Platoon Academy: The architectural competition for the study of the Archaeological Museum was announced – Photos

August 18, 2022

Robert

In the Archaeological Museum of Athens it is planned to house unique findings from the rescue excavations

The architectural competition for its study was announced Archaeological Museum of Athens, in the Plato Academy, which will be an ark of memory and culture, a starting point for highlighting the Academy itself and upgrading the wider area.

According to a relevant announcement of the municipality, the Museum will be of total area 14,362 sq.m. and will be erected on an area granted to the Ministry of Culture and Sports by the Academy of Athens, joining the historical environment of the Plato Academy. It will also be bioclimatic and have unimpeded access for people with disabilities in all its areas.

In the Archaeological Museum of Athens, it is planned to house unique findings from the rescue excavations, which have been carried out by the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens, in various areas of Athens in the past decades, as well as findings from the excavations of the Metro.

“In addition to the enormous historical and cultural value that the creation of the Archaeological Museum of Athens has for the capital, the regeneration of the archaeological site and the grove will provide a hyperlocal pole of culture, greenery and recreation in one of the most degraded areas of the capital. Improving and significantly upgrading the quality of life of the residents, offering development possibilities and opportunities for the creation of jobs” is emphasized in an announcement by the Municipality of Athens.

“The richness of the finds is unique, from prehistoric times, the classical, Hellenistic, Roman period, up to Byzantine times and is a decisive factor for the history of ancient Greek art, making it necessary to study and exhibit them, presenting the timeless course and development of the city” is underlined in the announcement of the municipality, in which it is also mentioned that “the Plato Academy was considered a suitable place for the construction of the museum, as a place of intellectual radiation, but also an important point of Athens, where since the 30s extensive expropriations were carried out by Panagiotis Aristophrons and by the Greek State”.

Also, in the surrounding area, the construction of an open amphitheater with 500 seats, while within the Museum building, the building facilities of the “International Public of Academies” are included. At the same time, the plan for the promotion of the Plato Academy foresees, on the part of the Municipality of Athens, the regeneration of the green space with the creation of a park of the “future”, based on terms of sustainability and sustainability.’

“The balance of greenery in the archaeological site will grow as there will be brave plantings of Mediterranean trees. The targeted increase in the greenery of the surrounding area, combined with the application of the principles of bioclimatic design of the building, will contribute decisively to the environmental upgrading of the area. In addition, the planning also includes the enlargement and modernization of the stadium’s infrastructure, which is located within the site”, the announcement emphasizes.

The area where it will be built has been zoned by law since 2002, while the architectural competition is provided for in the Program Agreement signed by the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni and the Mayor of Athens Costas Bakoyannis in 2021.

In April 2021, the studies of the municipality and the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens were approved by the Ministry of Antiquities, for the promotion of the archaeological site and the grove of the Plato Academy, while in June 2022 a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Academy of Athens and of the Municipality of Athens for the promotion of the Archaeological Site of the Plato Academy and the Operation of the International Audience of the Academies.

The Cultural Development Program Agreement between the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Athens, with the aim of further highlighting and protecting the archaeological site and the monuments of the Plato Academy, improving and upgrading the infrastructure and protecting the natural environment, has a budget that amounts to the total amount of 3,837,432.08 euros.

Mendoni: “Strategic visionary plan for decades”

“The Ministry of Culture’s ten-year strategic vision plan for Athens” described the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, the construction of the Archaeological Museum. “We continue, systematically, the program of the reconstruction of the emblematic archaeological site of the Plato Academy. We work closely with the Municipality of Athens and the Academy of Athens to highlight the history of the capital, especially when the International Community of Academies will co-operate in the same building. Athens, with a history of thousands of years, is perhaps the only metropolitan center that does not have a Museum of its history and archaeology. With the architectural competition, we look forward to proposals that, with ingenuity and respect for the historicity of the place and the environment, will cover the current gap by highlighting the unique wealth of the findings of archaeological research on the land of Athens, from 1960 onwards, in the great historical through time, and could only be exhibited in a Museum dedicated to the history and archeology of the capital. Thousands of findings from Athens have never been exhibited until today. Many of them complement our knowledge of ancient Greek culture and ancient Greek art in a decisive way. Inside the regenerated space of the Plato Academy, in a building designed with bioclimatic principles, these treasures will present the history and archeology of the city, with the most modern approach”.

Bakoyannis: “Great archaeological finds will be housed”

For his part, the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, stated that “the Museum of the City of Athens is the cornerstone of the visionary and pioneering project to revive the Plato Academy, which we are implementing together with the Ministry of Culture and the Academy of Athens. The announcement of the architectural competition for the design of the “greenest” museum in the country, as we have committed, fills us with joy and pride! The new Archaeological Museum of Athens will house important archaeological findings, which had remained unseen until today and each of which could be the central exhibit in the world’s largest museums. We aspire to become an international pole of scientific, artistic and cultural activities while at the same time, it will be an integral part of the life of the neighborhood.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, as in the next period two of the major interventions on the site of the Plato Academy will also begin. The archaeological excavations to reveal a valuable, priceless and hidden part of our history and the regeneration of the green space, with the creation of a park of the “future” based on the terms of sustainability and sustainability. I am sure that the final result will justify our joint efforts to improve the lives of the residents of the wider area, through the regeneration and promotion of the Platonos Academy,” he stressed.