The ACROPOLIS MUSEUM - Athens, Greece - History, Architecture, Collections

The Acropolis Museum

The Acropolis Museum was founded to exhibit all the significant finds from the Sacred Rock and its foothills.
It was designed by architect Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis
and inaugurated in the summer 2009.
The Museum is located in the historic Makryianni district,
situated 300 meters southeast of the Acropolis.
It is approximately 2 kilometers away from the center of Athens
and conveniently located next to the ‘Acropoli’ Metro Station.
The Museum’s main entrance is located at the beginning
of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, a pedestrian walkway that forms
the central axis within the unified network of the city’s archaeological sites.

The Architecture
The total area of the Acropolis Museum is 25,000 square meters with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters.
The architectural form of the Museum was
dictated by three major requirements:
it was necessary to maintain visual contact with the monuments
of the Acropolis; to exhibit the Parthenon sculptures in their entirety
and to adapt the building to the archaeological excavation
that extends across its foundations.
The visual link between the Parthenon sculptures
exhibited in the Museum and the monument from which they originated
is achieved through the transparent, glass outer walls
of the Parthenon Gallery.
From this Gallery, the visitor is treated
to a breathtaking view of the Acropolis,
the surrounding historic hills and the modern city of Athens.
Inside the Parthenon Gallery, a rectangular, solid concrete core
was built to the same dimensions and orientation as the Parthenon.
It was specially designed to receive and display the entire temple frieze.
At its base, the Museum appears to be floating, as it is supported
by more than 100 concrete pillars which provide an impressive shelter
for the site’s archaeological excavation.

The Collections
The Museum hosts its collections across three levels,
as well as in the archaeologicalexcavation that lies at its foundations.
Located on the ground floor, the ‘Gallery of the Slopes of the Acropolis’ houses finds from the sanctuaries that were founded on the slopes of the Acropolis,
as well as objects that Athenians used in everyday life from all historic periods.
On the first floor of the Museum, visitors are able to trace the evolution
of the Acropolis.
The nine-meter high, naturally lit ‘Archaic Gallery’, in the east and south sections
of the first floor, hosts the magnificent sculptures that graced the first temples
on the Acropolis.
It also displays the votive offerings dedicated by the worshippers, such as
the beautiful archaic Korai (depictions of young women), the Hippeis (horse riders), statues of the Goddess Athena, sculptures of male figures,marble reliefs,
and smaller bronze and clay offerings.

Many thanks to the Acropolis Museum for the above information

ACROPOLIS HILL and PARTHENONAS MONUMENT Photos from GTGhotels