0
ATHENS, Aug 21: Plans to carve a massive stone portrait of Alexander the Great into a Greek mountain ran into protests on Wednesday with critics saying it was pure kitsch not wanted in the land of antiquity.
The controversial scheme for a 80 metre by 57 metre image of the young Macedonian king went to the heart of a bitter debate in Greece about expanding and modernising tourism while preserving the country’s archaeological treasures.
It would resemble the depiction of four U.S. presidents on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and include an open-air theatre, small museum and other facilities that critics say would turn the area in northern Greece into something like a theme-park.
The row pits local villagers worried about declining tourism against the Greek Culture Ministry and top archaeologists. Environmentalists threaten to go to court to stop the project.
The 30 million euro project, expected to start later this year, would take up to 10 years to complete and be wholly funded by Greek-Americans.
The Chicago-based Alexander the Great Foundation says state-of-the art drilling techniques will ensure no damage to the environment and other nearby ancient sites in creating the “world’s largest face monument carving.”
“By combining this technology with a unique artistic style, the team will be able to accomplish this monumental project without disturbing the natural habitat,” the Foundation said on Web site www.alexanderthegreatmountain.com.
Alexander the Great, who succeeded his father to the throne at the age of 20, was a military genius whose battle tactics are studied to this day.
He extended his empire from his northern Greek hometown of Pella — about 120kms from the planned portrait site — across the Middle East and Egypt to Persia and India, in just over a decade. He died in 323 BC, aged 33.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS ENRAGED: The portrait would be carved on a mountain overlooking the coastal town of Asprovalta which was on Alexander’s original route to the east.
It would overlook the northern Aegean sea and towards monastery-dotted Mount Athos, just above a newly-built European traffic artery — a highway connecting the western port of Igoumenitsa with the country’s eastern borders with Turkey.
“This rock with a height of 600 metres is sticking out of the rest of the mountain just waiting for this,” Asprovalta mayor Angelos Frantzis told Reuters. “This will be a grand monument to a great man and it doesn’t matter if archaeologists say it’s going to be just kitsch.”
Archaeologists, who describe the plan as a “monstrosity”, are enraged and say the project could damage nearby antiquities.
“This is a serious environmental alteration which then can be copied by other towns and villages,” said Dimitris Grammenos, director of the nearby Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum which holds the most important ancient Macedonian finds, including the remains of Alexander’s father, King Philip II.
“The area is protected by archaeological laws, because of the nearby antiquities,” he said.
He said the Mount Rushmore-type carving might be appropriate for a country the size of the United States but not for “the delicate Mediterranean landscape.”
Environmentalists were also up in arms with one group naming Mayor Frantzis their “environmental megalomania award winner.”
Frantzis, who says the carving would be the greatest thing to happen in Greece and draw busloads of tourists, rejected suggestions of damage to any of nearby post-Byzantine sites.
“These (antiquities) are two kilometres away and the tombs they are referring to are 16 kilometres away so of course we will not damage anything,” Frantzis said.
Greece’s respected Kathimerini newspaper, which vehemently opposes the plan, said: “This particular initiative is of doubtful aesthetic benefit to its surroundings and inappropriate in a Greek setting.”—Reuters
