Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis inaugurated the new elevator for people with disabilities who will finally have access to the Acropolis of Athens.
The lift will facilitate access to the monuments of the Acropolis in Athens for wheelchair users, elderly citizens and others with mobility problems.
It starts at the level of the ancient promenade, on the north slope of the Acropolis, and transport visitors directly to the top of the hill in 32 seconds.
The new elevator replaces a platform lift installed at the side of the hill in 2004 during the Olympic and Paralympics Games. The old lift platform kept breaking down with mechanical failures and ultimately had to be set out of service in the last two years.
The Prime Minister hailed the elevator as “an emblematic project.”
“Today, we inaugurate the new lift and also the designed routes in order to make the Acropolis Hill accessible to everyone,” Mitsotakis said.
The elevator was donated by the Onassis Foundation.
Just accidentally intentionally the inauguration coincided with the International Day of Disabled Persons.
Mitsotakis was accompanied by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, president of the Onassis Foundation Antonis Papadimitriou and reportedly also an entourage of some 200 people.
It looks as if no person with disabilities on wheelchair was invited to the inauguration.