[MSN] Swaddled in white drop cloths, hundreds of sculptural masterpieces from the Acropolis are waiting to be delicately lifted by crane to a glass and concrete museum nearing completion at the foot of the ancient citadel.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Acropolis Statues Set for Transfer
By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS - 9 hours ago 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Swaddled in white drop cloths, hundreds of sculptural
masterpieces from the Acropolis are waiting to be delicately lifted by crane
to a glass and concrete museum nearing completion at the foot of the ancient
citadel.

This month, officials plan to start whisking some 4,500 artifacts from the
old, cramped Acropolis museum.

It will be the first time the artifacts - some of which are considered among
the most important works of antiquity - have been moved from the site.

"Everything is ready for this historic removal," Culture Minister Michalis
Liapis said Wednesday. "God willing - and weather permitting - the removal
will start on Sunday, Oct. 14."

A trial run will be held next week.

The first piece to make the 400-yard journey will be a 2 1/2-ton marble
block from the Parthenon frieze, a 2,500-year-old sculpted strip depicting a
religious procession that ran around the ancient temple just below roof
level.

"This is one of the biggest and the least fragmented of all the blocks in
the frieze," senior conservator Dimitris Maraziotis told The Associated
Press.

Supervising engineer Costas Zambas said the transfer will take at least a
month and a half, although bad weather could prolong the operation. It will
cost $3.55 million.

Using three cranes up to 170 feet high, a team of 35 workers will relay the
priceless artifacts - mostly from the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. - off the
Acropolis hill into the purpose-built new museum.

"Every single part of the operation will be difficult and requires great
care," said Zambas, a veteran of the long-running Acropolis restoration
project who was involved in removing the remaining sculptures from the
Erechtheion and Parthenon temples for display in the old museum.

Wearing padded harnesses, the sculptures will be hoisted into
styrofoam-filled boxes made of plywood and metal. Each crate will take up to
2 1/2 hours to reach the new museum, traveling just a few yards above ground
level, according to Zambas. Up to four crates will make the trip every day.

Beyond the creation of an architectural landmark in its own right, there are
political aims behind the long-delayed $183 million museum. Greece hopes the
new building's top-level display conditions might propel the country's
decades-old campaign to regain the British Museum's collection of sculptures
from the Parthenon, removed 200 years ago by Lord Elgin, a Scottish
diplomat.

The London museum refuses to return the works, but Greece has proposed that
they should be displayed in Athens, alongside the remaining sections, as a
long-term loan.

Initially scheduled for completion before the 2004 Athens Olympics, the new
215,000-square foot museum was delayed by legal fights and new
archaeological discoveries at the site - many of which will be visible under
glass floors. It will contain more than 4,000 works, 10 times the number on
display in the old museum.

The two-story building was designed by U.S.-based architect Bernard Tschumi
in collaboration with Greece's Michalis Photiadis. The building will be
capped by a glass hall containing the Parthenon sculptures. The glass walls
will allow visitors a direct view of the ancient temple.

The new museum is expected to open in sections next year, but the full
collections will probably not go on view before 2009.

http://ap.google.com/