Acropolis

ATHENS -- Many of Greece's most valued ancient statues are wearing chains and padded vests, ready for a rare outing. Culture Ministry officials demonstrated yesterday how more than 300 statues from the Acropolis are being packed for a move this fall to a new museum being built at the bottom of the hill. Statues from the Parthenon and other temples, up to 2,600 years old and weighing up to 2 1/2 tons, are being fitted with padded harnesses and will be lowered by chains and pulleys into styrofoam-filled boxes made of plywood and metal.

The Green Stair sits behind glass, looking out at the world as if it were posing in a picture window. It feels as if it needs capital letters, like the Green Monster. It's more than a stair. It's a totem, a logo, an emblem. What it's an emblem of is the new headquarters of the Boston Society of Architects. If you leave the sidewalk and climb the stair, which you're quite free to do, you'll find yourself in the BSA's new home on the second floor of a waterfront building on Fort Point Channel.

ATHENS - For thousands of years the Acropolis has withstood earthquakes, weathered storms and endured temperature extremes, from scorching summers to winter snow. Now scientists are drawing on the latest technology to install a system that will record just how much nature is affecting the ancient site. They hope their findings will help identify areas that could be vulnerable, allowing them to target restoration and maintenance. Scientists are installing a network of fiber optic sensors and accelerographs - instruments that measure how much movement is generated...

ATHENS — After a decade-long reconstruction, the ancient Greek temple of Athena Nike is back up on the Acropolis. The slender marble building originally erected in the fifth century BC was stripped of its scaffolding in recent days — 10 years after being completely dismantled for repairs. Unlike other ancient monuments battered by war or natural disaster, the four-columned temple near the entrance of the world-renowned Athens citadel fell prey to the best of intentions: Previous restorations hadn’t stood the tests of time.

ATHENS — After a decade-long reconstruction, the ancient Greek temple of Athena Nike is back up on the Acropolis. The slender marble building originally erected in the fifth century BC was stripped of its scaffolding in recent days — 10 years after being completely dismantled for repairs. Unlike other ancient monuments battered by war or natural disaster, the four-columned temple near the entrance of the world-renowned Athens citadel fell prey to the best of intentions: Previous restorations hadn’t stood the tests of time.

The Green Stair sits behind glass, looking out at the world as if it were posing in a picture window. It feels as if it needs capital letters, like the Green Monster. It's more than a stair. It's a totem, a logo, an emblem. What it's an emblem of is the new headquarters of the Boston Society of Architects. If you leave the sidewalk and climb the stair, which you're quite free to do, you'll find yourself in the BSA's new home on the second floor of a waterfront building on Fort Point Channel.

GENEVA -- The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, and Peru's Machu Picchu are the leading contenders to be among the new seven wonders of the world, as a massive poll draws to a close with votes already cast by more than 90 million people, organizers say. Tonight's 8 o'clock voting deadline is approaching, but the rankings can still change. Also in the top 10 are the Acropolis in Greece, Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Easter Island, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Taj Mahal in India, and Jordan's ancient city of Petra.

ATHENS — The United States breezed to victory in its final exhibition game before the start of the world basketball championships, not that coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed to care. He’s just happy that his group is brimming with youthful exuberance and is ready to play. “The score doesn’t really matter, it was just an exhibition game,’’ Krzyzewski said after an 87-59 blowout of defending silver medalist Greece yesterday. “I’m happy we had the chance to play a great team, in a great atmosphere.’’ Eric Gordon...

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization , By Barry Strauss Simon & Schuster, 294 pp., illustrated, $25 In Athens, late in the summer of 480 BC, an invading Persian army burned the wooden temple that crowned the Acropolis -- where now stands the Parthenon, its successor temple and an icon of this summer's Olympics. Fortunately, the city's 100,000 residents had already been evacuated to the nearby island of Salamis and were prepared, if necessary, to flee westward to Italy.

ATHENS - Greece opens its long-anticipated new Acropolis Museum today, boosting its decades-old campaign for the return of 2,500-year-old sculptures removed from the ancient citadel by a 19th-century British diplomat. After years of delays and legal wrangling, the museum opens its doors to the public tomorrow at a nominal $1.40 charge - the price of a public bus ticket. Tonight’s lavish opening ceremony, which comes with a nearly $4.1 million price tag, is to be attended by foreign heads of state and government, whose attendance is seen as a tacit approval of the...

