Panos Valavanis

The Acropolis and its Museum constitute an integrated architectural and artistic unity, one of the most important in the history of global civilization. An informative and attractive guidebook that brings to life the monuments preserved on the sacred rock and the unrivalled artworks exhibited in the museum makes visiting the Acropolis and its Museum a unique experience.
The Acropolis. Visiting its Museum and its Monuments, outcome of assiduous research based on the most recent scientific findings, aims to be a friendly and useful travel companion. Its descriptions and interpretative analyses help us to see the monuments in a different way and to understand the historical, artistic and political events that contributed to their creation. Through the texts and the illustrations we get to know the gods and heroes who were worshipped on the Acropolis, the leaders who envisaged the major projects, the artists who brought them to fruition, as well as the innovative ideas they applied and the Athenian citizens who admired and enjoyed these achievements.
This little book will help us to explore and engage with the monuments of Acropolis, not with awe but with the joy that springs from knowledge.

Acropolis: Visiting its Museum and its Monuments, outcome of assiduous research based on the most recent scientific findings, aims to be a friendly and useful travel companion. Its descriptions and interpretative analyses help us to see the monuments in a different way and to understand the historical, artistic and political events that contributed to their creation. Through the texts and the illustrations we get to know the gods and heroes who were worshipped on the Acropolis, the leaders who envisaged the major projects, the artists who brought them to fruition, as well as the innovative ideas they applied and the Athenian citizens who admired and enjoyed these achievements. This little book will help us to explore and engage with the monuments of Athens, not with awe but with the joy that springs from knowledge.

Τhe Acropolis through its Museum is not simply a guidebook to the Acropolis Museum. By presenting the works of art exhibited in the museum, it endeavours to resynthesize the history of the Sacred Rock as part of the cultural and the wider historical process of Athens. The book follows the visitor’s tour of the museum, so that the reader can study and learn more about the antiquities he sees before him. However, it is written is such a way that through independent inquiry the reader is able to approach the subjects more deeply and to understand the preconditions – political, social, economic, ideological, artistic and technological – that led to the creation of the unique monuments on the Acropolis.

The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, as well as numerous plans and reconstruction drawings, which enable the reader to understand each of the fragmentarily preserved works in its context. It also answers many of the questions raised in the discerning reader’s mind, such as what was the size and the population of ancient Athens, what is the meaning of the beasts represented on the large Archaic pediments, what do the Korai statues represent, why did the Erechtheion become so complex and what was the role of the Karyatids, why was the temple of Athena Nike built in the Ionic order, what led Pericles and his advisers to opt for the specific building programme and how were the major public works financed, why was it decided to place an Ionic frieze on the Doric Parthenon, what political messages were transmitted to Sparta through the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, and so on.