Art Deco Gem in Athens Faces Demolition

The entrance of 1930 Art Deco building at No. 17 Dionyssiou Areopagitou Street, built by Vassilis Kouremenos, a graduate of Paris' Ecole des Beaux Arts is seen in Athens Tuesday, July 31, 2007 but the building stand between the new museum and the Acropolis. In May 2007, Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis mentioned at a news conference that the building would be removed. Greece's archaeological council voted in early July to revoke the listed status of the more significant Art Deco building and allow its demolition. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (Thanassis Stavrakis - AP)

It is "probably the most impressive example of its kind" in Athens, said Kostas Stamatopoulos of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and Cultural Heritage.

The debate threatens to overshadow the long-anticipated opening of the new museum next year.

Athens has sorely needed a new place to house antiquities from the 2,600-year-old Acropolis. The old museum on the Acropolis hill near the Parthenon temple was cramped and overcrowded. It closed down in June, and the new museum promises to display artifacts hidden away in storage rooms because of a lack of exhibition space. Next month, 300 marble statues from atop the Acropolis will be moved into the museum.

Greeks hope it will one day house the Elgin Marbles _ a collection of sculptures removed from the Parthenon in the early 19th century and currently housed in London's British Museum. Athens has sought their return for years. The British Museum has refused, but a space awaits them in a gallery on the top floor of the new museum.

The gallery was meant to be enhanced by an untarnished view of the Acropolis.

"The glass enclosure of the gallery provides ideal light for sculpture in direct view to and from the historical reference point of the Acropolis," U.S.-based architect Bernard Tschumi, who designed the museum, wrote in a promotional leaflet.

The museum was constructed after years of delays and fierce criticism over its location, structure and hulking size. Critics say its style is incongruous with its surroundings, on the edge of Athens' old district of Plaka.

"We are tearing down two protected buildings to showcase one of dubious aesthetics and bulk," said Stamatopoulos.

The Art Deco building caught the eye of visitors gazing down on Athens from the Acropolis.

"Looking from above, you can see the new museum and these buildings," said Michael Seigel, visiting from Tampa, Fla., with his family. "They're very pretty. There's no reason to see them destroyed."