ATHENS (voa) – Greek authorities have approved the design of the the new Acropolis museum with the hope it will will be completed in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Five companies signed a contract Wednesday to design the museum, which will sit near the Parthenon.
The New York based architectural firm Bernard Tschumi will head the design team.
A spokesman from Greek’s Culture Ministry, which is supervising the project, said construction will hopefully start in the first half of next year.
Greek authorities hope the museum will one day house the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles. Planners hope to recover the marble frieze from Britain.
The British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Lord Elgin shipped the Parthenon marbles to Britain during his service in the area.
Fifty-seven of the surviving marble blocks that once adorned the Parthenon have been displayed in the British museum the last two centuries. The remainder are in Athens.
