Despite coming in for a lot of bad press recently in Germany for economic reasons, the country’s media are being much more supportive to Greece in their appreciation of the efforts being put into restoring the Acropolis.

From:
Greek Reporter

German Media Praises Acropolis Restoration Efforts
Posted on 09 January 2011 by Venetia Aftzigianni

The German media is impressed by the quality of renovations on the Acropolis. Begining in the mid-1970′s, the project has involved painstaking repairs on major monuments, including the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and Athena Nike Temple, and the Acropolis walls. The architectural masterpieces suffered from pollution and a flawed reparation attempt in the 1930′s. Workers used iron clamps in their repairs that eventually rusted and cracked the marble.

German journalists have uncharacteristically praised Greek efforts.
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The New Acropolis Museum, as one of the most recently opened tourist sites in Greece is lucky enough to have high quality facilities for visitors, such as disabled access provisions. Many other sites in Greece are less fortunate however. A new initiative aims to try and solve this problem by upgrading many of the other sites to make them more easily accessible to all visitors.

From:
Athens News Agency

11/26/2010
Plan on sites services

ANa-Mpa/The culture and tourism ministry on Wednesday outlined a plan to improve services at Greek museums and archaeological sites, especially in terms of disabled access and availability of water.

The new programme follows a study that revealing a lack of vital services in some 150 museums around the country, including some of the most important and most popular sites.
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After a brief respite from its cloak of scaffolding, the next phase of restoration works has begun on the Acropolis, with the return of the scaffolding to the Propylaia.

From:
The Independent

Greece’s Acropolis in scaffolds as restoration resumes
AFP
Saturday, 13 November 2010

Scaffolding once again appeared on the Acropolis in Athens Thursday as work resumed after a brief pause on a decades-long restoration project.

“New scaffolding has been constructed on the central part of the Propylaea to restore the original marble,” said Mairi Ioannidou, the head of Acropolis Restoration Service.
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More coverage of the restoration works to the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis that have recently ended.

From:
Athens News Agency

10/21/2010
Temple of Athena Nike on Acropolis restored

(ANA-MPA) — Standing a full metre taller than before and without the scaffolding that enveloped it for the past decade, the slim temple of Athena Nike atop the Acropolis in central Athens was again in full view as of this month following the completion of restoration work.

The small temple was among the ancient marble structures on the Acropolis that had suffered the most extensive damage over the years, even as far back as 1687 when it was badly damaged by a mortar shell lobbed by besieging Venetians against an Ottoman garrison barricaded on the hill.
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Visitors familiar with the Acropolis site in Athens who visited since 2004 will have been surprised to see that for a few years, the temple of Athena Nike that overlooks the entrance to the site had completely disappeared.

The entire building was dismantled for restoration & the plinth on which it sat was reinforced to remedy the subsidence that had occurred over the years. The temple parts were gradually assembles piece by piece & this building is now complete once more. These works form a part of the overall restoration on the Acropolis Site that has been ongoing for over thirty years.

From:
Associated Press

AP Interview: Acropolis’ Nike temple rises again
By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS – Sep 7, 2010

ATHENS, Greece — After a decade-long facelift, the ancient Greek temple of Athena Nike is back up, patched up and unfettered on the Acropolis.

The slender marble building first erected in the 5th century B.C. was unburdened of its scaffolding in recent days — 10 years after being completely dismantled for repairs.
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For many years, certain elements of the British Press liked to suggest that Greece was incapable of looking after the Parthenon Marbles if they ever were returned. During the construction of the New Acropolis Museum, questions were again raised about every possible aspect of the way the museum was being built & the way the artefacts would be displayed. The New Acropolis Museum does however have many parallels with the proposed Stone henge Visitor Centre.

Both Stone Henge & The Athenian Acropolis are iconic examples of their historical epochs. For a long time, both sites had planned on building new visitor centres, but the projects were plagued by delays lasting decades that stopped any meaningful progress. Now however, Greece has a brand new Acropolis Museum, while visitors to Stone Henge still have to make do with distinctly lacklustre visitor facilities that mainly consist of a tunnel around the road containing a gift shop & some information boards. The British Museum makes much of how the Parthenon Marbles can be seen in their institution for free, but on the other hand, Stone Henge (with or without visitor centre) charges an admission centre except to National Trust or English Heritage members.

From:
New York Times

The Age of Austerity Challenges Stonehenge
By JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: August 11, 2010

STONEHENGE, England — The prehistoric monument of Stonehenge stands tall in the British countryside as one of the last remnants of the Neolithic Age. Recently it has also become the latest symbol of another era: the new fiscal austerity.

