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The athenian Acropolis in 1835

• Καλλίγας, Π.Γ.

In 1835, alongside the endeavours to produce a town-plan for the new city of Athens (Kleanthis and Schaubert, and L. von Klenze), the first excavations were begun on and around the Acropolis (L. Ross and K. Pittakis).A document dated 21.1.1836, published here for the first time, attests to problems relating to the ownership of properties around the Acropolis rock, especially on the south side; it also reveals the way in which the earth and ‘waste’ stones from the excavation on the Acropolis were removed.The clearing work and the early excavations on the Acropolis are associated with the first archaeological finds, and with their study and publication, to which the work of K. Pittakis made a major contribution. The condition of the monuments at the time was also the subject of study, leading to the first works of restoration work (temple of Athena Nike), which were given wide dissemination through contemporary drawings by foreign visitors/artists (engravings, early photographs, etc.).The early sporadic portable archaeological finds from the area of the theatre of Dionysos and the sanctuary of Asklepios, the foundations of which buildings were, as we know, excavated later, enabled scholars gradually to understand the ancient topography of the Athenian Acropolis and the surrounding area. The study also reveals that ancient stones (architectural members, sculptures, and inscriptions) were widely scattered throughout the modern city, where they were used mainly as material for new buildings in a continuation of an earlier practice of reusing ancient material.The attempt to comprehend the overall topography of the centre of ancient Athens, and the need to identify the original provenance of the portable archaeological finds, are even more pressing today, in view of the interventions that are planned in these archaeological sites, as part of the unification of the archaeological sites of Athens.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Architecture

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