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New Acropolis Museum the perfect home for Elgin Marbles, say Greeks

Workmen were putting the finishing touches yesterday to Ancient Greece’s newest and most extravagant showcase, the New Acropolis Museum, due for a fanfare-filled inauguration today. But conspicuously absent are the very relics which the €130m futurist building was expressly designed for: the Elgin Marbles.

The airy top floor of the 25,000 square metre museum, offering an unparallelled view of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis a couple of hundred yards away, has been reserved for when the Marbles — as many Greeks devoutly hope — return.

Yet as dozens of dignitaries arrived for the opening that Antonis Samaras, the Greek Minister for Culture, promised would be “a magical atmosphere with musical surprises” (and drain some €3m out of the Greek taxpayer’s pocket), it seemed likely that the Parthenon Hall, as the glass-domed top floor is called, would remain empty for a considerable time to come.
Read entire article at Times (UK)