Acropolis restoration work proceeding slowly but surely
Professor Haralambos Bouras, chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of the Acropolis Monuments, has said it often enough before, but this time he is saying it with a lot more certainty: The three basic areas of the ancient temple’s restoration will be completed by the end of the year. The rest of the restoration work will take another three to four years, while other plans to improve the look of the surrounding area and to work on the promotion and projection of the site will not be fully implemented until 2020. The fact is that restoration work on a monument as old as the Acropolis is never really over. Some of the delays in the ongoing restoration are due to the fact that the Central Archaeological Council (KAS) has not yet examined certain studies. There are also other unresolved issues, such as where to house a number of stone epigraphs that are still outdoors. Temple of Athena Nike The restoration of the Temple of Athena Nike is taking a good deal of time as new technical requirements keep cropping up. This time they are having to reinforce the old concrete slab around the temple and restore the frieze and the cornice as well as having to reconstruct a section of the eastern pediment. The structural problems located in the peripheral walls of the Acropolis and noted in the annual report by the preservation committee are extremely complicated to deal with, according to Bouras, because a large section of the ancient wall is covered by another that dates to 1715, while other sections have collapsed and were rebuilt. The professor also said that over 100 fragments from the Parthenon and the Propylaea were found in the area and those of special interest were handed over to be displayed at the Acropolis Museum. Work on the northern colonnade – the greatest challenge facing the restoration committee – is ongoing, though here, too, there have been some technical delays.
