The New Acropolis Museum: An Update

Det nye Akropolismuseum
New Acropolis Museum, Athens. Photo: TMK, September 2007.

I was briefly back in Athens this week and made a trip past the New Acropolis Museum to see how the site has progressed since I was last there in the spring. To me, the museum looks a bit out of place and has turned part of the lively Makriyianni neighbourhood into a generic museum space. Its next victim will be no. 17 Dionysiou Areopagitou, a 1930 Art Deco apartment building. The museum’s relationship to the Weiler Building is also less than happy. However, I look forward to seeing the museum and its new exhibits (including those concerning the excavations of the museum site), when it opens next year. More photos below the fold.

Det nye Akropolismuseum
The entrance from Dionysiou Areopagitou. Photo: TMK, September 2007.

Det nye Akropolismuseum

The New Museum and the Acropolis from Hatzichristou. Photo: TMK, September 2007.

Det nye Akropolismuseum

A view from Makriyianni. Photo: TMK, September 2007.

Det nye Akropolismuseum

Yet another view from Hatzichristou. Photo: TMK, September 2007.

Borgerprotest i Athen

The inhabitants of 17 Dionysiou Arepagiou protest against the demolition of their homes. Photo: TMK, September 2007.

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2 Comments

  1. I live in Athens, and it’s sad that a part of this beautiful street will be destroyed. As for the museum, it looks a bit too modern for my taste, especially in this neighborhood, but one has to see it on site to decide for sure. When they first started building, I thought they had something more traditional in mind.

  2. This is the most elegant and important piece of contemporary architecture Athens has ever had. The most controvercial as well. It is going to be a world class Museum, hosting some the most important works of art in the history of human kind.

    To the Greek Ministry of Culture: Let us not disturb the importance and value of all this by demolishing two superb neoclassical buildings that are also part of the city’s history just because they interrupt views of the Acropolis Holy Rock from part of the new Museum!!!

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