Athens Archaeological Culture Exhibition Reveals How History "Resurrects" In Cities

This is an ancient and modern Athens. Its architectural planning and urban development, its ancient ruins and modern life are perfectly integrated in a natural way. Last night, at the Athens Archaeological Culture Exhibition unveiled by the Shanghai Library, the reporter saw that the modern subway in Athens and the archaeological engineering complement each other, becoming an artistic expression in urban life.

This is the last part of the whole archaeological culture exhibition, but it is the most unforgettable part. It tells the story of how to protect and dispose the cultural relics found in the construction of the subway project in Athens. One of the unique features of the construction of the Athens Metro is the slow progress of the project. In fact, its construction is to open the way for large-scale archaeological excavation. Almost every step will find a new cemetery, ancient city wall, and ancient relics. Data shows that about 50000 cultural relics were unearthed during the construction of the subway. In this case, the subway workers will put down their shovels and stop the excavators. Then notify archaeologists to slowly excavate with a small archaeological brush.

For all this, the time spent is worth it. According to Lina Mondoni, Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture of Greece, during the whole process of excavation and protection of cultural relics, Athens adhered to the belief that cultural relics should be restored in their original positions as far as possible. According to such an idea, the process of rescue, excavation and maintenance of cultural relics is fully integrated with the construction and planning of the whole city. "Tourists and local residents can live in history as part of their daily life".

Today, there are 6 famous subway stations in Athens with cultural relics exhibition areas, so that every pedestrian can get close contact with precious cultural relics with thousands of years of history on the way to and from work. For example, there are more than 80 cultural relics on display at the Acropolis Station, including ancient green oil lamps and wine jars. At the Xitama Square subway station, people can enjoy the amazing ground profile, various exhibits and works of art are neatly arranged on the marble walls, and sculptures of different shapes are displayed in glass boxes. These cultural relics divided by historical years show the changes of civilization from Byzantium to ancient Rome to modern Greece, as well as prehistoric Athens.

Athenians did not move cultural relics into museums, but stayed in the subway for display. This has led to the development of the subway station in Athens towards a small museum. Each station wall is separated by a thick glass wall to show passengers the true marks left by archaeologists. "This is a building with modern ideas, displaying the most precious historical and cultural heritage of Greece." Lina Mondoni told reporters that the Greek government has made great efforts to combine such a museum with the best Greek cultural relics with the most modern exhibition building. "

It is reported that this exhibition is one of the contents of the Greek government's participation in the Shanghai World Expo. How to preserve cultural heritage in modern urban space? This is also a challenge that many cities in the world are facing. Lina Mondoni said, "Our idea is that protection is not a simple rescue, but an organic whole with the daily life of citizens in the process of rescue."