ACROPOLIS MUSEUM
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idden behind the
Parthenon at the south-east corner of the Acropolis,
the museum houses a great collection of Greek
sculpture from excavations on the hill, primarily
from the area filled with the rubble left after the
destruction of all temples by the Persians in 480
B.C. Founded in the middle of the 19th
century, the museum was renovated between 1949 and
1953 and today consists of 9 exhibition
rooms. Among the most famous exhibits are
numerous korai (votive statues offered to Athena) in rooms 4 and 6
(ill. 4, 6), the famous Moschophoros (Calf-bearer), donated
as an offering by Rhombos in 560 B.C. (ill. 3), fragments of the
Parthenon and Erechtheion friezes and metopes in rooms 7 and 8, and
four original caryatids from the Erechtheion in room 9.
My particular favorite is the horse from 490-480
B.C. in room 6 (ill. 2). Its
refined lines and slightly stylized mane make the
sculpture strikingly expressive and almost modern.
In contrast to its broken and riderless neighbor
(ill. 1), this statue survived the ravages of time
and invaders relatively unscathed.
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© 2000 by Alexander Boguslawski