The Acropolis Museum

Discovering the Acropolis Museum: A Cumulative Walk through Ancient Greece

The Acropolis Museum focuses on the findings from the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens, the ancient citadel located on the rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, which contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and archaeological significance. It aims to house every artifact found on the rock and surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece—it also lies over several parts of the ruins of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.

The museum was founded in 2003 and opened to the public on 20 June 2009. It exhibits more than 4,250 objects over an area of 14,000 square meters.

A Brief History of the Acropolis Museum

The first museum, on the Acropolis, was completed in 1874 and underwent a moderate expansion in the 1950s. However, successive excavations in the area uncovered many new artifacts that significantly exceeded its original capacity.

Additional motivation for a new museum arose every time Greece requested the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the United Kingdom: the main argument of British officials was that Greece had no suitable location to display the sculptures. Creating an exclusive gallery for the display of the Parthenon Sculptures has been a key component in all design proposals for the new museum.

The first architectural competition to design a new museum was held in 1976 and was limited to participants from Greece. Both the 1976 competition and the one that followed in 1979 failed to produce any results, mainly because the plots of land selected for the proposed constructions were deemed unsuitable.

A third international competition took place in 1989, considering three new possible sites, and appointed the work to the Italian architects Manfredi Nicoletti & Lucio Passarelli. After delays throughout the 1990s, construction works based on this third design progressed to the stage of excavations for the foundations. They stopped due to sensitive archaeological remains on the site, leading to the annulment of the competition in 1999.

The Modern Structure

Henceforth, the new museum location became rather straightforward: an unused plot of land, formerly the Hellenic Gendarmerie barracks (also known as the Makriyianni Camp), located across from the Theater of Dionysus—not to be confused with the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The barracks were on public land, and a limited number of expropriations of surrounding private houses were necessary to free up space. The main building of the old barracks, a former military hospital by Bavarian military engineer Wilhelm von Weiler, was also renovated and currently houses the Museum of the Center for the Acropolis Studies.

The new plans featured an elevated museum building on pillars. The competition was only open to architectural practices by invitation, and the work was finally appointed to Bernard Tschumi Architects, New York, in collaboration with Associate Architect Michael Photiadis, Athens Consultants. Excavations on the site revealed two layers of modest, private roadside houses and workshops, one from the early Byzantine era and another from the classical era. An intensive collaboration between architects and archaeologists led to suitable solutions for the final location of the foundation pillars, without damaging the surrounding antiquities. The pillars extend through the soil to the underlying bedrock and float on roller bearings, capable of withstanding an earthquake magnitude of 10 on the Richter scale.

The Architecture

Tschumi’s design revolves around light, movement, and a direct visual connection between the exhibits, the Rock itself, and the in situ Acropolis monuments from which the exhibits originate.

The collections unravel in three levels, with a fourth, middle level housing auxiliary spaces, including the museum shop, café, and offices. The first level features findings from the slopes of the Acropolis. The long rectangular hall has a sloping floor, resembling the ascent to the rock. A trapezoidal hall that contains the archaic findings follows. On the same floor, visitors marvel at artifacts and sculptures from other Acropolis buildings (the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Propylaea) and findings from Roman and Early Christian Athens. The intention is that visitors see the latter on their way back down to the first floor, keeping in line with chronological order: they are first directed to the top level, which displays the Parthenon Sculptures.

The top level sits askew to achieve the same cardinal orientation as the ancient temple on the Acropolis. The spacing of the columns of the Parthenon Gallery is the same as that of the ancient temple. Glass walls on all four exterior walls allow natural light to illuminate the Parthenon Sculptures as it would on the ancient temple. Unlike the British Museum’s Parthenon/Duveen Galleries (Rooms 18, 18a, and 18b), where the sculptures are displayed looking inward, in the AM, the pediments, metopes, and frieze are facing outwards, as they did on the Parthenon.

The 48 columns in the Parthenon Gallery mark the outline of the ancient temple and form a peristyle for displaying the Parthenon Sculptures. For ease of viewing, the pediment marbles are displayed at eye level in front of the end columns; the metopes are displayed on the columns, two per column, but not as high as in the ancient temple; and the frieze sits behind the metopes, forming a continuous band around the walls of a rectangular space set inside the columns, as in the ancient temple but not as high, again for ease of viewing. The exhibition combines the original marble sculptures with plaster copies of those retained in the British Museum and other foreign museums.

From the north side of the Parthenon Gallery, one can see the ancient temple above the Acropolis. The final exhibition unit, reached after returning to the north wing of the first floor, includes works from the 5th century BCE to the end of antiquity. Since the museum sits over an extensive archaeological site, some parts of the floor are glass to allow visitors to see the excavations below. The Acropolis Museum construction was co-financed by the Hellenic Republic and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Exquisite Artifacts

The Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes

The first exhibition space, on the museum’s ground floor, contains finds from the Acropolis slopes. Representing an integral part of the Rock’s topography and history, the slopes hosted small and large sanctuaries, old and new cults, theatrical and musical venues, and private residences. The gallery is divided into the Settlement and the Sanctuaries sections.

