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Victoria Mindova

"Dad, why are we here?," a little girl asked her father in the new AcropolisMuseum on the National Day of Greece, the 25^th of March. The father answered: "Because there is history not only in the books, but in the stones it has carved. Here you can see how old people lived many years before us and understand what tribulations they have lived though." I overheard this conversation while I was sitting on the top floor of the new museum, admiring the view of the Acropolis this afternoon. The modern museum building shelters an impressive collection of historical artifacts and remains of the ancient culture of the Hellenes as we know them from history books.

The Ministry of Culture has decided to allow free attendance to all museums and archaeological sites in the country on the National Day and it proved to be extremely high. People of all ages, gender and nationalities flocked to catch a glimpse of the world cultural heritage of this Mediterranean country. In contrast to the emptiness typical for the streets of Athens on this day, the area around the Parthenon and the new AcropolisMuseum was full of people even more than during a rally in Syntagma Square on a weekday.

"There should be free entrance for the museums all year round, not just on the National Day," said an enthusiastic woman who was queuing to the metal detector at the entrance of the museum. She and her family came to visit their friends in Athens. The opportunity to visit the new AcropolisMuseum with her husband and their two children seemed very attractive to her.

The decision of the Ministry of Culture was adopted with similar enthusiasm by people of all ages. In the museum you could see young families with small children, elderly couples, holding hands, groups of young people who came to learn something about the culture and the history of the country in which they live. A young couple of students told GRReporter that the free entrance to the museum is a good occasion to visit it. "Maybe 5 euros is not much money, but when you count every cent it is not easy to set 10 euros aside (for both of us) to visit it," explained the young people.

A family of Australians of middle age defined the new AcropolisMuseum and the historical site around it as striking and acknowledged that one visit is not enough. "Free of paid entrance, we would visit it anyway. We came from across the world," said the tourists playfully.

The thousands of years of life of the Parthenon and the greatness it has seemed to make all visitors powerful and confident. Тhe crowds of people around the historical and cultural monuments in Athens on the holiday bore a rare sense of calmness and confidence. Much as the Acropolis has withstood the vagaries of fate and continues to watch the life around it from above, the anxiety of the restless and troubled times that Greece is experiencing could be seen on the faces of the visitors.

A symbol of the power and possibilities of man, the new modern AcropolisMuseum and its historical exhibits was awarded the prize Museum of the Year 2010 by the British Guild of Travel Writers. If you find yourself in Athens, GRReporter strongly recommends that you visit it.