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The Department of Museums of the Ministry of Culture has approved the proposal to renovate the old Acropolis Museum, which has been empty since 2009.

The plan envisages a refurbishment of the building’s interior into a modern space. The epigraphic monuments, which are now out in the open and eroded by the elements, will be relocated indoors. Certain architectural parts of monuments will also be put on show inside. A conservation laboratory, also on display for visitors, will function within the museum premises. Materials, illustrating the restoration of the Acropolis, will be a part of the exhibition.

The building was erected on the Sacred Rock in 1874. It will maintain its present appearance, which it acquired in 1964 under the design of Patroklos Karandinos.

The story of the old museum

The debates over the establishment of a museum on the Acropolis began in 1833, when the Turkish garrison had withdrawn from the area. The discussion lasted 30 years. The foundations of the old museum were laid on 30 December 1865, southeast of the Parthenon. It was completed in 1874 and plans were elaborated by the architect Panagis Kalkos. According to the plans, the building’s height should not exceed the Parthenon’s foundation.

The building is made of stone, has an area of 800 square meters and 11 rooms. The first exhibits in it were the scattered marble sculptures from the Parthenon. During the excavations for the museum’s foundations, parts of the Acropolis wall from the Mycenaean era were unearthed, and have been preserved in the building’s basement.

Soon the museum become too small for its exhibits and an extension was planned. In 1888, a small building was added to the east of the existing one, where the less significant findings were laid out. But the new building again failed to address the space shortage, which is why a new extension was proposed in 1914, but only materialised after WW2.

During the war many of the exhibits were stored in the cellars of the National Archaeological Museum or in the caves of the adjacent hills. They were returned to the museum after the war.

In 1953, the small building was demolished and the new museum expansion started based on the plans of Patroklos Karandinos. The new part ranges to the site of the Pandion Sanctuary, which dates back to the 5th century BC. The museum’s first rooms were opened in 1956, and the whole museum was completed in 1964.

Despite several extensions, the building never acquired the capacity to house all findings from the excavations around the hill. In 1974, it was decided that a new museum should be built from scratch. This was essential in view of the fact that Greece persistently demanded the return of the marble statues taken away by Lord Elgin and currently displayed in the British Museum.