The New Acropolis Museum

Museums are schools. They are actually the most appropriate environment for the reception of History. Their doors, their gates, or their Propylaia provide the ideal gateway for students to enter the ancient world. This is especially true of the Acropolis and its New Museum within which a world of magic opens up before our eyes: from the archaic pediments to the calf-bearer, the Korae, the boy of Kritias, the blond youth, the architectural sculptures of the Ionic temples, the Karyatids and, above all, the singular sculptures of the Parthenon! […] Yet, although modern exhibitions are instructive, there is always the need for a guide; a link between the past and the present. Marisa De Castro plays this part masterfully. Based on her long experience and knowledge of the principles of Museum Education, she takes children by the hand and guides them through the rooms of the large museum, and with her they are never lost in the labyrinth of artworks. A master of the secret teacher recipes, she knows where to stop and explore, which pieces require special attention and which elements need to be highlighted in order to captivate and fascinate. The New Acropolis Museum: Monuments and Men is an educational tool that intends to inspire teachers and students, helping them understand and enjoy the works produced by a handful of Greeks in an important historical period: a period in which the Greek world had the progress and ennoblement of people at its heart – just like the book itself. Panos Valavanis Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology University of Athens