terraeantiqvae : Mensaje: Scientists retrace Parthenon’s brilliant hues

Tests turn up bits of ancient red, green and blue paint on temple

Foto: This computer-generated view, produced by Iowa State University’s Virtual Reality Applications Center, shows the Parthenon as it might have appeared during its colorful prime. Iowa State Univ. VRAC

By Heather Whipps

If the ancient Greeks sold kitschy postcards to tourists 2,000 years ago, they would have depicted much different views of the popular sites that visitors flock to today.

Archaeologists say many of the stony ruins looked much different in their prime. Many were brightly painted in hues that have faded with time and, in some cases, with forced removal.

The Parthenon in Athens was once covered in colorful splashes of paint, for example.

It has long been known that the formidable marble temple, which sits atop the capital city’s Acropolis citadel, had been painted. New tests, performed by Greek archaeologist and chemical engineer Evi Papakonstantinou-Zioti, confirm the use of brilliant shades of red, blue and green.

Traces of the colors were found during a laser cleaning done as part of ongoing restorations to the temple, built in 432 B.C.

Simple weathering caused the colors to fade over time, said Sara Orel, associate professor of art history at Missouri’s Truman University.

“Weathering through the bleaching of the sun, blowing of the sand, etc., and more modern pollution-caused damage” are the major culprits, Orel told LiveScience. She sees this through much of Egypt, where the carved designs on most ancient buildings were painted to make them stand out more prominently against lighter stone. Today those colors are barely visible.

One renowned institution has come under fire for how it may have helped the Parthenon’s aging process along.

Some of the Parthenon’s most intricate carvings now reside in a specially built wing of the British Museum in London. The panels in the collection, dubbed the Elgin Marbles, may have been stripped of some of their remaining color for aesthetic purposes when they arrived in London in the early 19th century and again over subsequent cleanings, experts say.

One cleanup in the 1930s was particularly devastating. A historian at Cambridge University claims museum representatives used steel wool and chisels for the task — hardly the stuff of sophisticated conservation efforts employed today. The thinking is that the museum reps were operating under the same assumption held by most of the modern public: that the sculptures were originally a bright white.

“Michelangelo's sculpture wasn't painted, and great classical sculpture was thought not to be either, so they improved the stuff,” Orel explained. “At the time it was not quite the horrific thought that we would make it now.”

Ian Jenkins, writing in a paper released by the British Museum in 2001, stops short of saying the mistakes in the 1930s were responsible for turning the Elgin Marbles from a colorful spectacle into the blander gray-white collection currently on display, however.

“I estimate that when the sculptures entered the museum, less than 20 percent of their overall surface retained its coating, of which in the 1930s about half was removed,” Jenkins writes. “But natural weathering is by far the single most important factor determining the surface and color of the sculptures as we see them today.”

Enlace: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11945940/

(2) El nuevo museo de la Acrópolis abrirá a finales de 2007

Las primeras estatuas antiguas del Partenón entrarán este verano en el nuevo museo de la Acrópolis de cara a su apertura a los visitantes "a finales de 2007", anunció el martes el ministro griego de Cultura, Georges Voulgarakis.

"Nuestra ambición es que el museo pueda acoger a los visitantes a finales de 2007", afirmó el ministro tras una visita a las obras donde se mostró optimista pese a los años de retraso.

El director del organismo público encargado de la obra, el arqueólogo Dimitris Pantermalis, precisó que se trataría de una apertura "gradual" mientras siguen los trabajos de instalación de los vestigios.

Desde este verano, el museo debe recibir las primeras "grandes estatuas", que serán transferidas del antiguo museo, situado en la roca de la Acrópolis, indicó.

De aquí a la apertura, Atenas va a "intensificar sus esfuerzos" para obtener de Londres la restitución del friso oriental del Partenón, en manos del Museo Británico, dijo el ministro, que apostó por "un acercamiento más amistoso" e insistió en que Grecia no quiere más que esa pieza.

Si Londres mantiene su negativa a ceder el friso, "habrá vacíos" en la sala más prestigiosa del museo, la del Partenón, afirmó Pantermalis.

En las dos plantas inferiores del museo se expondrán los vestigios, poco conocidos, de la Acrópolis arcaica, así como "por primera vez" los de santuarios desperdigados por la montaña, precisó Alkistis Horemis, directora del sitio 'web' de la Acrópolis.

Los visitantes podrán descubrir en el subsuelo las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en el lugar, en plena ciudad antigua, que han sacado a la luz una sala de banquete pavimentada de mosaico.

