NEWS

Symposium of the International Committee of Architectural Photogrammetry, October 2007

The Acropolis Restoration Service co-organized the 21st International Symposium of the International Committee of Architectural Photogrammetry (CIPA), which was held in Athens at the Zappeion Megaron, 1-6 October 2007. The special theme of the Symposium was «Anticipating the future of Cultural Past». The organization was a collaborative effort with the International Committee for Architectural Photogammetry (CIPA), the international and Greek sections of the ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites), and the Photogrammetry Workshop of the School of Agronomic Topography of the National Technical University of Athens. The YSMA participated with the presentation of its work at a meeting on 3/10/2007 dedicated solely to the restoration of the Acropolis monuments.

Events in Sydney, Australia in October 2007

On the invitation of the Society for Hellenism Abroad of the Pacific and Far East, the YSMA, in collaboration with the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum, the Department of Modern Greek Studies (Faculty of Arts, School of European, Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Studies, Department of Modern Greek) and the Department of Architecture (Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning) of the University of Sydney, arranged a series of events on the subject of the Acropolis, in October 2007. The purpose of the programme was to promote the Acropolis works, the New Acropolis Museum and Hellenic Culture in general, in Australia.
The events included:

1. Exhibition of the Acropolis restoration work held in the Nicholson Museum of Sydney. The exhibition remained in Sydney until mid-December 2007.
2. Lectures given at the University about the works on the Acropolis monuments (24/10/2007) by M. Ioannidou and N. Toganidis, and about the New Acropolis Museum (30/10/2007) by Professor D. Pantermalis.
3. On the national holiday of the 28th of October, celebrated with special brilliance by the Hellenes Abroad of Australia, a "Family Day" was held for the purpose of informing families and students about the Acropolis and in general about museums and the management of cultural heritage.
4. A roundtable discussion (public debate) was held on the subject of cultural heritage management and the question of the material evidence of cultural heritage remaining in its country of origin ("Who Owns Cultural Heritage?"). This was held on the 28th of October, 2007.

Exhibition at Berlin in Germany in March and May, 2008, and in other cities of german-speaking Europe

From the beginning of March to the end of May 2008, the photographic exhibition of the Restoration Works of the Acropolis, consisting of photographs by the photographer of the Service, Socrates Mavrommatis, was presented at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The exhibition was taken to other cities of German-speaking Europe as well. Specifically, the public had the opportunity to see it at the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg, at the Archaeological Institute of Freiburg, the Sculpture Gallery of Basle, the Germano-Roman Museum of Cologne, the Archaeological Institute of the University of Hamburg, the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the Westphalian University Wilhelm in Munich, at the Liebieghaus in Frankfort, the Museum of the History of Art in Vienna and other cities of German-speaking Europe.

Abstract: Events at Beijing in China in May and June 2008

2008, the year of Greece in China, is the Olympic year that united Greece, the country that organized the 2004 Olympic Games, with China, the country that organized the 2008 games. In May and June of 2008, the Acropolis Restoration Service held an exhibition of the Acropolis Restoration Works at which the visitors were also able to see documentary films of the Service and a film about the Parthenon frieze. A two-day symposium was also held at the Tsinghua University of Beijing. The subject of the symposium was the works of restoration on the Athenian Acropolis and in the «Forbidden City» of Beijing.

Participation of ΥSΜΑ at the international conference of ISPRS (Ιούλιος 2008)

A special session dedicated to the Acropolis entitled "Recording and Documenting the Acropolis of Athens. From Classical, Ancient Greece to Modern Olympics" was included in the international conference "The international Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information". The conference was organized by the ISPRS (International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) from 3 to July 11, 2008.

The session speakers were scholars and project directors from YSMA as well asassociates.

Exhibitions on the restoration works on the Acropolis in Germany (2008-2009)

Meeting on the use of modern technologies at the restoration of the Acropolis 19/03/2010

The meeting on modern technologies in the restoration of the Acropolis was organized by the Acropolis Restoration Service in the Acropolis Museum on March 19, 2010. It provided an opportunity to present the important work of geometric documentation and instrumental monitoring of monuments on the Acropolis held in previous years to the scientific community. The Proceedings were published in the Issue 10 of the Newsletter.

Presentation of the Acropolis restoration works at the British Museum on 8/10/2010

On October 8, 2010 a meeting on the restoration works at the Acropolis of Athens was held at the British Museum with the participation of the Acropolis Restoration Service (YSMA) members. The President of the Acropolis Restoration Scientific Committee, Emeritus. Prof. C. Bouras, made ​​the overall assessment of the project progress in the past 35 years, while the Director of the Service Mrs. M. Ioannidou, presented the research and technology projects implemented in the framework of the project. The restoration works carried out in each monument were presented in detail by the heads of each technical office. The presentations were published in a volume entitled "Acropolis Restored" by C. Bouras, M. Ioannidou and Ian Jenkins (eds.) to be released in March 2012.

Education program: A day in the Acropolis: Restoring its monuments 29-30/3/2012

The educational program "A day in the Acropolis: Restoring its monuments" was organized in cooperation with the 1^st Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, between 29-30/3/2012. The program aimed to introduce students to the restoration work taking place at the Acropolis in a series of workshops on site. The participation was impressive as a total of 40 secondary education schools visited the site in those two days. The program was curated by the archaeologists of the Department of Public Relations and Education, Irine Kaimara (Head of the sector), Asimina Leonti, Sylia Paraschou and Cornelia Hadziaslani (Head of the department by the end of 2011).

Restoration works on the Parthenon 26/03/2012

     Recently the restoration works center on the northwest corner of the Parthenon. Due to serious damages observed on most of the architraves of the west side, it was decided, on the basis of the approved study, to proceed to their dismantling and restoration on the ground. In effect:

• six architrave blocks located at the northwest corner (three blocks of the west side and three blocks of the north side of the corner) are to be removed and transferred to the ground.
• iron joins placed in visible spots on the outer surface of the stones during the restoration of N. Balanos in 1905 will be removed.
• titanium joins will be inserted internally to the stone fragments, so as to consolidate the fractured areas. 
• apart from the architraves, consolidation and conservation interventions will extent to the underlying capitals.
• after consolidation and conservation, the capitals and the architraves will be reset as close as possible to their original position. This procedure will effectively result in the minimization of the observed structural deformations that are attributed to diachronic earthquake activity.

     Already two of the outer architraves have been dismantled and lowered to the ground, the westernmost weighing 9 tons and the northernmost weighing 7.8 tons. Works will continue with the lowering of the internal architraves, which will be followed by the lowering of the intermediate ones. Similar works are planned to take place in the southwest corner of the Parthenon. 

Restoration works on the Parthenon 8/05/2012

    In April, the lowering of 6 architraves from the northwest corner of the Parthenon was completed. The stones weigh from 5 to 9 tons (40 tons in total). Three of them were fractured and their restoration has already been inititated.

    The structural restoration involves a series of tasks such as:

• cleaning the surfaces to be joined
• perforating the marble to insert titanium rods, in order to reinforce the join
• filling the holes with mortar consisting of white cement and inserting the rods
• sealing any observable voids with mortar consisting of white cement and quartz sand
• maintaining the moisture in the joined area in order to achieve the full strength of the mortar

    All these tasks are performed on specially designed platforms, so as to ensure the proper adjustment of each individual part. The joined piece is left to rest for 20 days.