the south slope, on the corner of Dionysiou Areopagitou and Thrassylou streets.

The newly opened area, which is dominated by the Erechtheion Temple at the top of the craggy Acropolis rock, includes a series of caves which served as shrines in ancient times, including a cave of Pan which figures prominently in “Ion,” a tragedy by the playwright Euripides.

A part of their advertising campaign for during this summer’s Olympics in Athens, Reebok are creating sculptures of a number of Athletes posed to match the figures depicted in the Parthenon frieze.
It is a shame that this publicity for the frieze manages to completely ignore the division of the sculptures between two countries – a fact that is the only reason that the most people have even heard of the frieze.

From:
The Running Network

Reebok “Freezes” a Moment in Athletic History With Modern-Day Versions of Athens’ Parthenon Friezes
June 28, 2004
From press release

London, UK (June 16, 2004) – To celebrate the Summer Games returning to their ceremonial Athenian home, Reebok will unveil sculptures of several premier athletes in poses reminiscent of the legendary Parthenon Friezes. Some of the most famous works of art, the Friezes were carved in Ancient Greece and adorned the famous Parthenon on the Acropolis. Sculptures of top Olympians Andy Roddick, reigning US Open Champion, Yao Ming, NBA superstar, and Carolina Kluft, World Champion heptathlete, will mirror the famed Parthenon Friezes. The Friezes will be unveiled on August 22nd at a special press event at the Reebok Center in Athens.
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Many people will disappointed that the ongoing restoration works to the Athenian Acropolis will miss the completion deadline of the forthcoming Olympics. However, it is far better that the restoration works are carried out correctly & not rushed, rather than artefacts being possibly damaged in the race to give the impression that the works are completed by a specific date (a date that was never known about when the restoration works began).

From:
Reuters

Athens treasures will miss Games deadline
Tue 22 June, 2004 05:02
By Daniel Howden

ATHENS (Reuters) – Visitors to August’s Athens Olympics wanting to see classical treasures such as the temple of Athena Nike or the northern colonnade of the Parthenon will have to make do with buying picture postcards instead.

Construction workers stalk the dusty halls of some of the city’s finest museums while priceless sections of the Acropolis have been dismantled and taken to the cleaners.
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Robert Bowie Johnson Junior has published a new book about his own interpretation of the meanings behind the Parthenon Sculptures. It is worth noting here, before you read the book, that his views are not generally accepted by most of the archaeologists / classicists. If it is like his other previous books it is an interesting read in parts, but you ought to also read some other books on the meanings of the sculptures to give you a more balanced opinion of the range of possible interpretations.

The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble
Author: Robert Bowie, Jr. Johnson
Publisher: Solving Light Books
ISBN: 0970543832

From:
PR Newswire

New Book Deciphers Meaning of Parthenon Sculptures
Purpose of Athena’s Temple in Athens Understood for First Time in More Than 2,000 Years — Noah Depicted in Ancient Greek Art

ANNAPOLIS, Md., June 23 /PRNewswire/ — Visitors to the Parthenon in Athens and to the British Museum in London, where most of the Parthenon sculptures are displayed, can now do more than “ooh” and “aah” at what they see: they can actually understand what the Greeks were telling us about themselves and their history. The newly-released book from Solving Light Books, “The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble,” by Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. deciphers the meaning of the sculptures of Athena’s temple, relating their messages to the early events described in Genesis. Read the rest of this entry »

A complaint of many visitors to Greece is the awkward opening hours of many of the museums & archaeological sites. During the Olympics, extended opening hours will ensure that these sites will have more visitors than ever before. Many institutions are also stopping charging admission fees for the duration of the games.

From:
Kathimerini English Edition

Tuesday June 15, 2004
Museums, art galleries go on Olympic time
Schedules to accommodate the Games
Museums, archaeological sites, galleries and other cultural institutions are modifying opening times during the upcoming Olympic Games. The Benaki Museum (above) will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
By Dimitris Rigopoulos – Kathimerini

It is a well-known fact that August’s Olympic Games will impose an entirely different atmosphere on Athens, which will affect all activities. Under the circumstances, the city’s cultural life cannot be considered exempt.
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As part of the works to make Athens more accessible to disabled visitors, a passenger lift to the top of the Acropolis is due to be built.

From:
Kathimerini English Edition

Saturday May 29, 2004
Acropolis lift in four months?

Despite the strong misgivings voiced by archaeologists, Greek officials have assured the head of the International Paralympic Committee that a complicated structure allowing disabled people access to the Acropolis will be in place when those Games start, a report said yesterday.

“[The Acropolis] is not accessible yet, but I have got assurances,” IPC President Phil Craven told The Associated Press. “I was told it was 99 percent certain.”
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Around the world there are a number of replicas of the Parthenon, most notably one in Nashville. Edinburgh (a city that sometimes describes itself as “the Athens of the North”) has the beginnings of a replica which was never completed.
Now an architect has put forward a proposal to complete it using flagpoles to finish the remaining columns.

From:
Edinburgh Evening News

Tue 20 Apr 2004
Architect flags up plan to finish ‘Edinburgh’s Disgrace’
ALAN MCEWEN

FOR almost 200 years it has stood as one of the city’s best known and best loved landmarks despite being only half-built.

But now one of Scotland’s leading architects has unveiled plans to complete the unfinished “Parthenon” on Calton Hill.
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Reebok is creating a sculpture of Swedish heptathlete Carolina Kluft posed to match one of the figures on the Parthenon Frieze. This sculpture will be used as part of Reebok’s advertising campaign during the Olympics in Athens this summer.

From:
The Independent

31 March 2004 13:53
Athletics: Kluft cast in a classical pose on road to Athens
By Mike Rowbottom

Something unusual happened at yesterday’s publicity appearance in London by the world heptathlon champion, Carolina Kluft. The flaxen-haired darling of the Swedish nation and wider sporting world produced a false smile.

In the circumstances, it was forgivable – the circumstances being that she was standing spotlit on a stage surrounded by television cameramen, photographers and reporters all striving to appear neutral about the fact that another woman was daubing her body with purple-coloured liquid rubber.
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Despite many people’s hopes that the Acropolis restoration might be completed by the start of the Athens Olympics, the works are currently nowhere near to the stage where they can remove the scaffolding that currently enshrouds the building.

From:
Kathimerini (English edition)

Wednesday March 24, 2004
Acropolis to keep its braces

The most famous building on the Acropolis will still be partially obscured by scaffolding during the August Olympics, while half of another important temple on Greece’s top tourist attraction will be missing, officials admitted yesterday.

During a visit yesterday to the ancient citadel, where a massive and painstaking conservation project is under way on the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaea, Deputy Culture Minister Petros Tatoulis was given an outline of the time schedules involved.
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