New Acropolis lighting system brightens Athens' 'eternal compass'

ATHENS (Reuters) - A new lighting system was unveiled at the Acropolis on Wednesday that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said would serve to illuminate the democratic principles of ancient Greece as well as the temples overlooking the city of Athens.

"The light of the 21st century now hugs the Acropolis, a celebration that goes beyond borders and languages. The values born here spread all over the earth as the right answer on how to organise society," Mitsotakis said.

"The Acropolis is a mine of memory, an eternal compass. Democracy and the principles of classical Athens need more light in our days," he said.

It was in the fifth century BC under the rule of Pericles when construction of the site's most important remains, including the Parthenon, one of the world's greatest cultural monuments, was completed.

An enduring symbol of ancient Greece and Athenian democracy, the Parthenon was seriously damaged during a siege by the Venetians in 1687 when gunpowder stored at the temple was hit by a cannonball and exploded.

Funded by the Onassis Foundation, the new lighting system better exposes the geometry of the site's monuments and their relief, illuminating the rocks of the hill, the Acropolis walls and the temples with different intensities.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)