Athens debuts New Acropolis Museum

ATHENS, Greece, June 20 (UPI) -- The New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, is the perfect place to showcase the Parthenon Marbles held by Britain, museum officials said at Saturday's opening.

Designed by New York architect Bernard Tschumi, the $200 million museum replaces the old Acropolis Museum, a small 1874 structure built into the rock of the Acropolis, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The new museum, intended as the "ultimate showcase of classical civilization," will be complete when Britain surrenders the Parthenon Marbles, sections of a decorative frieze that have been on display in the British Museum since 1816, said Antonis Samaras, Greece's culture minister.

Britain long has maintained it is in a better position to look after the 2,500-year-old panels and has offered to loan the marble pieces to Greece but not return them permanently.

"We didn't build this for the sake of the British," Samaras said, "but look around: does this not negate the argument that Athens has no place good enough to house the Parthenon Marbles?"