The ACROPOLIS MUSEUM, the COMMITTEE FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THE ACROPOLIS MONUMENTS (ESMA), the ACROPOLIS RESTORATION SERVICE (YSMA) present the photographic exhibition,
Chisel and Memory. The contribution of marble craftsmanship to the restoration of the Acropolis monuments.
Tuesday 11 June, 2019 – Sunday 12 January, 2020
As the Acropolis restoration works are about to be completed, all the more often we go back to the archive of the restoration, which has been set up through daily, systematic and detailed documentation at the worksites. This valuable repository of knowledge, containing more than 300.000 documents available to the researcher can be accessed in many ways and approached from various points of view.
The exhibition “Chisel and Memory: the contribution of marble craftsmanship to the restoration of the Acropolis monuments” chooses to approach the archival material in a special way and attempts to shed light to the everyday life in the worksite and to provide answers to a series of questions: what is the contribution of marble craftsmen to the restoration works and what is the degree of their involvement in the whole process? Which are the emotions that they experience and share during the interventions? How is the community of marble craftsmen organized and how does it operate through the cooperation, through sharing knowledge and experience or in leisure. The above has led to an division in 6 thematic groups: Self-denial, labour, collaboration, zeal, pride and companionship.
The photographic exhibition is enriched by some characteristic exhibits form the restoration works and is accompanied by a short video. The video uses footages of the audiovisual archive of the YSMA combined with the personal testimony of marble technicians who took part in the works.
The marble technicians of the Sacred Rock, thanks to the unique in the Western Civilisation monumental group of the Acropolis, which is also enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage List, continue the long tradition of marble-craftsmanship in our country, by transmitting their craft from generation to generation. In 2015 this craft was enlisted in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.
More about the exhibition at the Acropolis Museum
*The photographic exhibition of the YSMA Documentation Office “Chisel and Memory: The contribution of marble craftsmanship to the restoration of monuments” has been presented on the occasion of the celebration of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, 2018, from the Committee of the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments, the Acropolis Restoration Service, the Directorate of Modern Cultural Assets and Intangible Cultural Heritage.
