Archive

Greece's Modern Wonder

Bernard Tschumi’s state-of-the-art Acropolis Museum opened in Athens this week. Linda Yablonsky tours the ancient treasures and revisits the debate of how the Parthenon lost its marbles.

galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-5_vws0il
Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-5_y7rel0

The New Acropolis Museum rests in the shadow of the Parthenon.

Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-12_nmg5hv

Officials and guests at the new Acropolis museum during the opening ceremony in Athens on Saturday, June 20.

Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-7_kctvzy

Visitors came to see the more than 4,000 exhibits on display, including those parts of the Parthenon's marble frieze not held by the British Museum in London.

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-1_abeypd

Many of the works displayed in the museum are more than 2,500 years old.

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-2_iio7ef

A 2nd-century B.C. male marble statue displayed in the new Acropolis Museum.

Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-3_j90ubb

The late 5th-century B.C. Caryatid sculptures that propped up part of the ancient Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis are displayed on a balcony in the museum. One of the Caryatids is still on display at the British Museum in London.

Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-9_hcqmsq

Greece's Orthodox Church formally blessed the new museum in its opening week.

Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-13_sydric

The museum, which cost nearly $200 million, provides an airy setting for some of the best surviving works of classical sculpture that once adorned the Acropolis.

John Kolesidis / AP Photo
galleries/2009/06/25/greece-s-modern-wonder/acropolis-museum-10_iod6lp

Photos of the so-called Kritios Boy statue are projected onto the walls of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens. The Kritios Boy was one of the statues the ancient Athenians dedicated to their patron goddess, Athena, on the Acropolis.

Petros Giannakouris / AP Photo

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.