High Museum Of Art And Consulate Of Greece In Atlanta Partner For Special Lecture

In conjunction with the Consulate of Greece in Atlanta, the High Museum of Art will present a special lecture – Building the New Acropolis Museum – on Thursday, June 5 at 7 p.m. Dr. Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of the New Acropolis Museum, will provide an overview of the history and development of this key national public project in Greece and an understanding of how the design is integrated with the demands of the exhibition program and the Museum’s environment. Architect Bernard Tschumi will address the architectural challenges that the project presented and the solutions that were developed as a response.

The lecture will be held in the Rich Theatre, located at the Woodruff Arts Center. Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Admission to the Museum will be sold separately. Tickets can be reserved online at www.high.org or by calling 404-733-5000.

The New Acropolis Museum

The New Acropolis Museum is scheduled to open in September 2008. An archaeological museum located in Athens, Greece, at the base of the archeological site of Acropolis, the New Acropolis Museum will be home to over 4,000 ancient relics found in and around the Acropolis site. The new museum will provide 14,000 square meters of exhibition space, in contrast to the old museum which only offered 1,450 square meters. The collection also includes artifacts from other sites, including the Parthenon, Propylae, Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Old Temple of Athena, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the sanctuary of Asclepius or Asclepieion, and the Theatre of Dionysus.

Dr. Dimitrios Pandermalis

Since May 2000, Dr. Dimitrios Pandermalis has been the President of the New Acropolis Museum. He has been a professor of Classical Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 1979, serving as President of the history and archaeology departments and Dean of the Philosophical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 1973, he has been Director of the university's archaeological excavations at Dion and conducted extensive programs converting the excavated area into an expansive archaeological and environmental park. From September 1996 to March 2000, Pandermalis served as National Member of the Greek Parliament.

Architect Bernard Tschumi

Bernard Tschumi is an architect and educator. In 1983, he won the prestigious competition to design the Parc de la Villette, a 125-acre, $300-million public park containing dramatic buildings, walkways, bridges, and gardens at the northeast edge of Paris. Tschumi established his Paris office in 1983, followed by the New York office in 1988. Today, projects that are completed or under construction include Le Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Arts in Tourcoing, France (1997); Columbia University's Lerner Hall Student Center (1999); Marne La Vallée School of Architecture, Paris (1999); the Interface Flon, a bus, train, and subway station and pedestrian bridge in Lausanne, Switzerland (2001); a 8,000-person/70,000-square-foot Concert Hall and Exhibition Complex in Rouen, France (2001); and the 100,000 square-foot Florida International University School of Architecture in Miami, Florida. He is currently designing the Museum for African Art in New York, the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sao Paolo.

A permanent US resident who holds both French and Swiss nationalities, Tschumi studied in Paris and at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, from which he received his degree in 1969. He taught at the Architectural Association in London (1970-79), the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York (1976), Princeton University (1976 and 1980) and the Cooper Union (1981-83). He was Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, N.Y. (1988 to 2003). Tschumi is a member of the Collège International de Philosophie in France and the recipient of many distinguished honors, including the Légion d'Honneur, and the Ordre des Arts et Lettres. He was awarded France's Grand Prix National d'Architecture in 1996, as well as awards from the American Institute of Architects and the National Endowment for the Arts.