“If you find something Byzantine in this courtyard, I immediately leave my position,” said ESMA academic and president Manolis Korres, presenting on Thursday his proposal to restore the main entrance of the Holy Rock to the charged 7th International Meeting for Restoration of the Acropolis Monuments of YSMA.
Showing a photograph of the entrance to the Propylaea filled with chronologies of technical interventions, from 1850 to 1997, which created the serpentine corridors leading to the top of the rock as we know them today, Mr. Korres challenged the audience to point to “some stone »Which belongs to the Byzantine or medieval era and therefore contains historical value, which will be endangered by the implementation of his proposal for the restoration of the western access of the Acropolis.
According to Korre’s proposal, the main entrance of the Acropolis will regain its ancient form, with straight, large marble stairs and a wide staircase. “The rhetoric that has been used for many months is that this courtyard is full of historical phases that the proposed intervention is going to destroy,” he said, adding that those who claimed “let them bother to show them to us to answer”.
The presentation of Manolis Korre at the international meeting of YSMA.
In his detailed presentation, the professor tried to document with historical data that the current appearance of the main entrance is wrong and that it is largely based on interventions that were made from time to time, which tried to provide solutions to various technical problems that arose, usually during excavations, but also on paths that existed from the time when the Acropolis was a pasture. The ascent of the ancient Greeks was done through the Herodion, from stairs that were at the back and Mr. Korres said that if we want to be faithful to the ancient design, these stairs must also be restored.
Referring to the recent configuration of the corridors of the Acropolis, Mr. Korres noted that they allow the correct reading of the space, as designed by the architect of the Propylaea, Mnisiklis.
“That’s why we ‘cemented it'”, he stressed, referring to the square in front of the Propylaea and the small piece of land that was given to Mnisiklis’ work, while it belonged to the Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia.
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