There were a lot of reports yesterday about instability in the Acropolis – the rock in Athens on which the Parthenon sits.

If you look at the Acropolis, you will see that around the edges, a lot of it is supported by ancient retaining walls – the top of the original hill was too rounded & not large enough for the quantity of buildings constructed there. As a result, the site has been heavily analysed, to check for any chance of deterioration of these walls & the rubble piled behind them.

Greece has now issued their own press release, refuting the alarmist tone taken by many of the original articles.

The Parthenon

From:
IB Times

Greece: ‘Crumbling’ Ancient Acropolis in Athens Puts Parthenon at Risk of Collapse
By Lydia Smith
02 October 2014

The Acropolis is falling down and will need significant work to shore it up, archaeologists have warned.

Engineers have found that a section of the huge flat-topped rock on which the ancient Parthenon sits in Athens is beginning to give way, the Greek news agency ANA has said.
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The Manolis Korres, the architect in charge of the Acropolis Restoration has become the first Greek to receive the prestigious Feltrinelli award for his contributions to the field of Archaeology & restorations.

Manolis Korres

From:
Greek Reporter

Feltrinelli Int’l Prize Awarded to Greek Professor Manolis Korres
By Sotiria Nikolouli on November 24, 2013

The Feltrinelli International Prize was awarded to Professor of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens Manolis Korres, for his contribution in the field of archeology and restorations.

This international award is the highest distinction awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei of Rome — one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific academies worldwide founded in 1603 — and in the past has included members of prominent figures such as Galileo. The Feltrinelli International Prize is awarded to personalities who have distinguished themselves for their high contribution in art, literature, history, philosophy, medicine and mathematics. It is awarded once every five years and is accompanied by a significant amount of money. A second award is given alongside an international organization for humanitarian action.
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The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 led to international outcry. Looking back at it today though, their are different points of view over what should happen to the site now. As with sites such as the Acropolis, there are those who want to restore it to how it was originally, whereas others think that it should be stabilised in its current state, rather than attempting any sort of rebuilding. As with the Acropolis, this is the sort of issue, which has no clear right or wrong answers.

From:
BBC World Service

13 August 2012 Last updated at 00:44
Bamiyan Buddhas: Should they be rebuilt?
By Stephanie Hegarty

The destruction of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 led to global condemnation of the Taliban regime. But the decision by Unesco not to rebuild them has not put an end to the debate about their future.

When the Taliban were at the height of their power in Afghanistan, leader Mullah Omar waged a war against idolatry.
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Cleaning controversies regarding poor attempts to restore artefacts are not new – the Parthenon Marbles attracted similar attention based on problems caused by the treatment of the sculptures in the 1930s.

from:
The Art Newspaper

European treatment harms African works?
Questions are being raised about a protective coating applied to Ife sculptures
By Martin Bailey | From issue 223, April 2010

LONDON. African art specialists are questioning the recent conservation of Ife sculptures in Madrid in preparation for an international touring exhibition. They are concerned that Spanish conservators applied an inappropriate coating intended to protect the sculptures during the tour and after they are returned to Nigeria, and might even have removed ancient surface patina.

John Picton, a professor at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and former deputy director of the National Museum in Lagos, says that the ancient brass heads have developed “a shiny surface”. Other specialists have also expressed concerns about the treatment by conservators at the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España (Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute).
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Museums (generally those in the Western World, that have artefacts that others want returned) have long argued that they safely look after their collections, preserving them with a level of care that would not be possible elsewhere. Stories such as the one below however, remind us that there is no guaranteed safety anywhere in the world. And surely it is all the more upsetting for the original owners if they were denied access to their own artefacts, only to see them destroyed or damaged, while in the care of another institution?

An earlier article about the reconstruction of the sculptures follows at the end of the first one.

From:
Press TV

Berlin exhibits shattered WWII statues
Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:55PM
The German city of Berlin has mounted an exhibition of ancient statues and stone reliefs nearly destructed during bombings of the World War II.

The Tell Halaf Adventure displays 3,000-year-old basalt statues unearthed in present-day Syria a century ago.

The sculptures were broken into thousands of pieces during 1943 bombings and kept in the vaults of the capital’s Pergamon Museum and then in East Berlin.
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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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A restoration of the Nike Monument, built to honour Callimachus afte the Battle of Marathon has been unveiled at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.

From:
Athens News Agency

10/27/2010
Nike Monument unveiled at new Acropolis Museum

ΑΝΑ-ΜPΑ/The Nike Monument erected in honour of the ancient military commander Callimachus after the Battle of Marathon, its various surviving shards reassembled for the first time to resemble the form they would have had in antiquity, was unveiled in the new Acropolis Museum on Tuesday by Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos.

In statements at the unveiling, Geroulanos emphasised the importance of the monument 2,500 years after the historic battle, an event broadly regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of European culture.
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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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As a high precision modern restoration project using the latest technology, the Acropolis Restoration project that has been running for the last 30 years must be without parallel. Some of the work was needed to negate previous problematic restoration works on the site, but much of it was necessary purely to stabilise the buildings & re-incorporate new fragments that had been excavated from the site.

From:
Deutsche Presse Agentur

2,350 tons of marble restored, replaced for Acropolis restoration
Europe News
May 29, 2009, 13:32 GMT

Athens – Some 2,350 tons of marble were restored or replaced over the past three decades for the massive project to restore the ancient Acropolis monuments, reports said Friday.

Maria Ioannidou, a senior Culture Ministry official was quoted by the Greek daily Kathimerini as saying more than 1,000 architects and archaeologists restored or replaced a total of 2,350 tons of marble during the restoration project.
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Although the article title says that it is the Parthenon, it should say Propylaea – which still represents a hugej step forward in the overall Acropolis restoration programme.

From:
Athens News Agency

04/12/2008
Parthenon restoration completed

Scaffolding will be removed from the Parthenon Facade during the next few days and visitors will be able to view the restored largest part of the marble roof with its friezes that made the monument, the work of the architect Mnisiklis, renowned in ancient times.
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Edinburgh’s copy of the Parthenon is going to undergo restoration. It is interesting, that what starts as a mere copy can become a monument important enough to be seen as an entity to be restored in its own right – what started as a clone attains an identity of its own. The works will be on a somewhat smaller scale though the Acropolis restoration in Athens.

From:
Scotsman

‘Athens of the North’ icon to undergo a Greek revival
Published Date: 01 November 2008
By CHRIS MARSHALL

IT’S the iconic monument which helped cement Edinburgh’s reputation as the “Athens of the North” and looms large over the city’s skyline.

Now the National Monument on Calton Hill is to get a Greek revival as part of a £1 million project to breath new life into the Capital’s most prized monuments.
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Works on the Acropolis Restoration will include the installation of new sensors to measure the effects of earthquakes on the monuments.

From:
Associated Press

Scientists to measure quake effect on Acropolis
By ELENA BECATOROS – 58 minutes ago

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — For thousands of years the Acropolis has withstood earthquakes, weathered storms and endured temperature extremes, from scorching summers to winter snow.

Now scientists are drawing on the latest technology to install a system that will record just how much nature is affecting the 2,500-year-old site. They hope their findings will help identify areas that could be vulnerable, allowing them to target restoration and maintenance.
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