After 30 years of planning, nearly five years of construction, and 130 million euros later, Athens’ New Acropolis Museum will finally open this month. The official opening date is June 20, and the admission price will only be one euro until December 31st, 2009. For the first three days after the inauguration, only etickets will be sold, available through the museum’s website: www.newacropolismuseum.gr

At the moment the building is still going through last-minute preparations (although a temporary exhibition has already been on display on the ground floor), and UCityGuides has been taking a look around. We have taken photos of the exterior to bring to you (see below), a structure designed by New York-based architect Bernard Tschumi. It is found only 400 meters below the south side of the Acropolis Hill, and the state-of-the-art interior will showcase around 4000 treasures from the ancient Acropolis. Not included are the famous Parthenon Marbles that currently belong to the British Museum, but that Greece has been working hard to recover and place in this new space.
On the ground floor you can also see the recently-excavated remains of Athens’ 5th century BC streets, but that is the only ancient part of the building. It is a modern glass-walled construction, an ambitious project to make the country’s wonders of the past shine brighter in the present and the future. So starting this month you’ll be able to span 2,500 years of history in the new, modern and exciting Athens doing justice to its ancient treasures.

-See the complete Athens city guide.
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