As part of the Acropolis restoration, research is being done into the use of lasers for cleaning the structural elements of the building in a similar way to the sculptures.

From:
Russia Today

Features
November 6, 2008, 17:05
Athens’ Acropolis to shine again

One of the world’s most cherished monuments is undergoing a long-overdue and well-deserved pampering.

Decades of pollution from cars and industry wreaked upon on the Greek capital have caused a dense, black coating encrusting the marble of the temples of the Acropolis.

Read the rest of this entry »

James Cuno & Lord Renfrew discuss where ancient artefacts are best displayed, James Cuno has made his view clear on a regular basis in recent months. Lord Renfrew previously ran the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre at Cambridge University.

If you go the BBC website, you can listen to the original interview.

Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle over Our Ancient Heritage: Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage
Author: James Cuno
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691137129

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 09:57 GMT, Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Who owns our ancient past?

What should be done with objects from antiquity, when their provenance is uncertain?

From the debate over the British Museum’s Elgin Marbles, to the conviction of art dealer Giacomo Medici in 2004 for selling millions of pounds worth of stolen Italian antiquities on the international market, curators face a minefield when acquiring new objects.

Read the rest of this entry »

Some parts of the restoration works on the Acropolis will be completed in the coming months, allowing visitors their first sight of parts of the building for some years without scaffolding in the foreground. As part of the project, a virtual reality presentation on the history of the restoration work is planned for the New Acropolis Museum, so that visitors can get a better understanding of what is one of the most complex projects of its kind ever undertaken.

From:
Athens News Agency

10/31/2008
Acropolis restoration works

Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis on Thursday inspected works for the restoration of the Athens Acropolis, after which he praised the effort underway.

“The work to preserve and highlight the monuments provides a unique experience for visitors to the Sacred Rock, since a more comprehensive image of the Acropolis is formed that allows the monuments to be better recognised and understood,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dr Alexandros Mantis is lecturing at King’s College, London on New finds from the sculptures of the Parthenon

From:
Apokrisi

New Finds from the Sculpture of the Parthenon
On: Wed 22 October 2008 - 19:00

Lecture by Dr Alexandros Mantis, Director of the Acropolis Ephorate on the new finds from the Sculpture of the Parthenon. Organised by the Greek Archaeological Committee (UK) this event is open to the public. Further information and bookings on 020 7935 2020. Venue: King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R

A new exhibition hosted in the Colosseum, traces how Italy learned the importance of protecting its heritage & the methods used to stop its destruction, beginning in the Renaissance & continuing to the present day.

From:
ANSA (Italy)

2008-10-03 15:36
Colosseum spotlights saved art
Exhibit shows how Italy learned to save its heritage

(ANSA) - Rome, October 3 - A new show at the Colosseum highlights Italy’s strong tradition in preserving its art heritage.

The exhibition, entitled Ruins and Rebirth of Art In Italy, shows how efforts to foil tomb raiders stretch from the Renaissance to the present day, culminating in the formation of Italy’s world-famous art cops, a Carabinieri unit which has worked in Iraq and other countries targeted by traffickers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Maurizio Fiorilli has in recent years been no stranger to restitution cases in his work for the Italian Government. Here he talks about some of the issues he is dealing with, as well as the way that the problems of looting are exacerbated by the policies of many of the museums that receive the stolen artefacts.

From:
Sunday Telegraph

Maurizio Fiorilli: scourge of the tomb raiders
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 10/08/2008

Bad news for the art thieves who for years have been selling Italy’s ancient treasures to foreign museums: ‘Il Bulldog’ is on your case. Alastair Smart meets the resolute attorney demanding their return

Pasquale Camera didn’t do light lunches. After a third plate of veal Napolitano, washed down by his nth glass of Barolo, the 25-stone ex-police captain galumphed his way out of a Naples restaurant, climbed into his Renault 21, and set off north for Rome. The August heat was intense, and just a few miles up the motorway, he fell asleep at the wheel, smashed into the guardrail and overturned his car. He died instantly.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article is covers a number of interesting aspects. Gaza is in a situation where it has few museums & much of its heritage has been lost to collections in Israel, leading to the potential for many restitution requests in the future. More interesting though is the reasoning behind charging for admission - the British Museum always puts free entry as one of its top arguments in debates over the Elgin Marbles, but possibly Jawdat Khoudary is right - people don’t learn to value the heritage when they can see it for free. Certainly, many others have noted that free admission does tend to come at a price.

