The New Acropolis Museum is due to open next month, which will be a significant event, both within the world of museums, but also for the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures.

From:
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THE NEW AKROPOLIS MUSEUM-SET TO OPEN ON JUNE 20 AMID HIGH EXPECTATIONS!
16.05.2009 11:08:18 The New Akropolis Museum, at the foot of The Akropolis at Athens, is all set to open for public display completely on June 20, 2009, according to the Culture Minister of Greece, Mr. Antonis Samaras.

(live-PR.com) – Athens, March 30, 2009 – The New Akropolis Museum, which was opened in stages during early 2008, is all set to enthrall the visitors and public. The construction work which started on Nov 2004 has been completed and, after many postponements, it is due to open on 20th June 2009. The overall budget for the Museum’s construction was 130 million euro, including the cost of expropriations. The new museum which replaces the existing Akropolis museum will exhibit approximately 4.000 artifacts and is definitely going to be the new landmark that will be added to the city of Athens.

The new museum is significant for various reasons. “For the first time in modern history, all the significant finds from Akropolis will be consolidated in the one museum. from prehistory through to the highpoint of classical period and the Parthenon, to artifacts created during the roman period and the late Antiquity- the museum would tell the complete story of human life on the Athenian Akropolis. The highlight would be the extensive remains of the ancient city revealed on the museum site by pre-construction archaeological excavations.” says the ecstatic President of ‘Organization for the construction of the New Akropolis Museum’, Mr. Dimitrios Pandermalis.

The necessity for a new museum arose after successive excavations on the Akropolis uncovered many new artifacts which have far exceeded the capacity of the existing Akropolis museum. One of the major motivations to build a new museum was to have a special gallery for the display of the much anticipated Elgin Marbles.

The new state-of –the art museum is only 280 meters away from the Parthenon and it will be the largest modern building erected so close to the ancient site. Bernard Tschumi is the lead architect of the New Akropolis Museum in cooperation with local Greek architect, Michalis Photiadis. The design of the building is too modern for some of the skeptics. But Tschumi argues”Some people have said it is disrespectful to the Parthenon not to have Doric columns on the new museum, but I am not interested in imitating the Parthenon. I am interested in achieving that level of perfection in my buildings, and for early twenty-first-century architecture to match it in its own way.”

According to the project authorities, the museum would also be an architectural beauty. The shape of the base is determined by the onsite archaeological excavation, the middle is trapezoidal in shape and accommodates most of the museum’s exhibition spaces and the crown is a rectangular transparent glass hall with the same dimensions and orientation as the Parthenon monument. No wonder there is high anticipation amidst the public of Greece and people world over for the inauguration of the new museum.

For further details log onto www.akropolis.gr

Contact details:
Akropolis Organization
Makrigianni Street
11742 Athens
Greece
Phone: 0030-210-9237500
Email: contact@akropolis.gr
website: www.akropolis.gr

Press Information:
Akropolis Organization

Akropolis Organization
Makrigianni Street

Contact Person:
Akropolis Organization
THE NEW AKROPOLIS MUSEUM-SET TO OPEN ON JUNE 20 AMID HIGH EX
Phone: 30210-9237500
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Web: http://www.akropolis.gr