An online petition signed by 3,500 people calls for the concrete
pathways to the Acropolis to be removed.
Installation of new pathway and lift has been criticised by
archaeologists and called ‘a scandal’
When seen through the eyes of Manolis Korres, the architect who has long
presided over the restoration of the Parthenon, the Acropolis needs no
improvement at all.
ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΑ για το ΤΣΙΜΕΝΤΩΜΑ της ΑΚΡΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ, ΕΔΩ.
a maestro of order, making a monument that has survived explosions, fire,
looting and earthquakes more understandable to the public.
“Many generations of scholars have tried to bring order to this chaos,
myself included,” he said, while taking in the maze of marble slabs and
scaffolding-encased ruins around him. “The issue is to safeguard what is here.
In a hospital you have to take care of patients, for me the patients are
stones.”
Professor Manolis Korres in front of the Parthenon
‘Many generations of scholars have tried to bring order to this chaos,
myself included’ – Prof Manolis Korres. Photograph: Helena Smith/The Guardian
The wiry professor, a world-renowned authority on the fifth century BC
site and current head of the Acropolis Monuments Conservation committee, is regarded
as a national treasure in Greece. No man, say supporters, knows more about the
Periclean treasure, or the sacred rock on which it stands.
But at 73, 70 years after he was first taken as a child on the shoulders
of an uncle to visit the temples, the architect has also come under criticism
for interventions conducted during lockdown and deemed to have gone too far.
The installation of a new pathway paved in reinforced concrete across
much of the hill’s open space in the name of facilitating people with
disabilities has been met with dismay. So, too, has Korres’ proposed plan to
overhaul the ancient citadel’s majestic gateway, or Propylaia, by reinstating a
Roman staircase that would both broaden the entrance, correct previous
erroneous interventions and return it to some of its original form.
Critics complain that both pander to mass tourism rather than saving the
site from the ravages of time.
Prior to the pandemic, about 3.5 million tourists made the ascent to see
the Acropolis, the country’s most visited site.
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The map on this article was amended on 10 June 2021
to remove an incorrect reference to the Temple of Athena Nike. In the six months that the temples were closed to the public on account |
The alterations – the most significant on the site for more than a
century – replace an older pathway that followed the ancient Panathenaic way
and was much narrower in size. Opposition has been fierce. More than 3,500
signatories have endorsed an open letter on the online activist network Avaaz
calling for the pathways to be removed and other projected changes to be
cancelled. Following the completion of the corridors on the northern and
eastern area of the site, plans are afoot to extend the walkways west and
south.
“It’s as if the Parthenon itself has been lowered to street level and
surrounded by a cement pavement,” said Despoina Koutsoumba, president of the
Association of Greek archaeologists. “There has been a great deal of pressure,
especially from the cruise industry, to increase visitor capacity so that even
larger crowds can be accommodated.”
Dr Tasos Tanoulas, until recently director of restorations at the
Propylaia, also deplored the decision to cover so much of the rock’s face with
reinforced concrete, saying the move would lead inexorably to “degradation of
the natural landscape and a devaluation of the rock as a natural monument in
its own right, as a natural fort”. In a letter to World Heritage Watch – the
Berlin-based body established to ensure that prime sites are not sacrificed to
economic interests – Tanoulas argued the alterations appeared to “compete with
and diminish” the architectural and sculptural splendour of the monuments.
Yannis Hamilakis, a professor of archaeology and modern Greek studies at
Brown University, went further, saying the changes amounted to “a scandal of
global proportions” given the monument’s significance as a world heritage site.
“The most scandalous thing, perhaps, is that these works have been
carried out without prior systematic study,” he said. “They’re clearly an
attempt to recreate an imagined fifth century BC Acropolis, a neo-classical
colonialist and nationalist dream which converges with the government’s agenda
for further commercialisation of the site.”
If proof were needed, he said, the French designer Christian Dior will
be among the first to take advantage of the new expanded pathways with a
fashion shoot on the Acropolis next week.
But the changes have also won praise, and according to Korres, have the
added advantage of being ‘reversible’. “What we have done is patch rock
destroyed by the vicissitudes of time. We didn’t have the freedom to use
flagstones or other materials because they weren’t used in the past but, if
desired, all this surface,” he said pointing to the paving, “could be removed
in a day because of the membrane underneath.”
Greece’s culture minister, Lina Mendoni, a respected archaeologist
herself, defended the measures, saying they had been ratified at multiple
levels, including the powerful central archaeological council Kas. “They’ve all
been approved by people whose credibility cannot be disputed,” she said during
a tour of the site. “Since 2004 [when Athens held the Olympic Games] we’ve been
talking about improving access for people with disabilities.”
Each year about 150 people are seriously injured negotiating the
outcrop’s slippery limestone surface, she revealed. “Many break legs. Each
incident is recorded in the site’s logbooks. Whatever you do on the Acropolis
ignites debate. If you don’t do anything, you’re criticised; if you do, you’re
criticised.”
Tour guides gathered around the monument’s ticket booths on Wednesday
agreed the new pathways were overdue. “There are ambulances up here at least
four times a week,” said Athina Pitaki who has been guiding visitors around the
site since 1978. “I’ve been up here long enough to see all the changes and in
reality it’s much better now. It hasn’t affected the monuments. They’re still
as impressive as ever and for the first time people can enjoy them without
always fearing they’re about to fall.”
Korres knows he is in for a fight. Flooding at the site described as “a
predictable consequence” of the new paving following heavy rains last December
has intensified the outcry. Critics, led by Dr Tanoulas, claim it would be
impossible to detach the reinforced concrete because it would require
mechanical means and damage the rock.
But it is controversy the amiable professor appears to relish. “A
hilltop can’t flood,” he smiles. “Any intervention raises the issue of
aesthetics and is a controversial process. It’s always about weighing what is
gained and what is lost.”
SOURCE / ΠΗΓΗ: Helena Smith «Acropolis now: Greeks outraged at concreting of ancient site», The Guardian, 10 Jun 2021.
ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 11.6.2021.
