Hundreds of marble sculptures that have survived heat, pollution and looters on the Acropolis in Athens will be swung over the city, using special cranes, to a new museum complex. The sculptures, some weighing 2.5 tonnes, will be transferred in a relay operation to a purpose-built glass home at the foot of the hill in September.

One crane, perched precariously near the ancient retaining wall of the Acropolis, will lift the exhibits out of the old museum. A second will stand in the precinct near the Herod Atticus Theatre to receive the relics, then swing its arm round to a third across Dionysius the Areopagite Street, a pedestrianised walkway on which the new museum stands.

The cranes are vital because no vehicle capable of carrying the loads would be able to reach the temple.

The first of 300 sculptures, part of a marble frieze by Phidias, the Athenian sculptor, will be lifted from its place in the Acropolis Museum and transferred about 300 yards to the new premises. The 2.5-tonne block and those that follow will be suspended high above the ground in the most delicate phase of the operation.

The exhibits will be wrapped in protective plastic or encased in reinforced wooden boxes filled with shock-absorbing foam. On being lowered into the new museum, they will be rolled on to mobile airbags for final positioning. Work on dismantling the larger exhibits will begin in July, when the old museum, a basement facility next to the Parthenon, is finally closed. “This is a going to be an operation unique in the world,” George Voulgarakis, the Culture Minister, said.

The museum, besides providing extra space, is more convenient for visitors, who will no longer have to make the 200ft climb to the Acropolis in the hot sun. It is next to the Acropolis metro station, which features replicas of the Elgin Marbles in its spacious entrance with the pointed comment that the originals “are still in London”. The new museum will display the Parthenon sculptures in a glass hall, allowing views of the ancient temple. Space for the sculptures that were removed by Lord Elgin and are on display in the British Museum will be left empty. Their return is still an official ambition of the Greek Government.

The Acropolis Museum contains finds from the Acropolis rock that dates from the 6th century BC, when the lawgiver Solon put some order into the early Athenian state, ending its class conflicts. The key exhibits are Phidias’s massive friezes, which show Athenian victory parades and scenes from legend, including a depiction of Poseidon.

The Culture Ministry said that it would expropriate and eventually demolish two properties owned by the composer Vangelis, whose work was used in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, and which obstruct the view to the Acropolis.

Archaeologists are swarming over the largely empty city block where the new museum is being built, examining layers of Neolithic and Archaic relics that were uncovered when the foundations were dug.

Since the nearby metro station was dug ten years ago, at least 50,000 ancient artefacts have come to light, confirming the area as perhaps the oldest continuously inhabited urban spot in Europe.

Gift to gods

— The Acropolis is a hill that dominates Athens and houses a collection of buildings constructed in the time of the demagogue Pericles in the 5th century BC to celebrate the city’s political and cultural achievements

— The main building, the Parthenon, is a vast temple built over 15 years to house a giant statue of Athena, the city’s patron goddess. It has served subsequent generations as both a church and mosque

— The Acropolis attracts more than 1.6 million foreign holidaymakers to the Greek capital each year.

Sources: athensguide.com; cityofathens.gr

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010