We ventured to the Acropolis today! It was everything I dreamed of, and more! The walk up there is a little steep and slippery but the views are spectacular. Actually seeing the Parthenon and the Temples up there is so much better than the pictures I took unfortunately. We are thankfully making two more trips up there, I felt like we didn't see everything. We got there around 9 am and it was already packed! Looking at it and the views from the top I completely understand why Greeks feel so much pride in their city and country. You can just feel the ancient thinkers presence there, you can imagine what it looked like over 2500 years ago. There were even archeologists there excavating as we were there, it felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie! The views are just amazing, you can see the entire city! I just love looking at all the ruins that are surrounded by such modern inventions. Also, my roommates and I plan to go up later in the night to try and watch the sunset! It's open until 8pm and we get in free with our student ID. I feel like we'll be there a lot haha.
We also went to the new acropolis museum and looked at the Archaic section which includes a lot of the statues and freezes found on the Acropolis. It opened in summer of 2009 so it's brand new! It's very beautiful and has a lot of stuff. I liked it a lot because it was very open and spacious and there wasn't any flourescent lighting or anything like that. The shops, however, were poor. That's something that Americans know how to do, make a decent giftshop.
The museum was designed by French/Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi after three failed contests. There was much controversy over the plans of the museum because it is actually built on top of an archeological site, Makrygianni. The lowest floor is actually several feet off the ground and parts of the floor is glass so you can see the site underneath your feet, very cool! The other controversy is centered around the demolition of two buildings next to the museum. The museum wants to knock down these historical buildings because it blocks the view from the restaurant of the Acropolis...really? So many Greeks are against it it probably won't happen. But they're all upset about it because it's historical for one thing, and two, they're Greeks.
Another thing everyone over here is so upset about, that I didn't know even was going on is the controversy between Great Britain and Greece over the "Elgin Marbles". So basically during the years 1801-1812 Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and the British ambassador to the Ottomon Empire, thought it would be ok to take all of these beautiful pieces from the Acropolis back to Britain. The debate is over whether or not Britain actually paid for these pieces and whether or not Britain should return them. So now they're all just in the British museum.
This is something from a website I found about how they're divided: "There were originally 115 panels in the frieze. Of these, ninety-four still exist, either intact or broken. Thirty six are in Athens, fifty-six are in the British Museum and one is in the Louvre. Of the original ninety-two metopes, thirty-nine are in Athens and fifteen are in London. Seventeen pedimental statues, including a caryatid and a column from the Erechtheion are also in the British Museum. So the Parthenon Marbles are almost equally divided -- half in London and half in Athens. "
The Acropolis museum wants these back! They want them in the brand new museum and to replace the replicas there now with the originals.
A lot of Greeks are clearly upset by this, as am I! I think it's absolutely ridiculous! Obviously these artifacts belong in Greece, this is where they were made, this is their home! You can just take whatever you find in another country, I believe it is the property of the civilization. Plus, Britain excavators did something stupid and removed "dirt" from some of the statues and it was really paint! They ruined so many of them because of that! Clearly, they don't know what they're doing.
I hope that gives you a little insight into the drama that is going on right here, so amazing that something that happened so long ago is still in the news today!
New pictures: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4307118&l=8d33cc6289&id=590541644
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