Chariots of Rubble

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  09.21.07 | 6:34 AM ET

acropolis
Photo by JOVIKA, via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Antiquity trumps Art Deco, at least in Athens, where ancient glory is both identity and economy. Two buildings—a 1930s landmark and a house owned by “Chariots of Fire” theme composer Vangelis Papathanassiou—are scheduled to be razed in order to clear the view of the Parthenon for visitors at the New Acropolis Museum, says the AP. The plan has enraged Athenians who believe Greece spends too much time lingering over its antiquities instead of appreciating (and preserving) its modern treasures. Neighborhood residents and architects have begun a feverish Internet campaign to save both buildings. So far they’ve gotten a lot of attention and e-mail support from all over the world.

Built by Vassilis Kouremenos, a graduate of Paris’s Ecole des Beaux Arts, the art deco building has a pink marbled facade and a mosaic of Odeipus and the Sphinx on its top floor. “They’re trying to make us vanish,” said Elly Kouremenos, Vassilis’s 85-year-old great-niece. “It’s as though there’s nothing between. Neo neoclassicism, no Art Noveau,” she told Bloomberg News earlier this month.

Vangelis’s pad is also tony but there’s no word on what the iconic new age composer thinks of the whole brouhaha.

The long-delayed New Acropolis Museum, a sleekly modern glass and concrete structure designed by Swiss-born, US-based architect Bernard Tschumi, won’t open until early 2008. It’s designed to one day hold the Parthenon Marbles, which Lord Elgin hacked off and took to England in the early 19th century. They’re now in the British Museum.

As a very wise and skeptical colleague from Rome noted once she saw the planning: Why did the Greeks plan their massive new museum this way when they knew these very buildings were in the way?

Or did they not care? As you ponder that, cue the “Chariots of Fire” theme for maximum drama.

Tags: Europe, Greece, News and Briefs

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


1 Comment for Chariots of Rubble

Irene 04.02.08 | 7:22 PM ET

My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Greece which included a stay near the old palace in Athens.  What struck us most was the contrast of new and ancient, at one intersection we saw a centuries old tiny chapel nestled in the footings of a modern skyscraper.  That photo got more comments from everyone that saw our photos than any other subject.  That contrast, at least to us, was what made the trip to Athens all the more interesting and memorable.  To not respect it, criminal.

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