ATHENS — The United States breezed to victory in its final exhibition game before the start of the world basketball championships, not that coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed to care. He’s just happy that his group is brimming with youthful exuberance and is ready to play. “The score doesn’t really matter, it was just an exhibition game,’’ Krzyzewski said after an 87-59 blowout of defending silver medalist Greece yesterday. “I’m happy we had the chance to play a great team, in a great atmosphere.’’ Eric Gordon scored 18 points to pace the Americans, who led from start to...

ATHENS - Greece opens its long-anticipated new Acropolis Museum today, boosting its decades-old campaign for the return of 2,500-year-old sculptures removed from the ancient citadel by a 19th-century British diplomat. After years of delays and legal wrangling, the museum opens its doors to the public tomorrow at a nominal $1.40 charge - the price of a public bus ticket. Tonight’s lavish opening ceremony, which comes with a nearly $4.1 million price tag, is to be attended by foreign heads of state and government, whose attendance is seen as a tacit...

ATHENS - Protesters hung giant banners off the Acropolis yesterday calling for mass demonstrations across Europe, heaping embarrassment on a government reeling from Greece's worst riots in decades sparked by the police shooting of a teenager. Two pink banners were unfurled over the walls of the ancient citadel that towers above central Athens and could be seen from miles away. One bore the word "Resistance" in large black letters in Greek, English, Spanish, and German. The other called for demonstrations throughout the continent today, when students...

ATHENS - For thousands of years the Acropolis has withstood earthquakes, weathered storms and endured temperature extremes, from scorching summers to winter snow. Now scientists are drawing on the latest technology to install a system that will record just how much nature is affecting the ancient site. They hope their findings will help identify areas that could be vulnerable, allowing them to target restoration and maintenance. Scientists are installing a network of fiber optic sensors and accelerographs - instruments that...

ATHENS -- Many of Greece's most valued ancient statues are wearing chains and padded vests, ready for a rare outing. Culture Ministry officials demonstrated yesterday how more than 300 statues from the Acropolis are being packed for a move this fall to a new museum being built at the bottom of the hill. Statues from the Parthenon and other temples, up to 2,600 years old and weighing up to 2 1/2 tons, are being fitted with padded harnesses and will be lowered by chains and pulleys into styrofoam-filled boxes made of plywood and metal.

GENEVA -- The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, and Peru's Machu Picchu are the leading contenders to be among the new seven wonders of the world, as a massive poll draws to a close with votes already cast by more than 90 million people, organizers say. Tonight's 8 o'clock voting deadline is approaching, but the rankings can still change. Also in the top 10 are the Acropolis in Greece, Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Easter Island, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Taj Mahal in India, and Jordan's ancient city of Petra.

ATHENS - Protesters hung giant banners off the Acropolis yesterday calling for mass demonstrations across Europe, heaping embarrassment on a government reeling from Greece's worst riots in decades sparked by the police shooting of a teenager. Two pink banners were unfurled over the walls of the ancient citadel that towers above central Athens and could be seen from miles away. One bore the word "Resistance" in large black letters in Greek, English, Spanish, and German. The other called for demonstrations throughout the continent today, when students plan major marches in Athens and...

Earlier this month, Megan Amram returned to her Portland, Ore., high school to deliver the commencement address. Her speech was titled, “I am very, very old.’’ Amram is 23. She graduated from Harvard College last year, having majored in psychology, then moved to Los Angeles to become a comedy writer. And she has already succeeded. Was Amram pulling somebody’s leg with the Depends jokes? Yes, class, she was. Legs, and other body parts. The graduates certainly got an earful about Amram’s own high school years, with their crushing disappointments (no...

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization , By Barry Strauss Simon & Schuster, 294 pp., illustrated, $25 In Athens, late in the summer of 480 BC, an invading Persian army burned the wooden temple that crowned the Acropolis -- where now stands the Parthenon, its successor temple and an icon of this summer's Olympics. Fortunately, the city's 100,000 residents had already been evacuated to the nearby island of Salamis and were prepared, if necessary, to flee westward to Italy.