Head of new Acropolis museum denies delays
The official heading Greece’s efforts to build a new museum to house the Acropolis exhibits (including those now in the British Museum) in readiness for the Athens Olympics yesterday denied he had told a British newspaper that the building could not possibly be ready on time. «The view that the New Acropolis Museum will not be ready in 2004 does not represent me,» Dimitrios Pandermalis, a professor of archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki who is in charge of the 50-billion-drachma project, said in a statement. «On the contrary, work to that purpose is proceeding in a concerted fashion and at a rapid pace.» An article in yesterday’s Independent on Sunday quoted Pandermalis as saying that work on the museum had «simply started far too late.» After a 13-year delay, the new building’s foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in June. «This man will never let go of my daughter,» she said. «He’s still ruining our lives. We’re just going through life, day by day, waiting to see how he’s going to terrorize us next.»
