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First floor of Stoa of Attalos opens to public after 30 years
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For the first time in 30 years, the first floor of the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient Agora next to the Acropolis in Athens, has opened to the public The Stoa of Attalos is among Athens’s finest monuments. It was fully reconstructed and made into the Ancient Agora Museum, by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. But the first floor had remained closed to the public until Wednesday. Archaeological research has revealed that the ancient shopping mall was built in 150 BC by Attalos II, king of Pergamon, who gifted it to Athens. Most recently, the Stoa of Attalos hosted the 2003 European Union Summit, where Cyprus’s accession to the EU was signed. The opening of the first floor of the Stoa is part of an initiative for the revival of the Ancient Agora run jointly by the ASCS, the Culture Ministry and the First Ephorate of Antiquities. The project has a total budget of 964,000 euros and is co-funded by the European Union and the Public Investment Program of the Development Ministry. The first floor of the Stoa it will house an exhibition of sculptures found during excavations at the Ancient Agora, representing Athenian art from the Late Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods. The 56 objects that comprise the permanent exhibition are a rare treat as they have never been shown to the public before. | 
