ACROPOLIS MUSEUM

A first architectural competition was launched in 1976. Ten years later, Melina Mercouri relaunched the project as part of her campaign to provide a worthy setting for the Parthenon friezes in Greece. While he was British ambassador in Istanbul, Lord Elgin (1766-1841) had taken some of the most beautiful treasures of the Parthenon, still exposed to this day at the British Museum, which has the "custody" and still opposes their restitution. Designed by the Franco-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi, the new Acropolis Museum opened its doors in June 2009.

This gigantic structure of glass, steel and concrete is in direct visual contact with the sacred rock. Its bay windows skilfully reflect the Acropolis, visible almost throughout the visit. Upon arrival, the visitor discovers, on stilts and in the basement, the archaeological remains of the city. The collections are then organized into five themes: the slopes of the Acropolis, the Archaic Acropolis, the Parthenon, the monuments of the Classical Acropolis and the "other collections". Everywhere, the building uses natural light to highlight its 4,000 or so pieces.

On the first floor, one can admire antiquities from the Acropolis and remains of ancient Athens attesting to the occupation of the territory around 3000 BC. On the second floor, there are objects from the archaic period and the period after the construction of the Parthenon, including two lionesses pulling the god Taurus and a statue representing "Triton and the three-bodied monster".

On the second floor, a multimedia center broadcasts documentaries. Note that you can also access without a ticket and without queuing to the large open terrace on the Acropolis which houses a pleasant shaded café-restaurant.

On the third floor, the visit ends in a climax in the Parthenon room, designed to restore the dimensions and orientation of the Parthenon. It presents the famous frieze, at least what remains of it in Greece. Originally, this masterful sculptural composition included 378 figures, human or divine, and more than 200 animals (mainly horses). By "reconstructing" the puzzle of the Parthenon frieze, the Acropolis Museum elegantly reminds us that only one third of the remains found is displayed here. Indeed, the remaining two thirds, soberly stamped "BM" remind that the essential is still held by the British Museum in London. With the construction of this sumptuous museum, the Greeks hope one day to recover their friezes.