Eleni Aggelakopoulou, chief conservator at the Acropolis in Athens: ‘I, too, have cried in front of the Parthenon’
The specialist, who has been working on the monument for 15 years, emphasizes that the colors that covered it were anything but kitsch
As Mary Beard writes in her highly entertaining book on the Parthenon, it is the monument that has moved more people to tears than any other, perhaps second only to the Taj Mahal.
Eleni Aggelakopoulou admits she has cried too. Her case is notable because she has spent 15 years working at the temple as head of the conservation department in the Acropolis restoration service. Aggelakopoulou, 52, whose surname and dark hair and eyes leave no doubt about her Greek roots, recalls the Irene Papas of The Trojan Women by Michael Cacoyannis. She acknowledges that tears came to her eyes last June when she finally saw the Parthenon free of scaffolding.
“It’s a monument that provokes that intensity in people, because of its scale, harmony, and beauty,” she said in Barcelona, where she took part in a course at the Center for the Restoration of Movable Cultural Heritage of Catalonia (CRBMC).
Question. Are you from Larissa? That’s in Thessaly, the homeland of Achilles.
Answer. Yes, well, I was actually born in a small nearby town, Farsala, which sounds less grand.
Q. Where the Battle of Pharsalus was fought, and Julius Caesar defeated Pompey...
A. Yes, I’m glad you know the place.
Q. Pharsalus, the Parthenon — that’s very exciting…
A. Actually, my work is very technical; I’m a chemical engineer and I conduct research on conservation and restoration materials for historic monuments. I’ve focused particularly on studying the traces of polychromy on the architectural elements of the Parthenon, such as the polychromy preserved on the sloping edge of the temple — the lower edge of the pediment that acts as a gutter.
Q. Classical monuments like the Parthenon were painted — wasn’t that a bit kitsch, vulgar?
A. Not at all! Some reproductions may give that impression, but the original work was exquisite; it was done in encaustic, using beeswax as a binder. Consider that they didn’t paint on just any material, but on marble — a very special, luminous stone [the Greek root is marmor, meaning “to shine” or “to gleam”] — and the result was dazzling, beautiful, and marvelous. The paint wasn’t viewed as a mere coating but as something without which the monument or statue would not be complete. It’s important to remember that Praxiteles himself considered his statues unfinished until Nicias painted them.
Q. Can we then imagine what the original Parthenon looked like?
A. We know; we can see the colors of Antiquity in several places, we have a lot of information; there are intact areas. The most fascinating part of my work is being so close to the Parthenon’s real appearance. The temple reflected nature — the wisdom of nature. It is not far from Gaudí’s thinking.
Q. You say representations of the Acropolis monuments made by Grand Tour travelers in the 18th and 19th centuries have been useful for conservation and restoration.
A. Yes, although there are many discrepancies because they were not scientists; they lacked precise tools and used a lot of imagination. We now have an excellent technological toolkit, and very small fragments are enough for us to elucidate the full image of the monument’s elements.
Q. There was an impressive chryselephantine statue of Athena inside the Parthenon, but it has been lost.
A. However, we know what it looked like from Roman reproductions, although not precisely how the gold and ivory parts were arranged.
Q. Do you prefer the Parthenon or the Erechtheion?
A. What a question. It’s not a matter of preference. The Erechtheion has fabulous decoration. Every building on the Acropolis has its own personality and is unique.
Q. And the Erechtheion has the caryatids; incidentally, one of the six is in the British Museum — are they trying to repatriate it?
A. It is not part of the Parthenon marbles negotiations for the moment.
Q. So how do things stand?
A. It’s not for me to say. Of course I believe they should return. I hope to see it happen.
Q. Do people on the street in Greece feel invested in the claim?
A. Without a doubt. I wouldn’t say it’s life-changing for them, because they have many problems, but it is very important to everyone.
Q. Can you tell us something special to look out for on a visit to the Acropolis?
A. I would recommend entering the Temple of Athena Nike, but you need special permission. It’s interesting to observe all the details showing that the Propylaea were never completed because of the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. We should also appreciate the architectural features of the Parthenon, such as the entasis — the bulge in the columns — and the curvature of the stylobate [the base].
Q. Some people doubt those corrections existed.
A. They do.
Q. Just to rile you up: the Parthenon is the creation of a slave-owning, imperialist (and misogynistic) society — just like the Athens of Pericles.
A. I see where you’re going with this. Pericles wasn’t Hitler, nor was the Parthenon cheap propaganda. [Albert] Speer, the Third Reich’s architect, couldn’t have designed it. It embodies a lofty ideal of life and beauty. That’s why it moves us to tears.
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