Acropolis walkway off limits to fairs, festivals
In the wake of damage wreaked over the past month by a book show and a political party festival on the one-year-old pedestrian route under the Acropolis, the government said yesterday it would ban such events from the walkway. A Culture Ministry statement also argued that use of Dionysiou Areopagitou and Apostolou Pavlou streets for similar events could harm the ancient sites the 17-million-euro walkway goes past. «Such intensive use of the pedestrian route threatens to contradict its function as a place for people to walk,» the statement said. «In order to protect the monuments and sites, the Culture Ministry will, in principle, not allow any event to be held on the walkway.» It said permission for «very few major events» would require a go-ahead from Greece’s supreme antiquities board. The walkway’s paving stones were broken and splashed with paint during work to set up stands for the two events.
