Exhibition review: Lego Acropolis

Abstract

<p>While the acropolis in Athens stands exhausted from the pulse of tourist feet and cameras, the Nicholson Museum has provided a modern take on the site. The centrepiece in its exhibition is a large model of the famous hill made with 125,000+ Lego bricks by professional model builder Ryan McNaught (fig.1). This is accompanied by brightly coloured panels with information and historic photos which explain some lesser known events in the site's history. A video with reenactments plays in the background and a table filled with Lego pieces encourages its visitors to construct their own creations.</p> <p>Models of sites and buildings have a long history in museums where curators have often wanted to add a sense of space and place to their exhibitions. Perhaps the most famous is Italo Gismondi's huge model of ancient Rome from the time of Constantine which can be found in the Museum of Roman Civilisation in Rome. Models of the Athenian acropolis have also been popular for a long time with many examples in museums around the world. Nicholson Museum curator Michael Turner's Lego version does a fine job of illustrating the jumble of buildings and structures at the location in the ancient world. The actual site in Athens looks decidedly flat in comparison to its Lego cousin which has allowed a reconstruction of some of its original bright colours. The plethora of buildings and an incorrect scale (difficult to achieve with Lego people) does make the Parthenon lose the domineering position it enjoys on the Athenian hill today. This actually fits well with some of our ancient sources who pay more attention to other things than to the architecture of the temple which is so lauded today. Pausanias, for example, spends more time describing the sculpture of Athena inside (1.24.5-7) than the building itself.</p> <p>The most interesting element of Turner and McNaught's creation is the way it represents the history of the site as its numerous historical characters mingle around a Parthenon which is half newly built and half broken. The inclusion of people seems to have generally eluded museum models, possibly because museum model makers have taken their model making cues from architects whose creations only focus on buildings. Here, on the other hand, we not only find people, but specific recognisable characters which play to the viewers' general knowledge. Lego Alexander the Great chats to Lego Diogenes, Lego Sigmund Freud looks at the landscape in wonder and Lego William J. Woodhouse takes the photos that are available to order as prints from the Nicholson Museum's gift shop. Elton John's concert brings us into the twenty first century and both ancient and modern myths are represented as Athena and Poseidon vie for the name of the city while Indiana Jones hides in a cave. The arrangement is very clever and keeps visitors occupied while they search for all the small details which are carefully listed in a legend provided in the corner of the model case.</p>