Material Cultures in Public Engagement

Re-inventing Public Archaeology within Museum collections

Anastasia Christophilopoulou

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781789253696
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

The Material Cultures in Public Engagement volume seeks to document and explore the significant change in the relationship of Museums with collections of the Ancient World and their audiences. The volume establishes a new approach to the study of public archaeology as a discipline and application within Museums, by bringing together the voices and experiences of museum professionals (curators, conservators and researchers) and public engagement professionals. Chapters in this volume present clear case-studies of the variety and diversity of public engagement projects conducted currently within European Museums and beyond. While the majority of case studies presented in the volume's chapters stem from European Museum programmes, plenty of reference is made on parallel strategies and successful public engagement programmes outside Europe (e.g. recently implemented projects by the Pointe-à-Callière Museum, Montreal, the Dallas and Cleveland Museums of Art, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to name but a few). Case studies within the volume provide important insights as to why public engagement programmes have developed in different ways between Europe and the Americas, as well as whether these differences may stem from different curatorial practices. Finally, a number of studies included in this volume point out that methodologies and practices of public engagement applied currently by Museums in or outside Europe, are rarely the subject of theoretical and methodological scrutiny, unlike other fields of study of the Ancient World or other social sciences. In summary, chapters within the book promise to contribute to the advancement of public engagement with the Ancient World, as well as to the advancement of public archaeology itself as a practice.

B. Public engagement in Museums and Archaeological Sites: A Survey of Case Studies

Chapter 2

Forty-five Years in Engaging the Public with the Restoration of the Acropolis of Athens

Vasiliki Eleftheriou, Eugenia Lembidaki and Irene Kaimara

Introduction

The Acropolis of Athens, a unique World Heritage architectural monument, included since 1987 in the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites List, offers a significant case for promoting a variety of public engagement activities related to its history, archaeology and conservation. The Acropolis Restoration Service (YSMA) is the special Service of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports responsible for planning, directing and overseeing the interventions on the Acropolis monuments, under the general supervision of the Committee for the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments. After almost 45 years of restoration work (Fig. 2.1) that has been awarded four times by Europa Nostra, the Service continues today to raise public awareness of the importance of the protection of the Acropolis monuments.

This paper provides an overview of the methodology used to embed public involvement in the Service’s practice. With the mediation of new technologies and a diverse range of interpretative tools, especially during the last 20 years, the Acropolis Restoration Service aims at increasing the interaction between heritage and the public. In this way, an alternative encounter between the heritage site (Acropolis monuments) and the public is developed that promotes the understanding of the site’s archaeological and historical values. At the same time, it supports an encounter that has broader implications on the interaction of the public with the cultural, aesthetic, social, artistic, emotional and learning qualities of this emblematic site.

The first section of the paper outlines the importance of the tools used by the Acropolis Documentation Department to make the contents of the Documentation Archive accessible to the general public. The second section describes the variety of the learning activities implemented by the Information and Education Department. It illustrates – through a case study – its holistic educational approach to attract a wide range of audiences.

Figure 2.1: The Acropolis viewed from the northwest (image: T. Souvlakis, 2018, YSMA Archive).

Outreach Activities of the Documentation Department

The detailed recording of the condition of the Acropolis monuments, the thorough documentation of their restoration (anastylosis) and conservation works and the dissemination of the restoration activities to the scientific community and the public, constitute an integral part of the conservation and restoration plan implemented since 1975. This approach is in accordance with the codes of conduct defined by the international conventions for the restoration and conservation of monuments and monumental complexes (The Venice Charter 1964, article 16).

The Documentation Archive of the restoration interventions carried out in the Erechtheion, the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Acropolis walls, includes today more than 300,000 documents, such as photographs, film reels, audio-visual material and magnetic tapes; topographic, photogrammetric and drawn surveys and mappings; notebooks, documentation of scattered architectural members, restoration reports and published scientific studies. The above material is systematically aggregated, to ensure that the future generations will not only be able to navigate through the history of the restorations but also clearly understand their philosophy.

All this valuable heritage content becomes accessible to the scientific community and the general public through the consistent publication of all conservation and restoration studies, as well as of the final reports on the completed works, realised since 1976 (40 volumes to date). This is complemented with the organisation of International Meetings on the Restoration of the Acropolis Monuments (six meetings to date), of which the proceedings have also been published. During the International Meetings, current intervention studies and works are presented to the specialists, to inform them and allow them to express their views on the proposed interventions and contribute to the final proposals.

Alongside these activities, workshops, lectures and exhibitions, the Documentation Department has also produced documentaries of the restoration works in action (Fig. 2.2). Since 2000 the Service has also provided the annual newsletter of The Acropolis Restoration News, in Greek and English, which serves to inform the scientific community and the general public about the progress of the works. It has provided further information on specific aspects arising in the course of restoration works. Additional activities targeting a wider audience involve information brochures and leaflets for the visitor of the Acropolis that are also produced in Braille. Moreover, bilingual signposts on the Acropolis area inform the visitors about the restoration works on the monuments.

Figure 2.2: View of the photography exhibition Chisel and Memory. The contribution of marble craftsmanship to the restoration of the Acropolis monuments at the Acropolis Museum, 11 June 2019–31 January 2020 (image: T. Souvlakis, 2019, YSMA Archive).

The advantage of digital technology has helped implement further activities, such as the production of films about the restoration interventions in stereoscopic (3D), which are projected in the ‘Virtual Theatre’ of the Acropolis Museum. Moreover, a series of web applications have been developed (Alexopoulos & Katsianis 2012; Εleftheriou & Lempidaki 2016), including the official website of the restoration interventions (http://www.ysma.gr), the Virtual Tour of the Acropolis Monuments (http://www.acropolisvirtualtour.gr/), the platform for making digital documentation products publicly available, such as orthophotomosaics and three-dimensional models of the monuments (Mavromati 2015) (http://www.acropolis-gis.ysma.gr) and the new YSMA Library Catalogue (https://ysma.openabekt.gr/el), which has been developed in collaboration with the Hellenic National Documentation Centre.

