Athens the City Beneath the City: Antiquities from the Metropolitan Railway Excavations

In a city that is more than 6,000 years old, excavation and new construction threaten to erase remnants of the past. So when Athens decided in the early 1990s to build a new metro system, the city first sent in teams of archeologists, who discovered and have preserved a staggering array of ancient artifacts, including the remains of homes, marketplaces and temples. In Athens: The City Beneath the City: Antiquities from the Metropolitan Railway Excavations, Liana Parlama, director of antiquities at the Greek Ministry of Culture, and Nicholas Stampolidis, director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, present a metro-station-by-metro-station tribute in 500 color photos to 21st-century progress and the treasures of the past. ( Apr.)