I just got this save-the-date invitation from Bernard Tschumi Architects, so I guess the much-delayed New Acropolis Museum in Athens really IS set to have its “public opening ceremonies” on June 20.
Here‘s my CultureGrrl photo essay of the museum-in-(slow)progress, from my visit last March, at which time the announced opening date for the facility (which had been intended to be up and running for the 2004 Olympics) was September 2008. But meeting that deadline was already being described then by insiders as highly doubtful.
At the bottom of my photo essay, I mentioned that a director for the new museum had yet to be chosen. Dimitris Pandermalis, below, president of the Organization
for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum, has thus far been its guiding light. Politics are said to be a major factor in such appointments in Greece, and the culture minister who was in office last March, Michalis Liapis, has been replaced by Antonis Samaras.
So I checked yesterday with a spokesperson for the project and was informed:
At this stage, the announcement of the name of the director of the museum is still pending. We will post the announcement on our website when it occurs.
