The New Acropolis Museum is Athens' sleek modern temple to archaeology – a place where the tangled jumble of the Acropolis story, in all its 3,500 year old glory, can be properly told. An elegant and award-winning building, it has manages to reinvigorate the difficult task of presenting the complex history of Athens' most famous ruins.
It has been a long time coming, though. First proposed in 1976 – when the need for a bigger, modern replacement to the Acropolis' 19th century museum became apparent – it was only opened to the public in 2009. Part of the problem was location. In a city as rich in history as Athens, it was difficult to find a site that could be dug up, without destroying the heritage the museum was meant to preserve. The solution was ingenious – to place the museum onto stilts.
This allowed for archaeological work to carry on, while the museum was built and then opened to the public. And by making large sections of the floor glass-plated, visitors can peer into the on-going excavations. The New Acropolis may be the only museum in the world where you can see its future being dug up, right before your eyes.
That isn't the only act of intelligent presentation made by the architects. The New Acropolis sits at the foot of the Acropolis itself, because its four storeys are glass-fronted, you get wonderful views of the Parthenon floating overhead. The restaurant, in particular, has become a favourite attraction because of its unique backdrop.
What is more, the treasures collected here – ranging from ancient Mycenaean fragments 3,500 years old, to the Golden Age Athenian artefacts of the 5th century BC, to the later remains of the Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman periods – have been wonderfully arranged, giving you the sense of walking through history. The Parthenon Hall is a marvel, arranged exactly as the temple above. The only thing missing is the so-called 'Elgin Marbles', pieces taken from the Parthenon by an English aristocrat. The museum has replicas of these, for the moment. But it has let it be known – the jigsaw puzzle of the New Acropolis Museum will only be complete when they are finally returned.
