Acropolis crumbling contained

Press, 28 August 1984, Page 20

Acropolis crumbling contained

NZPA-AP Athens Greek engineers have completed a seven-year project to prevent crumbling rocks from the flat-topped hill supporting the Parthenon Temple, the Acropolis, from endangering tourist restaurants and handicraft stores on the eastern slopes. But it will be several years before the ancient limestone outcrop, the symbol of Athens’ “golden age” more than 2000 years ago, is stabilised. “This summer we have finally finished work in an area where rocks were in imminent danger of dislodging and setting off a landslide on to part of the Plaka,” said Mr Dionyssis Monokroussos, the civil engineer in charge of the Culture Ministry project. The Plaka, a district of old houses on the northern and eastern sides of the Acropolis, is the tourist and

entertainment centre of the Greek capital. “We have another 21 areas on the hill still to consolidate before the Acropolis facelift is complete,” said Mr Monokroussos, who heads a team of 20 technicians. Using tunnel construction technology, the engineers inserted long metal rods into the limestone to stabilise loose slabs of rock and used cement to fill fissures. Loose boulders were held in place with cables and nets. The work is part of a long-running project to restore and protect the famous fifth century B.C. marble monuments on the Acropolis from the ravages of time and atmospheric pollution.

The precipitous hill, honeycombed with caves, rises 180 metres above sealevel and has been continuously occupied since Neolithic times. The Acropolis, which means the Jiigh part of the city, served as a fortress in time of war. In Classical Greek times, the citadel was a sanctuary, filled with statues and temples the most famous of which were the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena, the city’s patron goddess. Engineers also inserted devices to measure changes in the positions of reattached rocks to keep track of what goes on inside the hill.