As announced in Press Release #7, the past seven months have seen the slow and careful conservation work in the tunnel entrance to the stadium. The final phase was the replacement of the missing blocks which had been stolen out at the east end in the 6th century after Christ.
By late May all details had been finished and the site cleaned. Today the monument was returned to the Ministry of Culture in its newly conserved condition. A committee investigated the work, posed a variety of questions, and decided that the final product was more than acceptable. Or, in the words of the Ephor, Dinos Kissas, ‘It’s a doll!”
n anticipation of the official opening of the tunnel next week, a simple stone plaque was set outside the western end with the names of the institutions that had supported the work economically. The base is a chunk of the artificial stone forced into the position of the fallen keystone in 1995. This was removed in 2012 so that the original keystone could be replaced.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation
The association “Opheltes, the Friend of Nemea”
The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation
The John S. Latsis Foundation