It was originally planned that the restoration works on the Acropolis would be completed in time for the Olympics – the huge amount of work still to be completed means that this is now unlikely to happen.

From:
NZoom

Acropolis may miss Olympics
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2003

Greek archaeologists are working overtime to finish the restoration of the Athens Acropolis before the 2004 Olympics, but warn that not all the scaffolding may have been dismantled by August next year, when the Games kick off.

“We are undertaking an immense effort to make the Acropolis as beautiful as possible for the Olympics, but I can’t guarantee that will happen — the deadlines are very tight,” Maria Ioannidou, restoration director for the renowned ancient temple complex overlooking downtown Athens, told AFP.
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Mention the Parthenon to someone in Tennessee & it is likely that they will think you are referring to the copy in Nasahville, rather than the original in Athens. The Nashville copy is the most complete replica of the building, but it entirely lacks the imposing context of the original, being located in a flat park. There is another less known copy – the Walhalla in Germany, that whilst not being an exact copy of the building, enjoys a far more similar location, & as a result manages to recapture some of the magic of the Athenian Acropolis.

From:
Guardian

Welcome to Nashville, home of rhinestone, cowboys…
…and the Parthenon. Jonathan Glancey on the Athens of the south
Jonathan Glancey
Monday June 11, 2001
The Guardian

Subtract Elgin marbles from Parthenon and what do you get? Trouble, on a suitably epic scale. The battle for the return of the Parthenon frieze to its original home in Athens has been, to say the least, protracted. This summer it enters a fresh phase as 14 firms of architects around the world, but mostly in Greece, prepare designs for the new Acropolis museum – a cluster of three modern pavilions, one of which will be reserved for the Elgin marbles. How long it will stay empty remains to be seen. The position of the British government is that the marbles will stay in London.

Some 20bn drachmas (£36m) have been promised for the winning design team. The result will be announced later this year, and work is due to begin on the building at the start of 2002. One answer might be to reproduce the marbles. Well, maybe not. Everyone wants the real thing, and, in this case, the real thing is of undimmed magnificence – unlike the tourist-besieged Parthenon itself, which continues its long, slow decline, ravaged by pollution.
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