Greek museum hopes for return of Elgin marbles
A state-of-the art museum that Greeks hope will persuade Britain to return the Elgin Marbles will start the operation to transfer priceless artefacts from the Acropolis this weekend.
More than 4,000 ancient statues, friezes and others will be transported by a series of cranes to the glass-and-concrete structure near the foot of the ancient hill.
“It’s going to be like a ... ballet of cranes – or like James Bond,” Bernard Tschumi, the US-based architect who designed the museum, said.
The long-awaited museum is not due to open to the public until next autumn.
Many Greeks hope the building will give a push to the government’s long-standing campaign to persuade Britain to return the Parthenon sculptures currently housed in the British Museum.
One of the reasons Britain has given for refusing to return them is that Greece lacked proper facilities to ensure their preservation.
Lord Elgin removed the sculptures from the Parthenon in the 19th century.
A glass hall at the top of the two-story museum – with a wall of windows allowing visitors to look directly onto the 2,400-year-old Acropolis – will house the parts of the Parthenon frieze still in Athens.
The space set aside for the missing sculptures will hold replicas covered with veils.
Initially supposed to be ready before the 2004 Athens Olympics, the new museum’s construction was delayed by long-running legal fights and archaeological discoveries at the site.
To protect the finds – including the remains of a 3rd-7th century Athenian neighbourhood – the entire building is supported on columns that allow visitors to view the ruins through reinforced glass floors.
