How do you expand the Propylaea when you can’t tear it down?

«We cannot tear down the Propylaea. We can, however, expand them»

(From a bulletin Tunder the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

In April 2022, a joint UNESCO and ICOMOS Advisory Mission visited the Acropolis, a World Heritage Site. With arguments based on the International Convention on World Heritage, the Mission submitted a Report with recommendations, which can be summarized as follows: before any new intervention, the prescribed cycle of studies and approvals must be completed, within the framework of the Greek Ministry of Culture, but also in the international framework of UNESCO and advisory bodies. It was important for the Mission to point out that the priority is the submission of the Acropolis Management Plan and the Tourism Management Plan, which have been due for years, in which any new intervention should also be registered.

In a recent announcement, the Greek Section of ICOMOS denounced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, defying the recommendations of the Advisory Mission, continues to build with reinforced concrete in the Acropolis and its area and, in fact, to speed up the work, makes regular use of mechanical excavators, which unacceptable in an archaeological site, and indeed of such importance. At the same time, he attempts to “fix” monuments and “restore” inscriptions in random places in the outdoor archaeological site.

The reformation of the western access of the Acropolis, with the “restoration” of the Roman scale of the 1st c. AD, has already been pre-approved as an idea by the Central Archaeological Council in February 2021. Studies have been submitted, which appear to have been commissioned directly to private individuals, since access to them is not open and the procedures are completely opaque . The reform of the western access is brought by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the only way to deal with the overcrowding of visitors, which last year reached 23,000 people per day.

In fact, the “reconstruction” of the Roman scale will not serve the traffic of visitors in the least. Even more, the simultaneous operation of the three mechanical elevators, with platforms on fixed tracks, provided for the movement from the plateau to and from: 1. the Propylaia, 2. the western slope outside the Beulé Gate and 3. the southern slope , will cause conflicts with the moving population of individuals and groups and, ultimately, chaos.

Covering the western access over and over with tiers of modern materials and apparently modern technology will be all the more repulsive because of the sheer scale and uniformity. The concealment of the monumental foundations of the Propylaea and the traces in the rock (carvings and constructions), which are so valuable for the study of the archeology and topography of the Acropolis in the long periods before the construction of the Roman scale, and after the removal of a large part of it in the 13th century, it will be a shameful and unforgivable loss for science but also for the aesthetic and historical perception of the place.

In Propylaia, the proposed uses and interventions can only be described as destructive. Retaining the height and width of the steps of the platform and the door wall, which are much larger than the height and width of steps in a modern staircase, will be prohibitive to the normal flow of visitors. The steel plates provided for their protection can only cause damage during installation and certainly during use by tourist groups. As for the “breathable carpets” that will cover the floor, they can be paralleled with the carpets that recently covered the floor of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

All this is done under the pretext that the Propylaia must be “widened” (this is the wording of the Ministry of the Interior) in order for tourists to pass through. This tactic, however, endangers both the monuments and the visitors who are exposed to overcrowding. The only solution is to control the number of visitors that the space can accommodate at the same time, a solution that only results from a thorough study by experts and the drawing up of Management Plans. Unfortunately, however, the Management Plans for the Acropolis, together with corresponding plans for ten other monuments and archaeological sites in Greece, representing Prehistory, Antiquity and Byzantium, have been entrusted to a private company that does not seem to have expertise in management of cultural heritage.

The president of the ESMA has admitted that the “restoration” of the Roman staircase on the western access is not aimed at the convenience of visitors, but to respond to his belief that it will contribute to a better understanding of the site. But this is a very subjective point of view, which cannot be accepted, especially in a monument like the Acropolis. This is, therefore, another case where someone wants to monopolize the correctness of his views, imposing them directly on a monument through “restorations” or “reconstructions” of questionable correctness.

Here it is worth noting another expression of the president of ESMA where, in a rhetorical declaration of national pride, he formulates a fatal error in the perception of the historical treaty: “even if UNESCO had different opinions, we are not a protectorate. We would do what we believe.”

The truth, however, is that, precisely because our country functions as a protectorate, for this very reason, a precarious economy based on tourism is implemented in our country, and a lot is played in its name, with the price of degrading consciences and of the most precious asset, of which we all still claim to be proud: our cultural heritage, even the Acropolis. That is why we also resort to invoking the principles of world cultural heritage management, whose custodians are UNESCO and ICOMOS. Not because we feel subservient, but because it constitutes a constitution of universally accepted principles aimed at an, as far as possible, objective consideration of the issues of cultural heritage management, which if we lose it, we will no longer have anything.

Tasos Tanoulas is the president of the Greek ICOMOS, architect and architecttheLotus of Propylaion of the Acropolis