The Virtual Tour of the Acropolis Monuments is an online application, receiving more than 90,000 visitors per year using both desktop and mobile devices. It provides remote access to the archaeological site, enabling the visitor to walk through the monuments and have a glimpse of the ongoing restoration works. This is achieved through a series of successive viewpoints of the site, in which the visitor is provided with high-resolution images and panoramas of the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion, the temple of Athena Nike and orthophotographs of the exterior side of the walls surrounding the rock. Navigation is facilitated through an orientation map based on the orthophotomosaic ground plan of the Acropolis rock marking the locations of the viewpoints. The high-resolution images can be significantly enlarged so that the users can observe details that cannot be seen in an actual visit to the site. At the same time, descriptive information concerning the monuments and selected places of interest is being displayed.

A further database system has been developed since 1997 for the digital management of the Documentation Archive of the Acropolis Restoration works (Mallouchou- Tufano et al. 1990; 2003; Mallouchou-Tufano 1992; Mallouchou-Tufano & Alexopoulos 2007; Katsianis 2013). The database can present, via a three dimensional environment displaying (Alexopoulos 2010, 32–34) selected architectural fragments or larger parts of the Acropolis monuments, including archival material and information concerning their state of preservation and the interventions applied to them, including archives of automatic drawing (CAD) and audio-visual material. It constitutes the principal tool for the digital management of the Acropolis restoration documentation content, allowing access to scientific staff. With 186,000 entries to date, it is extremely valuable for the composition of restoration reports and scientific studies, as well as for the preparation of the final publication of the completed restoration projects (Alexopoulos 2012; Lempidaki 2015; Lempidaki et al. 2018; Petropoulou & Koutsadelis 2018). At the same time, the database system enabled the design of a web application, the Repository of the Acropolis Restoration Service (http://repository-ysma.ekt.gr), which has been developed in collaboration with the Hellenic National Documentation Centre funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF-ESPA) 2007–2013.

The ultimate aim for developing this repository was to ensure that future generations will be able to access knowledge related to the Acropolis monuments and the works that have been implemented on them (Katsianis & Kamatsos 2016). Further selected documentation material from the restoration interventions on the Erechtheion (1979–1987) has become available to the public. It includes studies, notebooks, audiovisual material, as well as drawings and photographic material which can be found in the CD-ROM that accompanies the publication of the final report on the restoration project (Mallouchou-Tufano & Bouras 2012). The Repository will be systematically enriched with new material following the progress of the interventions.

Learning Activities of the Information and Education Department

The Education Department of any cultural organisation is the first link between the institution and the public. Heritage learning can be a way of making cultural heritage relevant to people, as well as a way of transforming individuals and society (Hansen 2014, 7).

Τhe educational activities of the Information and Education Department represent one more attempt to communicate the scientific research of the Acropolis Restoration Service to the wider public. The Department offers a wide range of educational activities addressed to pupils, educators, families and the general public. These activities are based on a set of principles that are in accordance with the concepts of public engagement and Public Archaeology, the field in which the general public becomes aware of and actively involved in the enhancement, protection and conservation of cultural heritage.

These principles are the following:

• An in-depth understanding of the art and history of the Acropolis monuments and a familiarity with the essence of classical antiquity should be accessible by all and not only for the benefit of experts.

• Heritage education, which is the first step towards ensuring the cultivation of respect for the monuments and an interest in their preservation, should begin in early childhood.

• Learning through heritage instead of learning about heritage can help students cultivate their values and develop skills, as well as promote enjoyment and inspiration (Hansen 2014, 8).

It is within this framework that the Acropolis Restoration Service seeks to inform citizens about the importance of public restoration works and, at the same time, to influence positive changes in learning practice. The aim, therefore, is to enhance a cognitive, aesthetic and affective approach to the Acropolis monuments and to promote experiential heritage learning. It is worth noting here that all the learning programmes are provided free of charge and they take place at the archaeological site of the Acropolis in collaboration with the Acropolis Museum.

One of the Department’s primary tasks is the organisation of educational programmes for school groups and families, always tailored to the age and the knowledge level of participants (Hadziaslani et al. 2018, 850–4). Over the years these programmes have covered a variety of subjects, such as mythology, ancient Greek history, architecture and sculpture of the Acropolis monuments, as well as the contemporary restoration project. Craft or digital workshops conducted as part of these programmes encourage observation, experience, participation and the development of students’ creativity. Various activities which allow interaction, sharing, and discussion lead young people to discover, negotiate and construct their sense of participation. Some of the educational programmes of the Department are carried out regularly, while others are implemented in conjunction with temporary exhibitions, anniversaries or special events. Several educational programmes are also held for students on a large scale as open-day programmes.

As there is great demand for participation in all the programmes and the number of the employees in the Department is limited to meet such a need, a large part of the Department’s actions were directed towards training school educators, so they can effectively lead the visits and take charge of the learning content. Staff members of the Department (https://www.ysma.gr/en/educational-actions/educational-resources/) then concentrated their efforts in the production of educational resources, both in print and online, in Greek and English. They comprise books, museum trails, museum kits, family back-packs, films and online applications. These resources are also tailored so they can be useful to school groups as well as the general public. They aim at facilitating the dissemination of the lear...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Summary
• A. Theoretical Principles and Challenges
• B. Public Engagement in Museums and Archaeological Sites: A Survey of Case Studies
• C. Voices from the Public: Audience and Community Driven Engagement Within Museums
• D. Conclusions