Greek workshop in Athens recreates and sells ancient masterpieces

AP reports from Athens how a workshop recreates and sells ancient masterpieces in the following article by Thanassis Stavrakis:

It might be the closest an artist can get to time travel: Painstakingly recreating the works of Greece’s ancient masters.

A group of artists working for Greece’s Culture Ministry has the exclusive right to make the officially certified copies, which are meant for sale in Greek museum shops.

The team of about 50 fine arts graduates works on a range of sculptures, from a three-inch (nearly eight-centimeter) hare from Roman-era Macedonia to a seven-foot (more than two-meter) statue of Zeus, or Poseidon, created in the mid-5th century B.C. and one of the star exhibits of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

All are full-scale, made out of plaster in molds and painstakingly hand-painted to match the hues of the original piece, be it metal, marble, clay or even ivory. Plaster is used because it doesn’t shrink while drying, unlike other materials such as resin, and permits reproductions that are completely accurate in size.

For the time being, the copies can only be bought at leading museums and archaeological sites. The proceeds are meant to help fund Greek archaeology and conservation projects.

Greek Culture Minister Lydia Koniordou promised at a recent news conference that by the summer they will also be available for online purchase.

Greek Culture Ministry Fund of Archaeological Proceeds, which makes and sells the copies: http://www.tap.gr/tapadb/index.php/en/products/original-copies/casts

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