In addition, the Museum proceeded to change the lighting in the exhibition spaces of the first and third floors, creating better viewing conditions and highlighting charming details of the exhibits.
With reference to the “beloved teacher and friend”, the late Dimitrios Pandermalis, who passed away on September 14, 2022, the general director of the Acropolis Museum, Nikolaos Stampolidis, ‘opened’ the press conference on the museum’s activities in the period from June 2021 until June 2023, held today on the occasion of its 14 years of operation.
“The Acropolis Museum held a 40-day memorial service at the Holy Church of Agios Georgios and Agioi Anargyros Makrygiannis and on the same day an olive tree was planted in memory of its late President, which welcomes visitors at the entrance of the Museum on Mitsaion Street”, noted among others N. Stampolidis for the tree that is already “blooming and bearing fruit” and “will still exist even when we are not here”.
He also made reference to the “Dimitrios Pandermalis” Scholarship Program for Classical Archaeology, which was instituted by the board of the museum, which also gave the name of its late President to the Amphitheater.
The general director mentioned, among many other things, the renewal of the permanent exhibition mainly in the Hall of the Ancient Acropolis, with the aim of more rationally dividing the exhibits into their thematic sections.
The renovated hall, which will remain as it is with minor changes, “gives visitors the opportunity to understand not only the beauty of these works but also the society and the political and social development of the period that created them”, said N. Stampolidis.
Specifically, at the entrance of the hall in question the visitor is greeted by the two sphinxes of the Acropolis which are now facing each other, while immediately afterwards the famous Muscophorus, one of the most important plastic works of the Archaic era (around 570 BC) has a prominent place.
The concentration of the archaic architectural sculptures, the Maidens and the male statues in distinct sections allows for a better intake of the museum narrative and enhances the visitor’s experience.
The new exhibition section “Officials and Professionals” was also created, which enables the visitor to see with a different eye, not only the aesthetic beauty of the statues, but also the works of art, the people and the societies that produced them. At the same time, the exhibition was enriched with new works.
In the Hall of the Archaic Acropolis, Kouros (Akr. 596) was re-placed, after the restoration and alignment of the trunk with the base, and the base of the plinth of Smikynthes of Plyntria (Akr. 607), the column of Simon the Gnapheus (Akr. . 429) and the colonnade with the statue of the Maiden (Akr. 6503).
The head of Homer (EAM 626), the head attributed to the orator Dexippus (EAM 581) and the architectural member with the relief symbols of Athena (Akr. 2444) were added to the north wing of the first floor.
In addition, the Museum proceeded to change the lighting in the exhibition spaces of the first and third floors, creating better viewing conditions and highlighting charming details of the exhibits.
Also interesting was the update regarding the efforts to reunite the Parthenon architectural sculptures that were successful in the above two years, such as the UNESCO Decision, which recognized the transnational/intergovernmental nature of the Greek request for the reunification of the Parthenon architectural sculptures and which was taken on 29 September 2021 for the first time after 38 years of recommendations, the return from the National Archaeological Museum to the Acropolis Museum of ten fragments of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, on January 3, 2022 and, above all, the “route” of the definitive reunification of the “Fagan fragment” in east frieze of the Parthenon at the Acropolis Museum, which took place on 4 June 2022, an action which paved the way for the definitive return of three fragments of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon from the Vatican Museums which arrived in Athens on 10 March 2023 and were reunited with the existing at the Museum exhibition on March 24, 2023.
“It cannot be heard that the Greeks want the Sculptures for their own identity and pride. That is wrong. The Greeks want them here, not alone.
The global community wants them here for the experiential nature of the Parthenon hall in the Acropolis Museum with the monument opposite. The global community wants them and it is pushing in every direction because wherever they are placed, in the best museum in the world, in whatever lighting conditions, they will never have the caress of the sunlight that gave birth to them. These marbles shine in the sun only here.
Nowhere else can the light be reflected in the same way as here,” emphasized the general director of the Acropolis Museum, who also referred in detail to the story of the return of the Fagan fragment. “It is the first ‘Elginian’ to return to Greece.” , he said characteristically, emphasizing the great importance of his final return to Greece, as “this is the path that must be followed, the path of goodwill”.
Source :Skai
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