Acropolis Statues to be transferred to a new museum

For the very first time the stunning antiques, the Acropolis statues will be shifted from their original site to the specially built new musuem about 400 meters away from the original place.

During the first week of October, the Culture Minister Michalis Liapis quoted,

"Everything is ready for this historic removal. God willing and weather permitting the removal will start on Sunday, Oct. 14. A trial run will be held next week."

The start would be a 2 1/2-ton marble block from the Parthenon frieze which is a 2,500-year-old sculpted strip depicting a religious procession that ran around the ancient temple just below roof level.

This will be the first to make the 400 meter journey to the new place.



To this the senior conservator Dimitris Maraziotis told The Associated Press,

"This is one of the biggest and the least fragmented of all the blocks in the frieze"

Supervising engineer Costas Zambas said,

"The transfer will take at least a month and a half, although bad weather could prolong the operation. It will cost $3.55 million."



There will be a team of 35 workers and it will be done using three cranes each upto 17 feet high.

The shift would be done from the Acropolis hill into the intentionally built new museum that would have the glory of having such ancient works of art.

Zambas, a veteran of the long-running Acropolis restoration project who was involved in removing the remaining sculptures from the Erechtheion and Parthenon temples for display in the old museum said,

"Every single part of the operation will be difficult and requires great care"

The sculptures will be hoisted into styrofoam-filled boxes made of plywood and metal by wearing padded harnesses. According to Zambas upto four crates will make the trip each day.

Looking at the massive structures, their weight and their priceless nature the total operation for each is planned at 2 1/2 hours each.

Around 4500 such works have to be shifted in the whole process.

The uniquely designed building by the U.S.based architect Bernard Tschumi in collaboration with Greece’s Michalis Photiadis will be capped by a glass hall that will allow visitors a direct view of the ancient temple.

Although the new museum is expected to open in sections next year, the complete artifacts will probably take somewhere by 2009 to get completely settled in.

So until then let’s wait and watch the stunningly glorious works through the looking glass.

Discovery of a vast and dense web attracts scientists to spiders once more

The discovery of a vast and thickening web with million of spiders found in the North Texas, Lake Tawakoni State park has sparked a debate amongst scientists and visitors. The web which spread across miles has a lot of trees covered and is so thick that at some places it has blocked the sunlight also. Astonishing is the fact that where spiders are believed to be solitary creatures don’t usually make community webs. The intricate web as per the reports emits a faint odor, most probably coming from the dead insects stuck to the web.

A spider expert at Texas A & M University, Allen Dean describes this web as a ‘rather spooky, kind of like Halloween.’ What amazes experts like Dean is that ’social’ spiders or rather their species are not found outside of the tropics. The experts are speculating the web as a community web of cobweb spiders. However, cobwebs take more than a year to build such webs and this one has come up in just a few months. Some are also reasoning it as just a ballooning of the spiders which five years ago covered about 25 hectares of field in British Columbia in the same way. Mike Quinn, the state biologist who runs a Web site about Texas invertebrates said that there can be a relation between the web and the record-breaking rains that flooded Texas this season.

Tourists shoot elephants and help save them

The role of tourism in wildlife conservation is well known. Armed with cameras, tourists are now shooting Sri Lanka’s elephants and bringing them back from the verge of extinction.

The elephant orphanage at Pinnawela in Sri Lanka is breeding elephants in captivity in a sprawling 25-acre coconut plantation. Before the orphanage was started in 1975, Sri Lanka’s elephant population had dwindled to near extinction due to habitat loss, and ruthless hunting. Thanks to the efforts of the Sri Lankan government and tourists the elephant population has risen from merely seven elephants in 1975 to 65 elephants today, including several bred in captivity.

The elephant orphanage at Pinnawela is situated close to the main highway that links Colombo and the hill capital of Kandy, which makes it an ideal stop over destination for thousands of tourists. It’s perhaps the only place where visitors can see at close quarters a large number of elephants wandering freely. The money tourists spend at the elephant orphanage is helping the revival of the elephant population in Sri Lanka.

It’s a sustainable tourism project that not only provides a meaningful experience to the tourists, but also promotes resource conservation.

Libya takes a step forward to guard architectural treasures with new eco-project

An archaeologically rich, Mediterranean area in Libya might just be the next hot ecotourism destination. Saif Al Islam Gadafi, the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has recently unveiled a £1.5bn ($3bn) sustainable development plan which is yet another step taken towards international rehabilitation.

Libya has launched the world’s first, large-scale, conservation-and-sustainable-development project in Cyrene in the Green Mountain region of the Mediterranean. This massive ecological and cultural project will be headed by Saif Al Islam Gadafi.

The economy will depend on sustainable fishing, organic agriculture and microbanking services. Hotels, restaurants and museums will be made for visitors. The plan also includes an institution of higher learning dedicated to sustainable development.

The Libyan government has founded the Green Mountain Conservation and Development Authority, including engineers, archaeologists and experts on the environment and sustainable development. The project is being seen as an attempt to diversify Libya’s economy, which is currently dependent on oil for 95% of its export earnings and 25% cent of its GDP.

The regional plan is being developed by the firm of renowned British architect Norman Foster whose global projects include Beijing Airport, the Millau Viaduct in France and the restoration of the Reichstag in Berlin. The project will be the largest project of its kind and is anticipated to bring well-heeled eco-tourists.

How accurate are world maps?

Don’t be too sure that the atlas you are referring to gives you the right map of a particular area! Even the newest redrawn maps are finding it hard to cope up with developmental, infrastructural and environmental changes taking place around the world today. The more vivid the atlas is the greater problem it faces.