Renovations — including a plan to replace the site’s run-down visitors center with one almost five times bigger and to close a busy road that runs along the 5,000-year-old monument — had to be mothballed in June. The British government had suddenly withdrawn £10 million, or $16 million, in financing for the project as part of a budget squeeze.
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Despite some earlier worries that it would be called off due to strikes, the planned August full moon late night opening of Archaeological sites in Greece is going ahead this evening (Tuesday 24th August).

This event has happened for a number of years now, with great success.

From:
Athens News Agency

08/24/2010
Archaeological sites open for August full moon

(ANA-MPA) — More than 90 archaeological sites around the country will remain open on Tuesday during the evening hours on the occasion of August’s full moon, the last of the summer.

The New Acropolis Museum, the Acropolis itself, the Cape Sounion site and the National Archaeological Museum in downtown Athens will remain open to the public, a more-or-less summer tradition over the past few years that was, nevertheless, threatened with cancellation this year to a disagreement between the relevant culture ministry and staff at the archaeological sites over extra pay.
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Research by Art Historian Katherine Schwab, looks at whether the hairstyles of the Caryatids from the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens could be recreated today. A DVD is now available that documents this project.

From:
PR Web

Documentary Now Available of Ancient Caryatid Hairstyles Being Brought to Life

A DVD is now available that documents the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, directed by Dr. Katherine Schwab, associate professor of art history at Fairfield University, that investigates whether elaborate female coiffures seen among the Erechtheion marble Caryatids, or maidens, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens could actually be replicated on women today. The 15-minute, fast-paced DVD follows six female students as they are transformed in appearance from modern 21st century women to elegant young women of ancient Greece.

Fairfield, Conn. (Vocus/PRWEB ) April 13, 2010 — A DVD is now available that documents the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, directed by Dr. Katherine Schwab, associate professor of art history at Fairfield University, that investigates whether elaborate female coiffures seen among the Erechtheion marble Caryatids, or maidens, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens could actually be replicated on women today. The 15-minute, fast-paced DVD follows six female students as their long hair is twisted and curled in intricate patterns (which in real time took hours) and records their reactions as they are transformed in appearance from modern 21st century women to elegant young women of ancient Greece. Produced by Christopher McGloin and Daniel Kole of the Media Center, with music arranged by Dr. Laura Nash, Program Director of Music, the DVD was funded by a grant from the University’s Faculty Research Committee and the Classical Studies Program. A webpage about the project includes a clip and online purchase of the DVD at www.fairfield.edu/caryatid.
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An exhibition opens in Athens later this month, of three-dimensional photography of the sculptures from the Acropolis.

Exhibition in Athens 21-30 June 2010

The Cultural Organization of Athens Municipality invite you to inaugurated the exhibition entitled: “The magic of photography in three-dimensional sculptures of the Acropolis” of Kika Pardaki.

A year and a day after The opening of the new Acropolis Museum, which was built to house the statues, you are in London come to us with this report, through unique stereoscopic images of high quality and unique analysis for the use of special 3d glasses.

June 21 – June 30 2010, 20:00 at the Cultural Center, Akadimias 50, Hall “Iakovidis”

Open daily 10.00-20.00 & Sun 10.00-14.00

more information (in Greek) is available here.

Earth Hour circles the world, where many famous monuments turn off their lights for an hour to highlight the need to conserve energy. As in previous years, the Acropolis will be amongst other Athens landmarks taking part in this event.

From:
Christian Science Monitor

Earth Hour 2010 aims to get 1 billion to turn off the lights
By Will Buchanan, Contributor / March 27, 2010

For this year’s Earth Hour, set for 8:30 p.m. Saturday, more businesses and governments are expected to take part in the campaign to turn off the lights. The aim: at least 1 billion participants.

The Earth Hour concept is simple: Turn off the lights for an hour to acknowledge climate change and advocate sustainability.
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The Acropolis in Athens, along with the numerous buildings that occupy & surround the site are all now on Google Earth in 3D.

From:
Google Earth Blog

March 1, 2010
Athens goes 3D

With the Winter Olympics wrapping up, Google thought it’d be fun to revisit the site of the first modern Olympic games. They’ve added detailed 3D coverage to the city, with thousands of buildings now showing off sharp 3D models.

They provide a list of fun places to check out, such as the Parthenon and the Herodeion Theater.

You can also view a short video tour of the 3D city of Athens here.

The restoration of the Propylaia which forms the gateway to the Acropolis has now been completed, ending another chapter in the Acropolis’s extensive restoration programme.

From:
Athens News Agency

12/22/2009
Restoration of Acropolis Propylaea completed

All scaffolding and cranes were fully removed from the Propylaea of the Acropolis, the monumental entrance, or gateway, to the Acropolis, on the weekend following completion of the restoration work on the central building of the structure.

The Propylaea was built under the direction of Athenian leader Pericles, but the building itself was designed by the architect Mnesicles, while construction began in 437 BCE and was terminated in 432 BCE, while the building was still unfinished.
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