Fouseki, K; Shehade, M; (2018) Heritage Activism and Cultural Rights: The Case of the New Acropolis Museum. In: Silverman, H and Waterton, E and Watson, S, (eds.) Heritage in Action: Making the Past in Present. (pp. 137-150). Springer: Cham, Switzerland.

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Abstract

This chapter offers a new perspective on the ‘New Acropolis Museum’ (currently known as the Acropolis Museum) in Athens, Greece. It does so by focusing on the conflicts that emerged during the construction of the museum when the authorities announced the decision to demolish the surrounding 1950s’ blocks of flats as well as the listed neoclassical and Art Deco buildings. The driver of this governmental decision was the enhancement of the surrounding environment of the museum and the provision of uninterrupted views towards the Acropolis Hill. The museum itself was also viewed as an object that should be admired for its innovative architecture and thus the demolition of the aforementioned buildings was deemed to enhance its aesthetics. The long-lasting and intensive debates that ensued as a result of this act demonstrate how the Acropolis Museum formed an arena for “heritage activism” where a diverse range of interest groups (including architects, archaeologists, local residents, local societies) fought against the official and authoritarian decision to demolish nineteenth- and twentieth-century architectural buildings in order to enhance the classical, glorious past of the Acropolis Hill. This heritage activism was partly driven by conceptual ambiguities and clashes in the definitions of cultural and human rights per se, as well as by the different socio-psychological forces and ideologies of the local community towards heritage.

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