Twenty years after its location in the historical surroundings of the Platonic Academy, the vision for the construction of the Archaeological Museum of Athens is taking shape with the announcement of an architectural competition by the Renaissance of Athens S.A. company yesterday. This is the last (and decisive) step in a chain of actions lost in time and in the first archaeological research at the expense of the expatriate Panagiotis Aristophron between the wars, which matured in the last two decades and led to an ambitious comprehensive project to recognize and highlight the cultural added value of the underestimated and neglected Athenian area for decades.
The competition is characterized as a “comprehensive open competition of ideas and includes urban planning and architectural research, as well as the study of traffic rules.” In new spaces, the history of the city of Athens will appear in a new unified museological narrative thanks to the finds discovered as a result of decades of archaeological research, masterpieces that remain invisible in the warehouses of our archaeological services.
As stated by the Mayor of Athens and President of “Regeneration of Athens SA”. Kostas Bakoyannis in June last year, when a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Culture, the municipality and the Academy of Athens, which owns a significant part of the total area of the archaeological grove, the new museum will also house the International Society of Academies, an “annex” to the research institute of Plato’s Academy, which will welcome Greek and foreign scholars. In 1929, Aristophron bought property in the area, which he demolished for excavations. In his will, drawn up in 1937, he provides for the transfer of land to the Academy of Athens in order to continue excavations and create an International Society of Academies.
The construction of the museum is part of the general plan for the reconstruction of the archaeological park. As early as April 2021, the respective studies of the Municipality and the Ephorate of the Antiquities of the City of Athens have been approved by the KAS, while the architectural and museological studies for the new museum have been approved by the competent services of the Ministry. interior. The plan also includes expanding and upgrading the infrastructure of the Platonos Academy stadium.
Source: Kathimerini
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