Old Acropolis Museum

The Acropolis Museum
Μουσείο Ακρόπολης
Established	1865
Dissolved	2007
Location	Athens, Greece
Type	Archaeological
Website	No official website

The Old Acropolis Museum (Greek: (Παλαιό) Μουσείο Ακρόπολης (Palaio) Mouseio Akropolis) was an archaeological museum located in Athens, Greece on the archeological site of Acropolis. It is built in a niche at the eastern edge of the rock and most of it lies beneath the level of the hilltop, making it largely invisible. It was considered one of the major archaeological museums in Athens. Due to its limited size, the Greek government decided in the late 1980s to build a new museum. The New Acropolis Museum is now built at the foot of the Acropolis. In June 2007 the old museum closed its doors so that its antiquities could be moved to their new home, which opened on 20 June 2009.^[1]

History

The museum was home to many of the Greek world's ancient relics found in and around the Acropolis of Athens since excavations started. It was designed by architect Panagis Kalkos and was constructed between 1865 and 1874. It was expanded in the 1950s to a modern design executed by Patroklos Karantinos, a Greek modernist architect.^[2]

The Acropolis Museum housed stone sculptures and bronze remains^[3] from the monuments of the Acropolis and some artifacts that are excavated on the site. The building is located in the south-east corner of the Acropolis. In 1974 prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis proposed the construction of a new museum. Initial plans were made under Melina Mercouri and the ground of the Makrygianni former military hospital and Gendarmerie barracks was chosen. The first competition was criticized and a new competition proclaimed some years later. In 2007 the old building was closed to prepare the move to the new building.

The new building

A new building was designed by Bernard Tschumi and Michali Fotiades, and constructed from 2002 to 2007 on Areopagitou Street. It was inaugurated on Saturday, June 20, 2009, and the entrance fee was 1 euro for the first year, and 5 euros thereafter.

Damage to the Acropolis

Drainage pipes from the Old Acropolis Museum have been attributed for causing much of the decay of the Acropolis.^[4]

Collections

The museum housed artifacts that were found on the site of the Acropolis of Athens. They derive mainly from the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Eleusinion, the Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia, the Chalkotheke, the Pandroseion, the Old Temple of Athena, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the sanctuary of Asclepius or Asclepieion, the Temple and Theatre of Dionysus Eleutheureus, and the Odeon of Pericles.^[5]

Highlights

Notes

^ "New Acropolis Museum". Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.
^ The Acropolis Museum: A Descriptive Catalogue Brouskari M.S. (1974) Commercial Bank of Greece
^ The Bronze Fragments of the Acropolis Bather A.G. The Journal of Hellenic Studies (13), 1892 - 1893, pp. 124-130
^ "Greek Tragedy: Acropolis Is 'Decaying'". Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.
^ "Ministry of Culture and Sports | Acropolis of Athens". odysseus.culture.gr. Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.

External links

37°58′16″N 23°43′41″E / 37.971°N 23.728°E / 37.971; 23.728

[1] "New Acropolis Museum". Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.

[2] The Acropolis Museum: A Descriptive Catalogue Brouskari M.S. (1974) Commercial Bank of Greece

[3] The Bronze Fragments of the Acropolis Bather A.G. The Journal of Hellenic Studies (13), 1892 - 1893, pp. 124-130

[4] "Greek Tragedy: Acropolis Is 'Decaying'". Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.

[5] "Ministry of Culture and Sports | Acropolis of Athens". odysseus.culture.gr. Retrieved Mar 28, 2023.

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v t e Museums in Athens
Archaeological	Acropolis Museum Epigraphical Museum Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art Kerameikos Archaeological Museum Kanellopoulou Museum National Archaeological Museum Stoa of Attalos Archaeological Museum of Piraeus Old Acropolis Museum Pieridis Museum Syntagma Metro Station Archaeological Collection Museum of the Center for the Acropolis Studies Athens International Airport Archaeological Collection
Byzantine and ecclesiastic	Byzantine and Christian Museum
Ethnological/historical	Athens War Museum Drossinis Museum Eleftherios Venizelos Historical Museum Goulandris Natural History Museum Jewish Museum of Greece Museum of the City of Athens National Historical Museum
Folklore	Museum of Greek Folk Art Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments Centre for the Study of Traditional Pottery Museum of the History of the Greek Costume
Art museums/galleries	Athinais Cultural Center Benaki Museum B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation Deste Foundation Emfietzoglou Gallery Museum Frissiras Museum Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art Gounaropoulos Museum Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum Marika Kotopouli Museum Municipal Gallery of Athens National Gallery (Athens) National Glyptotheque National Museum of Contemporary Art Nikos Chatzikyriakos-Gikas Art Gallery Panos Aravantinos Decor Museum Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation Museum
Industry/technology	Eugenides Foundation Hellenic Air Force Museum Hellenic Motor Museum Railway Museum of Athens Electric Railways Museum OTE Museum of Telecommunications Technopolis (Gazi)
Education/sports/ special interests	Athens University Museum Hellenic Children's Museum Hellenic Cosmos Hellenic Maritime Museum Mineralogy and Petrology Museum Museum of Anthropology of University of Athens Museum of Criminology Numismatic Museum of Athens Postal & Philatelic Museum of Greece Spathario Museum Tactual Museum of Athens Theatrical Museum of Greece Zoological Museum of the University of Athens
Museum ships	Georgios Averof Velos D16 SS Hellas Liberty Olympias