Greece’s New Acropolis Museum will reinstate video scenes of early Christians vandalizing the 5th- century B.C. Parthenon Temple after receiving reassurances the images aren’t of priests, a suspicion that had sparked protests from the country’s church.
The short video, used to inform visitors about the history of the monument in the new museum, will be shown in full after film-maker Constantin Costa-Gavras clarified that the scenes showed early Christians, and not priests, causing damage, Museum Director Dimitris Pandermalis said.
The decision last month to delete the short segment angered the film’s creator, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavras, and was criticized in the Greek press as an act of censorship.
The Museum pulled the scenes from the video after receiving protests from the Church of Greece, Greek media reported.
The animated segment showed figures clad in black climbing up ladders and destroying part of the Parthenon frieze.
It belonged to a nearly two-minute segment by Costa-Gavras depicting damage done to Parthenon over the centuries — from marauding Germanic warriors in 267 AD to the removal of a large part of the sculptured frieze by British diplomat Lord Elgin in early 19th century.