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A major restoration project has been completed on the 2,500-year-old monumental gateway to the Acropolis in Athens.

The seven-year project, costing 6.5 billion euros (£5.85 billion /$9.3 billion) involved lengthening the roof on the ancient marble building known as the Propylaea. The Culture Ministry said 255 blocks of marble had been taken down from the monument so that experts could remove metal clamps used by previous restorers. These had rusted and had also caused extensive cracking.

The Propylaea is the only Acropolis monument to retain large sections of its ancient roofing. The hilltop temples are also undergoing extensive restoration, expected to continue beyond 2020.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers top-class luxury hotels in Athens with views of the Acropolis, including the sumptuous King George II Palace and Grand Bretagne.

The new museum at the Acropolis in Athens is to have its grand opening on June 20th.

Festivities have been scaled down because of the recession, but the event will still be marked by a dinner for visiting heads of state and government and a high-tech show in the new building.

The glass and concrete museum, lying at the foot of the Acropolis, will give visitors the chance to gaze at the Parthenon while looking at displays and artefacts from the ancient Greek site. It’s hoped to attract two million guests a year. Until the end of 2009, the entrance price will be a mere 1 euro (90p / $1.40), rising to 5 euros (£4.50 / $7) in 2010.

The building was designed by Bernard Tschumi, a Swiss architect, and Michalis Photiadis, his Greek associate. Its construction took almost 10 years as Byzantine-era ruins found on the site had to be excavated and the ground floor redesigned.

Amid all the excitement of the opening, a shadow hangs over the project because of the absence from the displays of the 2,500-year-old Elgin – or Parthenon – Marbles. These sculptures were removed in the early years of the 19th century by Lord Elgin, the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, of which Greece was still an unwilling part.

They’re on display at the British Museum in London and repeated Greek requests for the works to be returned have been turned down. Officials argue that the collection was legally acquired from Lord Elgin and is accessible, free of charge, to millions of visitors.

The Greek Culture Minister, Andonis Samaras, said the inaugural ceremony would not be directly used to promote Greece’s campaign for the return of the Marbles, but he believed that the new museum’s display — which will highlight the absence of about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures — would turn public opinion in Greece’s favour.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can help you book top-class luxury hotels in Athens close to the Acropolis, including the sumptuous King George II Palace and Grand Bretagne.

Part of the Acropolis in Athens is to be a no-go area for high heels and chewing gum.

Greek officials say irreparable damage is being caused to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a stone theatre structure located on the south slope of the famous tourist site. The theatre attracts 350,000 visitors a year, is one of the main venues of the Athens festival and has hosted the Bolshoi Ballet.

Two years ago, cleaning crews reportedly removed 59 pounds of chewing gum from the theatre’s delicate marble seats. Stilettos are also causing damage during performances at the theatre.

The Culture Minister, Antonis Samaras, has submitted a draft law to parliament, suggesting that anyone caught chewing gum or wearing heels could risk a hefty fine and arrest. A set of guidelines coming into force from next January will also ban food and drink at performances and forbid entry to anyone who is drunk.

Over 18 months of writing these articles, it’s depressing to see how many times I’ve had to report on selfish tourist behaviour – drunkenness, litter-bugging, graffiti on a Basilica terrace in Florence and on the Great Wall of China, and now chewing gum on ancient marble. As the Chinese tell their people: “The cultivation of a congenial and harmonious travel environment benefits every tourist. It is our bounden duty to be a tourist with refined manners.”

by Andy Moreton

A new museum opens at the Acropolis in June (more on that next month). If you’re planning a visit to Greece, Luxique has a varied selection of luxury hotels in Athens, including the celebrated Grand Bretagne.

The Acropolis temples in the Greek capital, Athens, are being given a high-tech makeover.

Over the past two-and-a-half thousand years, the elaborately sculpted stones have fallen prey to a film of black crust from car exhaust fumes and industrial pollution.

Now, a team of Greek engineers and restorers are using innovative laser technology to clean the surface of the monuments, uncovering colours and ornamentation hidden for decades.

The team tested forty different methods, including mechanical and chemical processes, to find the safest solutions to restore the white of the marbles without losing detail.

The winner was the brainchild of Crete’s Foundation for Research and Technology, which created a system that uses two laser beams of infra-red and ultra-violet rays simultaneously. The new system blasts off layers of black film, leaving the marble details intact and without discoloration.

It’s a risky business though, requiring the utmost precision. In the past, restoration attempts have caused damage.

“The cleaning is not reversible,” said Evi Papaconstantinou, the head of the restoration team. “If you remove something, you cannot put it back in place. So we must be quite sure that we remove the unwanted pollutants and leave the substratum intact.”

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers top-class luxury Athens hotels with views of the Acropolis, including the sumptuous King George II Palace and Grand Bretagne.

Italy has given Greece back a fragment of the Parthenon sculptures.

The 2,500-year-old marble piece, measuring 14 inches by 13, depicts part of the robe and right foot of the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. It was in a large frieze that originally stood above the entrance to the temple in Athens.

It was among the marble pieces stripped from the temple in the early 19th century. A large proportion of them were taken by Lord Elgin, the then British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, of which Greece was a part.

He sold them to the British Museum, where they reside today, despite Greece’s efforts to secure the return of what have become known as ‘The Elgin Marbles.’

The fragment given back to Greece had been in a museum in Sicily – Elgin had given it to the British Consul-General there on his way back to London. It took thirteen years of delicate negotiations by the Greek government to secure the piece on permanent loan and it’s hoped this will help in the campaign to have the Elgin Marbles returned from the British Museum.

The Greek President, Karolos Papoulias, told a news conference: “This is the first step toward healing the wound left on the holy temple by the removal of the Parthenon marbles.”

by Andy Moreton

Luxique has a fine selection of boutique and luxury hotels in Athens.