Bulgaria President Attends Awaited Acropolis Museum Opening

General view of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, under the temple of Parthenon. Photo by BGNES

The opening ceremony for the long-awaited Acropolis Museum in Athens is to be held Saturday evening.

The modern concrete and glass building designed by US-based architect, Bernard Tschumi, is located at the foot of the ancient Acropolis, in the heart of Athens' historical district.

As many dignitaries from all over the world are expected to arrive for the ceremony, the Greek authorities have sealed off the entire area around the Acropolis in the early afternoon Saturday.

The guests include the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, UNESCO Director General, Koïchiro Matsuura, Bulgaria's President, Georgi Parvanov, the Cyprus President, Demetris Christofias, the Prime Ministers of Finland, Serbia, Croatia, Cyprus, Slovakia, Monte Negro and over 30 Culture Ministers and prominent politicians.

Turkish PM, Recep Erdogan, cancelled at the last minute his Athens trip. He stated health problems as the reason in a phone call with his Greek counterpart, Kostas Karamanlis.

The keynote address will be delivered Saturday evening by the Greek President, Karolos Papulias.

BBC cites Culture Minister, Antonis Samaras, saying he hoped the new museum would be the "catalyst" for the return of the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum.

Some of the sculptures, also known as the Elgin (after Lord Elgin, who took them out of Greece) Marbles, originally decorated the Parthenon temple and have been in London since they were sold to the museum in 1817.

The British museum has long argued that Greece has no proper place to put them - an argument the Greek government hopes the Acropolis Museum addresses.

The building, set out over three levels, holds about 350 artefacts and sculptures that were previously held in a small museum on top of the Acropolis.

Antique ceramics and sculptures are displayed on the first floor while the Caryatids - columns sculpted as females holding up the roof of a porch on the southern side of the Erechtheum temple - dominate the top of a glass ramp leading up the second floor.

Sculptures from the Temple of Athena and the Propylaea entrance to the Acropolis will be displayed on the second floor, while the third features a reconstruction of the Parthenon Marbles.

 

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