Műemlék-helyreállítások tegnap, ma, holnap (A 27. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1997 Eger, 1997)

Előadások - Ismini TRIANTI: Restoration work carried out on the Acropolis of Athen

fourteen metopes with the three easternmost ones of the north side, thirteen triglyphs, many dozen of infill stones and backing blocks, fifteen architraves, one capital and half a drum were lowered to the ground and led to the workshops. During the dismantling it became necessary to remove many hundreds of corroded ancient and later metal ties, joins and reinforcements which had already caused fractures in the marble blocks. The joining and reinforcement of the pieces of the architraves presented particular difficulties. The absolutely accurate restoration of the original alignements of the stones, which were 4,30 to 4,70 metres long and weighed up to ten tones, was essential for their good positioning on top ofthe column capitals. The corner cornices, wighing about nine tones were reassembled from their fragments and restored to their original form with the addition of new marble. For the reinforcement of the architraves and the cornices strong rods of titanium were used, the position and sizes of which were calculated by K. Zambas. All the new clamps and dowels were made also of titanium and were placed as a rule in the original positions of the removed ancient elements. The reposition of the lowered stones was effected after the most precise calculations of their original positions and the disfigurations of the existing parts. During the reassembly of the entablature and the pediment, cast concrete copies were used in place of the authentic metopes, representing the Gigantomachy, on the east side and the sack of Troy on the three metopoes of the north side. A Copy as also made and put in the place of the original north east corner block of the sima with the lion head. New copies made out of the old ones of 1931 of the pedimental figures of Helios, Dionysos and a hrose found their place in the pediment. The original metopes, the lion head and the two horses are now kept in the Acropolis Museum store rooms. The structural intervention in the east side of the Parthenon lasted ten years from 1981-1991. On the south side of the templete the restoration of the 5th column and its superstructure was carried out in 1991-92. It was necessary because during the explosion of Venetian general Marosini 1678 the column had moved outwards and one third of the first column drum had been destroyed. The gap was field in the last century. To avoid the dismantling of the column in order to effect the stuclural intervention at the base alone, a new method was chosen from the beginning, which allowed the lifting, turning and removal of the entire column only with esterior perimetric forces being eserted on the drum immediately above the point in need of intervention. The architraves directly above the column together with the triglyphs were lowered, the entire column was moved intact by two metres to the interior of the building, the first drum was repaired and completed in the workshop, and the column and the superstructure were reposited. The work concerning the lowering and transport of the blocks of the Panathenaic frieze from the Opisthonaos of the monument began in 1992 and was accomplished in 1993 under the supervision of the architect Petros Koufopoulos. The west frieze depicts horses and horsemen starting for the process of the panathenaic festival celebrated in honour of the Godess Athena. This part of the temple was still intact from ancient times. The intervention was decided because of the bad condition of the frieze, due to atmospheric pollution. Primarily were lowered the marbla ceiling beams of the west wing together with the stones from the course of the sub-beam, which are adorned with doric and lesbian cymatia. The loose fragments of the stones were removed on the spot. Preventing protection of fragments was provided by the conservators under the supervision of Yanna Doganis. The blocks of the frieze were removed in the Museum. When the works for the conservation of the colonnade of the west wing will be accomplished, cast copies of the west frieze will be positioned in the place of the original. Works also begun on the side walls of the cella supervised by the architect Nikos Toganidis. Some three