People say that when you’re four, you should be able to count up to one hundred! In these four years, the Acropolis Museum has proven to be a child prodigy! On June 20, the Museum will celebrate its fourth birthday, counting more than 5.000.000 million visitors since 2009, extended visiting hours, research projects, innovative communication tools, and more importantly, a healthy demand for services that keeps it going without any state grant for a fourth year in row.

On that special day, the Museum opens its doors to the public 8 a.m. until 12 midnight and offers its visitors the chance to discover "untold stories of the surviving blocks of the frieze, with the aid of 3D presentations", and to enjoy a concert by the Athens Municipality Philharmonic Orchestra. Don’t miss out on the celebration!

Greek News Agenda: Acropolis Museum Wins Keck Award 

• Museum Visits Up

An impressive rise in museum and archaeological site visitors was recorded in February 2013 compared to the same month 2012, according to data released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), whose Survey on Museums and Archaeological Sites shows an increase of museum visitors by 33.5% and of revenues by 15.7%, while visitors to archaeological sites were up by 44.2% and revenue up by 57.8%.

The data for the first two months of 2013 shows a rise by 24.5% in museum visitors and by 7.9% in museum revenue, compared with the corresponding period of 2012, while the relevant data for archaeological sites records increase by 39.4% and 40.9% in visitors and revenue accordingly.

 
The National Archaeological Museum recorded the highest rise in visitors of all museums (105.6% up), followed by the Ancient Olympia Museum (81.9%), the Palace of Knights in Rhodes (52,8%), the Rhodes Archaeological Museum (48,5% ) and the Museum of Heraklion (30.5%). As to archaeological sites, the byzantine site of Mystra marked a skyrocketing 207.4% rise, followed by Ancient Olympia (86.5%), Ancient Kamiros (75.4%), the Acropolis of Mycenae and the Treasure of Atreus (71, 9%) and Knossos (60.2%). 

President Papoulias concludes a two-day official visit in Serbia today, where he met with his Serb counterpart, Tomislav Nikolic, and the country’s political leadership. Talks between Papoulias and Nicolic focused on bilateral relations and Serbia’s European course. In a joint conference held after their meeting yesterday, Papoulias referred to the excellent bilateral relations and Greece’s strong support of Serbia’s efforts for European integration and the setting of a date for the start of EU membership negotiations soon.

He also thanked Serbia for its stance on the Cyprus issue, underlining that a solution will contribute to regional stability. The name dispute between Greece and FYROM was also discussed, Papoulias said, reiterating Greece's sincere hopes for a mutually acceptable solution as soon as possible, and underling that "observing the principle of good neighbourly relations is a fundamental precondition for the European future of all candidate states for EU membership."

On his part, Nicolic expressed Serbia's appreciation for Greece's stance on the Kosovo issue and for its support of Serbia's EU path efforts. Papoulias, who is accompanied by a government delegation, also met with Serbian Parliament Speaker, Nebojsa Stefanovic and attended a luncheon given in his honor by Serb Prime Minister Ivica Dacic. Today, Papoulias will attend the opening of the Greek-Serb business forum and meet with Serbian Patriarch Irinej.

Greek fencer Vassiliki Vougiouka won silver at the European Fencing Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, on June 17.

At the women’s sabre semi final she defeated Italian Irene Vecchi 15-11; at the final, she lost 15-7 to Olga Kharlan of Ukraine, who won the gold medal.

At the 2010 World Fencing Cup held in Budapest, Hungary, Vougiouka won the gold medal, the first one in the history of Greek fencing.