The Settlement section contains finds from the settlement developed on the Acropolis slopes from the 3rd millennium BCE through the 6th century CE. Most of these artifacts were discovered during the 1950s excavation on the south slope of the Acropolis, in front of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The Sanctuaries section features finds from the caves and natural plateaus on the Acropolis slopes, which accommodated the worship of gods, heroes, and nymphs. Most were popular cults revered by the Athenians alongside the official gods.

Left: Found in 1904 at the south of the Theatre of Dionysus. The stele widens at the top, where the marble sole of a luxurious sandal is attached with two iron nails. The sandal’s metal straps were fitted into notches. On the sandal, we see the figure of a mature man dressed in a himation. He has his right hand raised in a typical gesture of respect. An enormous relief snake slithers from the lower part of the stele upward toward the sandal. Between the snake and the sandal is a carved inscription that reads “Silon anetheken,” meaning Silon dedicated it. This Silon could be the man depicted on the sandal. The snake is associated with the worship of heroes and the sandal, which in ancient Greek is called blaute (βλαύτη), most likely links this offering with the worship of Hero on Blaute/Hero on a Sandal (Λατρεία του Ἥρωος ἐπί Bλαύτῃ) as found in ancient literary sources. However, some archaeologists connect the stele with Aphrodite, who is sometimes portrayed holding a sandal.

Right: Part of a marble votive relief with Pan and a Nymph found in 1835 during the dismantling of an Ottoman construction near the Propylaea. The relief may have come from the Sanctuary of Pan. The goat-legged god sits on a high rock and most probably plays the pan flute. The Nymph, wrapped tightly in her himation, approaches him while dancing on her toes.

Bottom right: Part of a votive relief with Nymphs found on the Acropolis. Two Nymphs (of the usual three depicted with the goat-legged god) are wrapped tightly in their himatia and dance towards Pan, with only traces of his goat legs preserved.

The Early History of the Acropolis & the Archaic Acropolis Gallery

As you go up the broad staircase from the ground floor to the first level/floor, slouch slightly to the left first! There, you will find the exhibition area of The Early History of the Acropolis with two small sections of finds linked to the Acropolis’ distant past. The objects mark the Rock’s evolution from a citadel and seat of the local ruler to a sacred place dedicated to the worship of Athena and other gods. You can then proceed to the middle and right of the staircase to the enormous Archaic Acropolis Gallery, which is divided into three sections: The Buildings, The Dedications, and The Dedications of the Early Classical Period (480-450 BCE). The gallery occupies the entire eastern and southern sections of the first floor, devoted to the Acropolis during the Archaic period (700-480 BCE)—an Acropolis different from the one of Classical times, which we know so well today, but of equal magnificence, with impressive temples and numerous dedicatory offerings. Unfortunately, photography in this section is strictly prohibited.

The Parthenon Gallery

As you reach the end of the southwest section of the Archaic Acropolis Gallery, take the escalator/stairs you will find on your right. Do not worry about the north side yet—you are supposed to hit that on your way back down! You can bypass the second level/floor or pause for a break to enjoy the restaurant & views from the terrace facing the Rock.

Whenever you decide you are ready for it, move on to the third-floor gallery specially designed to accommodate the Parthenon Sculptures. The space is a glass-walled chamber that wraps around a rectangular core, whose orientation and dimensions match those of the original Parthenon cella.

The outer walls of the core incorporate the relief-carved blocks of the Parthenon’s Ionic friezes, mounted in the same position they held on the temple but at a lower height for better viewing. The metopes are in pairs between steel columns, equal in number to the temple’s. The statues that used to be on the temple pediments have been mounted on low pedestals at the east and west gallery sides, visible from all directions. The exhibition combines the original marble sculptures with plaster copies of those retained in the British Museum and other museums.

Kekrops & Pandrosos: The figures kneel on the ground while they turn towards the scene of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon at the center of the pediment. Kekrops, with his himation wrapped around his waist, rests on his left arm and raises his right hand, in which he perhaps held a scepter. Pandrosos embraces her father’s shoulders with her right arm, dressed in a belted chiton that leaves her left breast exposed. Her himation falls over the chiton and wraps around her right thigh. A snake sculpted in a separate piece of marble coiled between the two figures, indicating King Kekrop’s native origin—the mythical king of Athens was supposedly born by Gaia (Earth), and the lower part of his body had the form of a snake tail.