From:
Independent

The refuge that allows Gaza to reflect on past glories
By Donald Macintyre in Sudaniya, Gaza
Saturday, 9 August 2008

It may seem an odd dilemma in a territory where more than half of families live below an internationally defined poverty line, but Jawdat Khoudary is wondering whether there should be museum charges in Gaza.

As the owner and creator of the Strip’s first purpose-built archaeological museum, he has no doubt that the most prized patrons, the organised parties of schoolchildren already starting to flock to it, must come for free. And having sunk a small fortune – he won’t say how much – into building this elegant and air-conditioned space overlooking the Mediterranean just north of Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, he certainly isn’t trying to make money from it. But the 48-year-old owner of one of Gaza’s biggest construction companies worries that if he doesn’t charge a couple of shekels for individual entry, Gazans may not realise the value of their heritage as much as he does.

Read the rest of this entry »

An exhibition about the New Acropolis Museum has been running in Beijing since February.

During July though, in the run up to the Olympics, many more exhibits were added & a catalogue was produced to explain about both the museum & some of its contents that were on display.

This catalogue (in English, Greek & Mandarin) can be downloaded from the New Acropolis Museum’s website here.

Following successful progress of the current restoration programme on the Athenian acropolis, the decision has been made to undertake an additional phase of restoration work on the west facade of the building.

From:
Agence France Presse

Acropolis to undergo restoration from 2009
20 hours ago

ATHENS (AFP) — The world-famous Parthenon of the Athens Acropolis will undergo restoration work from 2009 that will see its western facade obscured by scaffolding for three years, officials said.

The work will mainly be focused on repairing damage caused by the Greek uprising against Ottoman rule in 1821, when the facade was damaged by around 700 bullet holes, architect Manolis Korres said.

Read the rest of this entry »

It appears that the electronic guides to some of Greece’s key archaeological sites are unfortunately no longer going to go ahead. It is a shame that this project is likely to be cancelled, as it would have provided an opportunity for the country to lead the way in defining how a major archaeology site should operate in the twenty-first century.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Monday July 7, 2008
Hand-held guides for site visitors unlikely

A plan to make hand-held electronic guides available this year to visitors at 15 of the most significant archaeological sites around Greece are likely to be scrapped because of Culture Ministry delays that would require an agreement with the provider of the gadgets, a consortium that includes Siemens, to be extended.

The arrival of the battery-powered, touchscreen devices that weigh just 270 grams was heralded in March 2007 as improving the experience visitors would have at sites including the Acropolis and National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Delphi, Ancient Olympia, Mycenae, Vergina, Epidaurus and Knossos in Crete.

Read the rest of this entry »

As scientists discover more about the microscopic organisms that live on the surface of many ancient monuments, it is becoming apparent that in some cases they can be causing significant amounts of damage that was previously unrecognised. Various possible solutions are being tested, to try & halt the damage that is being caused to the monuments of the Acropolis in Athens.

From:
New York Times

Microbes Eating Away at Pieces of History
By BINA VENKATARAMAN
Published: June 24, 2008

At Angkor Wat, the dancers’ feet are crumbling.

The palatial 12th-century Hindu temple, shrouded in the jungles of Cambodia, has played host to a thriving community of cyanobacteria ever since unsightly lichens were cleaned off its walls nearly 20 years ago. The microbes have not been good guests.

Read the rest of this entry »

Indiana Jones might well be the most famous archaeologist in the world (despite being fictional). But do his swashbuckling antics have any relevance to the way in which today’s archaeologists act, or is it more like the behaviour of those from a former age, who came from the West & grabbed whatever they could to take home.

From:
Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)

opinion Real archeologists don’t wear fedoras
May 27, 2008
Neil Asher Silberman
Washington Post

After 17 years, Hollywood’s most famous archeologist is back in action. Now grayer and a bit creakier, Indiana Jones is again hacking his way through thick jungles, careering wildly in car chases and scrambling through dark tunnels to snatch a precious artifact from the clutches of an evil empire (Soviet, this time).

And I’m thinking, oh no. Here we go again. Get ready for another long, twisting jump off the cliff of respectability for the image of archeology.

Read the rest of this entry »