ACROPOLIS MUSEUM

A first architectural competition was launched in 1976. Ten years later, Melina Mercouri relaunched the project as part of her campaign to provide a fitting setting for the Parthenon friezes in Greece. While British ambassador to Istanbul, Lord Elgin (1766-1841) had snatched some of the Parthenon's finest treasures, still on display to this day at the British Museum, which has "custody" of them and is still opposed to their return. Designed by Franco-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi, the new Acropolis Museum opened in June 2009.

This gigantic structure of glass, steel and concrete is in direct visual contact with the sacred rock. Its bay windows cleverly reflect the Acropolis, visible almost throughout the visit. As soon as visitors arrive, they discover the city's archaeological remains on stilts and in the basement. The collections are then organized into five themes: the slopes of the Acropolis, the Archaic Acropolis, the Parthenon, the monuments of the Classical Acropolis and the "other collections". Everywhere, the building makes the most of natural light to showcase its 4,000 exhibits.

On the first floor, visitors can admire antiquities from the Acropolis and remains from ancient Athens, attesting to occupation of the area around 3000 BC. The second floor features objects from the Archaic period and the period following the construction of the Parthenon, including two lionesses pulling the god Taurus and a statue depicting "Triton and the three-bodied monster".

On the second floor, a multimedia center broadcasts documentaries. The large terrace overlooking the Acropolis, which houses a pleasant, shaded café-restaurant, is also accessible without a ticket and without queuing.

On the third floor, the tour ends with a grand finale in the Parthenon Hall, designed to recreate the dimensions and orientation of the Parthenon. It features the famous frieze, or at least what remains of it in Greece. Originally, this masterly sculptural composition included 378 figures, both human and divine, and over 200 animals (mainly horses). In "reconstituting" the Parthenon frieze puzzle, the Acropolis Museum elegantly reminds us that only a third of the remains found are on display here. Indeed, the remaining two-thirds, soberly stamped "BM", are a reminder that the bulk is still held by the British Museum in London. With the construction of this sumptuous museum, the Greeks hope one day to recover their friezes.