STUNNING!

clipped from www.nytimes.com clipped from www.nytimes.com This male marble statue is from the 2nd century B.C. clipped from www.nytimes.com This marble statue of a youth is roughly 2,600 years old. clipped from www.nytimes.com The second floor, reached by a glass ramp, features a rich and extensive trove of free-standing objects from the archaic and classical periods. clipped from www.nytimes.com The Caryatid sculptures, which date to the late 5th century B.C. and once propped up part of the ancient Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis, are displayed on a balcony. clipped from www.nytimes.com The museum has five floors that provide space for 4,000 artifacts, ten times the number displayed in the old building. Images of some of the pieces follow. clipped from www.nytimes.com The design, introduced in 2001, was meant to be completed in time for the 2004 Olympics, but legal battles delayed the process for years. clipped from www.nytimes.com The new facility, 226,000 square feet of glass and concrete designed by the New York-based architect Bernard Tschumi, replaces the old Acropolis Museum, a small 1874 building tucked into the rock of the Acropolis next to the Parthenon.