Maintenance and cleaning work on the flagship fountain of Syntagma Square has been completed, so this is reopening today to offer its cool downtown.
Work lasted 1.5 months And as the Municipal Authority reports, in the Department of Cultural Heritage There is no prior recorded scientific maintenance of the fountain. The damage it had suffered were both on the marble surfaces and the construction itself. Features and weldings of marble fragments, older seals and joints, cracks, scratches, black crusts, biological grounds and salts, graffiti traces, stickers, silicones and other adhesives and other adhesives, and damage was observed.
As a newer monument, it belongs to the corresponding protection status laid down by law. At the request of the Municipality of Athens, the Department of Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture conducted a maintenance study implemented by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Directorate of City and Urban Environment of the Municipality, incorporating the project “Maintenance”.
“The historical fountain of Syntagma Square, a 1872 jewelry project, made of Pentelic marble, acquires new life,” said Mayor Haris Doukas, adding: “For the first time after 153 years we proceeded with the scientific cleaning of the surfaces and its comprehensive surfaces. The work was done with “surgical” accuracy by specialized staff. It is a great project, completed with excellent professionalism and respect for the history of the monument. The fountain-local in the heart of Athens acquires the glow it deserves. “
For her part, the art historian and head of the Historical Archive of Athens Zeta Antonopoulou stressed: “The cleaning was conducted in two large tanks, with the required work on the interior and outer side walls. The fountain consists of separate pieces of Pentelic marble, each of which has specific quality characteristics and special damage. At the same time, joint consolidation work was carried out, with the removal of older mortars. Cracks were filled and firing, rehabilitation and protection of cement infrastructure and basin internal surfaces. The whole construction was protected with antigraffiti. “
The work was entrusted to the conservator of antiquities and artworks Vassilis Markakis. The work worked a workshop by diplomatic conservationists of antiquities and works of art, as well as specialized marble craftsmen. As experts point out, what needs to be ensured is the operation of water filters and periodic maintenance of marble surfaces, as damage is caused not only by vandalism, but mainly by environmental conditions, as well as by inappropriate interventions. Great difficulty was found in the outer tank, which had been derived with an unknown product, probably without preparing the surface, creating a hard black crust over time.
A 153 -year -old fountain
The fountain of Syntagma Square bears the inscription “MUNICIPALITY OF ATHENS 1872” and according to the literature, attributed to Ernesto Ziller. The central element of the square has been over time, but it has undergone conversions that led to today’s form.
In the original central section there was a marble flower flower with all -out cosmos (metal composition with aquatic birds and reeds at the bottom and a youthful statue with shell as a tutorial). The pattern was strongly western. Later, the central section appears to have been transferred to the identical fountain of Koumoundourou Square (Eleftheria Square), where it is preserved to this day, but without the scene. It is not excluded, however, that there were two identical fountains of the same time from the outset, as was often the case with urban equipment.
According to photographic documents, shortly before the mid -20th century, construction was not a fountain, but as a small garden, a circular flowerbed with ornamental flowers. It is also considered the possibility of today’s central element (the inner marble tank) coming from the old circular fountain of Kotzia Square, with a possible transfer there in the framework of the municipality of Athens in the 1960s. More broader Syntagma Square.
The lower basin of the fountain consists of 27 architectural members, ranging from 40 cm to 110 cm and 55 cm high due to the slope of the soil, the fountain has a total height of 60 cm from the ground to the top of the square and 88 cm at the bottom of the square to Ermou. Inside the large basin there is a smaller than the same construction material, consisting of 11 architectural members and is also based on a built -in base.
Source: Skai
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