The statues were in their original place on the temple’s pediment until 1977, when they were removed for their protection from air pollution and bad weather conditions. Their heads, parts of their arms, and the snake were broken off and lost. Only a part of the snake, currently in the British Museum in London, has been preserved after it was forcefully detached by Thomas Bruce, lord of Elgin, who removed most of the sculptures that he found on the pediments between 1801 and 1804, when Greece was still under Ottoman occupation. A plaster copy of the snake is exhibited in the AM.

Other Monuments of the Periklean Building Programme

After taking in all that The Parthenon Gallery has to offer—impossible in a single visit, in my opinion—you can climb the escalator/stairs back to the lower levels. If you did not take a break on the second floor on your way up, now would be the time to do it. Then, you can head back to the first floor to venture into the north wing.

Just off the stairs, on the northwest side of the AM’s first floor, you will find featured works from other monuments of Pericles’ building program on the Acropolis, some of which were completed after his death. The exhibition includes sculptures and architectural structures from the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erechtheion.

The part of the Erechtheion where the Caryatids are is a little tricky to find, although it’s hard to miss! It suspends between two voids above the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes and the grand staircase, but is separate from the rest of the first-floor wings. You will find it behind the gallery wall at the back of the escalators, near the elevators. It is visible from the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes Sanctuaries section and the staircase, as well as from the balcony of the media center on the second floor. Natural light reaches the statues from the skylights covering the void above them through all the top levels of the AM.

The Korai, which decorated the south porch of the Erechtheion, stood on a low base/podium arranged in a Π-shaped layout facing the way to the Acropolis, along which passed the procession of the Panathenaic festival. The vertical folds of their garments resemble column fluting, and the peculiar capitals in the shape of baskets on their heads supported and grounded the roof’s weight.

Replacing the columns with female statues was a common Greek architectural practice since the Archaic period. The term K[C]aryatids has been handed down to us by Vitruvius, who tells the story of the women from Karyes in Laconia, Peloponnese, who were punished and forced to carry the weight of their clothes and jewelry on their heads because their city had supported the Persians. On the other hand, according to Lucian, the women from Karyes were famous for their dance in honor of the goddess Artemis, performed with ceremonial baskets on their heads.

There are many interpretations for the Korai in modern times: Kekrops’ daughters, Arrhephoroi¹, or young women participating in the Panathenaic procession. The most convincing, however, is that they were part of an above-ground monument over the grave of the mythical King Kekrops, the Kekropeion, located below the Erechtheion. They were the choephoroi, the libation bearers that honored the dead hero-king, pouring offerings with the phialai² held in their hands.

Five of the Caryatids (Korai A, B, D, E, and F³) are in Greece, while the sixth (Kore C) is in the British Museum in London, after it was detached in 1804 by Thomas Bruce, lord of Elgin. In 1979, the Korai were removed from the Erechtheion and transferred to the old Acropolis Museum to protect them from air pollution. On the Erechtheion, synthetic stone copies replaced them. Since 2009, the Korai have been displayed in the Acropolis Museum.

¹ The Arrhephoroi were girls from prominent families between the ages of seven and eleven who resided annually on the Acropolis, serving Athena Polias. (They were two or four.) They took part in various ceremonies, like setting up the warp on the loom for weaving goddess Athena’s Panathenaic peplos and carrying the secret sacred objects of the goddess down the Acropolis during the festival of Arrhephoria.

² Phiale: A shallow and broad vessel employed mainly for libations and choes, also used as a ritual drinking vessel, a sanctuary dedication, or a wedding gift. It was made from various materials, such as metal, clay, and marble. “Phiale” is also a generic name for wide, open vessels without handles.

³ Kore F had been destroyed by a Turkish cannonball in 1827 and was found in fragments during the excavations conducted in 1837 near the temple’s south wall. The fragments were restored in 1846 except for her feet, and the lowest part of the Kore was filled with a piece made by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Andreoli. This piece was eventually removed, and the original fragments are now in place. She is still missing part of her head, along with the neck, her arms, the pelvis, and thighs.

From the 5th Century BC to the End of Antiquity

Exit the Caryatids room of the Erechtheion section and turn right to the north and final gallery on the first floor to follow the trail of the Acropolis’ history from the 5th century BCE to the end of antiquity in seven sections.

Discovering the Acropolis Museum: Is the Walk Ever Over?

That is it(?). You have now successfully delved into all four levels of the AM. There is a lot to take in, and a single visit will not do it justice—as is the case with most grand museums around the world. As you take the grand staircase back to the ground floor, do not forget to check the temporary exhibition area past the ticket and information booths down the long corridor to the left of the cloakroom. The last time I visited, they were hosting ‘Meanings.’ Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to Today, and currently, they are hosting the Χαίρε Ξένε. In the Land of Dreams photography exhibition by Robert McCabe until Sep. 8, 2024. You also don’t want to miss the archaeological excavation outside at the feet of the AM, featuring an entire ancient Athenian neighborhood!

*All info from wikipedia and the Acropolis Museum website
Images by Athina D. Pantazatou for Kicking Back the Pebbles