Acropolis gets a lift

PEOPLE with disabilities and the elderly can finally visit Athens’s famous Acropolis by lift again after a new facility was opened yesterday, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The new lift was unveiled at the ancient citadel by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“This is a special day not only for people with disabilities but also for the elderly,” Mitsotakis said.

The path to the top of the hill of the Acropolis is steep and slippery, and a previous lift which was installed in 2004 for the Olympic Games hardly ever functioned.

There was a public outcry last year after a Greek man carried his 12-year-old son up the hill because he could not ascend with his wheelchair.

The foundation of the late shipowner Aristotle Onassis funded the construction of a new lift and nonslip paths on the hill, where people often used to fall on the sleek marble.

ENJOYING the view from the new lift installed at the archaeological site of the Acropolis in Athens, are, front, from left, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni and president of the Onassis Foundation, Antonis Papadimitriou. The lift was unveiled yesterday, International Day of Persons with Disabilities. | EPA-EFE