Acropolis Museum models on display
The 12 designs and models submitted in an international competition to build the new Acropolis Museum, including the winning design by the French-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi and Michalis Fotiadis, his Greek colleague, will from today be on display at the Weiler Museum in Makriyianni, near the Acropolis. At a press conference yesterday, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the museum will have a large hall designed to house the Parthenon Marbles which have been in the British Museum since the early 19th century. Greece has been waging a campaign to have them returned to their homeland, despite British criticism that there is no suitable place to display them in Athens. «Even that argument will collapse once the museum is built,» said Venizelos. Professor Dimitris Pantermalis, head of the new museum’s construction committee, said it is scheduled for completion in 2004 when Athens is to host the Olympic Games. He said the committee had examined the designs for four months before reaching a decision.
