The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most important monuments of world culture. A living symbol that has stood the test of time, and one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. On the 30th of September 2020, the new lighting of the Acropolis and its 17 monuments was unveiled. An audiovisual event was organized by the Onassis Foundation and the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with Eleftheria Deko to inaugurate the new Lighting.
The lighting design motive was to create a dynamic light show which will catch the viewer’s eye from multiple viewpoints of the city. To unveil the permanent lighting with a strong movement, to captivate the audience’s attention and symbolically “turn on” the light of democracy, the light of the history and culture of Athens.
Our design narrative was driven by the Parthenon’s structure and mystical architecture. The Parthenon doesn´t contain any straight lines and right angles. It has a slight parabolic upward curvature and the columns’ axes tend to meet in the centre as a ray that “travels” to the “heart” of the Parthenon, almost 2,400 meters high in the sky. A remarkable application of the “optical refinements” the ancient Greeks mastered. We honored that unique geometry trying to elongate with sharp beams of light the columns of Parthenon to the infinity. The spirituality of the temple to the heaven.
The 51 beams of light, coming through each column of the Parthenon, were synchronized under the sound of the electronic music that Mr. Gasparatos composed for the show. At the eve of the 30th September, we wanted the light symbolically to shine through the skies, sending a message of democracy, unity and culture to humanity, values that have been emitted by the Parthenon and the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis for the last 2500 years.
We believed that we cannot honour such a monument only by a dynamic lighting show, but we wanted to create a fascinating introduction to welcome the main event of the installation of the new lighting of the Acropolis, bridging the future of our civilization with its past.
