The parliamentary report submitted to the Minister of Culture by Sia Anagnostopoulou regarding the subject: “Regarding the recent, current and upcoming projects in the Acropolis of Athens”, states the following:
The interventions and extensive construction activities on the rock of the Acropolis, which were criticized by hundreds of scientists and experts from the international community and which changed the shape of the universal monument with large volumes of concrete, have repeatedly employed since 2020 the Greek section of ICOMOS.
This time with an extensive press release referring to the recent, current and upcoming works on the Acropolis of Athens – works that will largely deprive it of authenticity and integrity – it sounds the alarm “for the protection of the unique ensemble of nature and art that is the Acropolis”.
In the press release it becomes clear that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is indifferent to the recommendations of the UNESCO/ICOMOS expert mission and has not complied with the instructions of UNESCO/ICOMOS/ITCN (2002) as well as other management guidelines of the World Heritage Convention and calls on those responsible (Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens, Acropolis Monuments Maintenance Service and Acropolis Monuments Maintenance Committee) to reflect on their responsibilities and act accordingly.
For the above reasons, today, Friday 4/5, I submitted this specific press release as a parliamentary report and I am waiting for the Minister of Culture Ms. Lina Mendoni’s response regarding this major issue concerning the universal monument.
The report:
The Member of Parliament for Achaia New Left Sia Anagnostopoulou submits as a reference the press release from 1/4/2024 of the Greek section of the International Council of Monuments and Sites ICOMOS regarding recent, current and upcoming projects
in the Acropolis of Athens.
The Greek section of ICOMOS refers to its strong reaction but also to the international reactions caused by the sudden layering of the Acropolis rock with reinforced concrete in the fall of 2020, the announcement of a program to cover the entire Acropolis with new materials and the approval by the Central Archaeological Pre-study council for “reconstruction” of the Roman scale also with new materials.
In fact, following the international conference organized in November 2021 in order to ostensibly legitimize, as noted, the works in question, the reactions did not stop, resulting in the Consultative Mission of representatives of UNESCO and the international ICOMOS.
As alleged in the said press release, the UNESCO Mission then agreed with the YPPO’s view on the reversibility of the layers in the rock, following it was found to have been completed and remained under the close control of
Ministry. The Mission, it is pointed out, ignored documented damage to the natural rock and the ancients, limiting itself to pointing out the possibility of improvements.
Nevertheless, the indications for the planned works to cover the rock of the Acropolis and the staircase in the western access were very clear and the Greek side had to comply with the instructions of UNESCO/ICOMOS/ITCN (2002) as well as other management guidelines of the Convention World Heritage Sites, just as they are listed in the press release of the Greek section of ICOMOS.
The Ministry of Culture chose to interpret the Mission’s report as praise, continuing in practice the construction activity (layers with reinforced concrete, etc.) culminating in mechanical excavations, instead of systematic excavations required before any intervention in an archaeological site.
The “fixings”/”restorations” of important monuments are also very worrying, but even more problematic is the exhibition of nine original marble plinths with inscriptions from the archaic and classical periods, the
which will become a random outdoor location, contrary to the rule that portable signs must be displayed indoors.
It is emphasized that such interventions should be carried out following completion of a cycle of studies and decisions that will not only be made by the Ministry of Tourism but also by the World Heritage Center and the related Advisory Organizations. Subsequently, the Greek section of ICOMOS cites typical incidents that confirm that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is indifferent to the recommendations of the UNESCO/ICOMOS mission.
Furthermore, it is characteristically noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses as an argument for more building additions, the unprecedented crowding of the Acropolis in 2023 due to the large number of visitors, even stating for its part that the problem will be solved with direct structural interventions in the western access and in the interior of the Propylaea that will include the “Propylae lot”!
In fact, the studies for western access are not open to the public, as they appear to have been directly commissioned to private companies. The press release refers in detail to how ICOMOS knows how the reformation of the western slope will take place and to specific interventions which, as it is emphasized, “These measures only guarantee damage and deformation of the monument’s architecture.
The western slope of the Acropolis will look like an exhibition center of modern technology. The proposed interventions are
contrary to the Venice Charter of 1964 and the ICOMOS Charter of Principles of 2003, etc. In addition, they presuppose major rearrangements in the archaeological sites north, west and south of the Acropolis, which require many years of systematic excavations and studies before any implementation”.
Finally, it is emphasized that according to the website of the private company that was commissioned in April 2023 to draw up Management Plans for eleven Greek monuments/sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, including the Acropolis, that the contractor company’s activities do not related to cultural heritage management.
ICOMOS warns that by the autumn of 2024, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that the cycle of studies and decision-making will be completed, constructions will have been added in and around the Acropolis, without a Management Plan and with non-transparent procedures, contrary to the Report of the Advisory Mission UNESCO/ICOMOS, the 1964 Venice Charter and the 2003 ICOMOS Charter.
The Greek section of ICOMOS, with this extensive press release, sounds the alarm “for the protection of the unique set of nature and art that is the Acropolis” and calls on those responsible (Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens, Acropolis Monuments Maintenance Service and Acropolis Monuments Conservation Committee) to reflect on their responsibilities and act accordingly. In addition, it calls for the support of civil society and international cultural heritage organizations.
Please review the Report immediately following the press release, respond and inform us of your actions.
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