The radical rethinking of how the Parthenon and the other ancient monuments should be lit was the initiative of Michael Cacoyannis.

“It used to deeply hurt me”, he says “to see our Parthenon so badly treated”. After successfully bringing on board the famous French engineer Pierre Bideau in 2001, he established the “Athens’ Friends’ union”, whose donations along with some assistance from the financial group UBS, financed a study for the illumination of the Acropolis, the Olympian Zeus Columns, Hadrian’s Arch, Lycabettus Hill and the Hellenic Parliament.

The project received backing from the Ministry of Culture and the City of Athens, and the new illumination for Athens’ Sacred Rock was in place by 2004.