Todo el edificio deberá contar con 25.000 metros cuadrados, con un presupuesto de construcción de unos 129 millones de euros. Su protección antisísmica, en un país que concentra la mitad de la actividad sísmica en Europa, estará asegurada por 94 "especies de rodamientos que amorticen los choques" situados en su base, según Pantermalis.

Fuente: AFP / La Flecha.net, 22 de marzo de 2006

Enlace: http://www.laflecha.net/canales/curiosidades/noticias/200603221/

Bernard Tschumi
New Acropolis Museum
Athens, Greece

The design by Bernard Tschumi was selected as the winning project in the second competition for the design of the New Acropolis Museum.

Tschumi's design revolves around three concepts: light, movement, and a tectonic and programmatic element, which together "turn the constraints of the site into an architectural opportunity, offering a simple and precise museum" with the mathematical and conceptual clarity of ancient Greek buildings.

The new Acropolis Museum is under construction at the southern base of the Acropolis, at the ancient road that led up to the "sacred rock" in classical times.

Set only 800 feet from the legendary Parthenon, the museum will be the most significant building ever erected so close to the ancient temple.

Although the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum is not guaranteed, the design includes a rectangular glass gallery that will display the Parthenon Marbles with the precise geometry and harmonious dimensions of the columned Parthenon. Visitors to the museum will be able to see the Parthenon from the glass gallery.

The orientation of the Parthenon Marbles, which will be exactly as the Parthenon, and their siting will provide an appropriate context for understanding the accomplishments of the Parthenon complex itself.

The Parthenon Gallery will remain empty until the section of the original frieze still in the possession of the British Museum has been returned to Greece.

The visitor's route forms a clear three-dimension loop, affording an architectural promenade with a rich spatial experience extending from the archaeological excavations to the Parthenon Marbles and back through the Roman period.

The base of the museum contains an entrance lobby overlooking the Makriyianni excavations as well as temporary exhibition spaces, retail, and all support facilities.

There will also be a multimedia auditorium and a mezzanine bar and restaurant.

A wide ramp leads up to the second floor. Transparent sections in the ramp's floor allow visitors to gaze at the exposed archaeological remains below.

Along the sides of the ramp and as free-standing installations there will be artefacts recovered from the Sanctuary of the Nymphs, the Sanctuary of Asklepios, and elsewhere on the slopes of the Acropolis.

The middle is a large, double-height trapezoidal plate that accommodates all galleries from the Archaic period to the Roman Empire. There will also be a multimedia auditorium and a mezzanine bar and restaurant with views towards the Acropolis.

On top is the rectangular Parthenon Gallery around an outdoor court. The glass enclosure, with a direct view of the Acropolis above, is designed to protect against excess heat and provide ideal light for sculpture viewing.

The design also incorporates almost 2,200 square meters of 3rd, 4th and 7th century archaeological excavations on the building site into the fabric of the museum as an extended exhibit; the replication, as far as possible, of the natural light and atmospheric conditions within the Museum as existed for the exhibits in their original; location on the Acropolis; the achievement of balance between the Museum's architecture and that of the Rock of the Acropolis, the heritage Weiler Building and the facade of the neighbouring Acropolis Metro Station and finally and most critically, the capacity for visitors to simultaneously view the Parthenon sculptures and the Parthenon and the Acropolis.

"It's a museum inside the city, so we would like to be able to combine the most up-to-date technology and ancient materials.
The two main materials are glass and marble. We will also use very beautiful pre-cast concrete. These materials are very respectful of the city of Athens as well as the Acropolis."

Bernard Tschumi

Completion is expected in time for the 2004 Olympic Games which will be held in Athens.

With these 3 lines:

Construction start is on hold:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3041595.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3160203.stm

Area: 21,000 square meters

Architects : Bernard Tschumi Architects

AR.SY. Architectural Cooperation Ltd
Civil Engineers : A.D.K. Aronis-Drettas-Karlaftis
Consulting Engineers S.A.
Engineering - Geostatics
Consulting Engineers
Mech. Engineers : MMB Design Group S.A.

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Parthenon 2004 Campaign

The artfully carved marbles, depicting gods, soldiers, animals and citizens in everyday life, sat atop the nearly 36-foot-high Doric columns as a decoration winding around the 200-foot-long, 90-foot-wide Parthenon.

The Parthenon Marbles, a series of seventeen marble sculptures and a 525-foot-long frieze depicting the gods and heroes of classical Athens, were removed from the Acropolis two centuries ago and are now on display in the British Museum. The Greeks hope the erection of the Acropolis Museum will help win back the artefacts.
The Marbles have been held in the British Museum since 1811.

Fuente: http://www.professionearchitetto.it/es/archivo/200308.html

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