2023-07-14 15:47:43
The Acropolis of Athens, The most visited monument in Greece, remained closed this Friday during the hottest moment of the day due to the heat wave that affects part of Europe, the Greek Ministry of Culture announced.
This Friday, the last entrance to the Acropolis site took place “at 12 local time, before its reopening at 5 pm,” said a statement from the archaeological service of the city of Athens.
Meanwhile, the sites near the Acropolis, such as the Agora, they stayed open.
The phenomenon “Cerberus”
Greece, like several countries in the southern Mediterranean, has been experiencing its first heat wave of the summer since Wednesday, with temperatures that should exceed 40 ° C in the north and west of the country.
It is that southern Europe and the western part of North Africa are involved in a heat wave that is breaking all temperature records and that has already been baptized by the Italian Meteorological Society as ‘Cerberus’, after the three-headed monster who guarded the gates of Dante’s Inferno.
The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most representative of Greece. It is literally about the highest part of the city, which functioned as a fortification and religious headquarters.
The one in Athens, also known as Cecropia in honor of the first Athenian king, Cécrops, the serpent-man, is located 156 meters above sea level.
Refrigerated rooms and teleworking
During this Friday morning, a tourist who was waiting in line to enter the Acropolis broke down due to the heat and had to be transferred on a stretcher to a nearby ambulance for medical attention.
Every year several million tourists visit the Acropolis of Athens and since this May it is estimated that some 15,000 people come daily to the site.
Many municipalities across Greece already keep air-conditioned rooms and spaces open so that people and especially people from vulnerable groups can take refuge there.
Spray water refreshes tourists in Athens. Photo: Bloomberg
Also, starting Thursday, employers must allow flexible work hours and promote teleworking to avoid the midday heat.
forecast
According to EMI, temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius will be recorded in most of mainland Greece this Friday.
The temperature will drop a bit on Saturday, but temperatures around 40 degrees They will persist until the middle of next week.
Tourists on the Acropolis under a scorching sun. Photo: Bloomberg
Starting Monday in many parts of the country there will also be strong winds, for which the Ministry of Civil Protection warns of increased risk of fire next week.
Two years ago Greece experienced a fateful summer, with temperatures that occasionally reached 46 degrees and thus surpassed the 1987 record in which a heat wave of these characteristics at the end of July caused 1,300 deaths in the country.
Earth records its hottest month
The current heat wave in Europe follows a June, considered the hottest on record in the planet.
An already warming Earth had its hottest June on record, surpassing the previous world record by 0.13 degrees Celsius, while global ocean temperatures have hit record highs for the third straight month, the Office announced. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States (NOAA for its acronym in English).
Ice creams and umbrellas to protect from the sun in Spanish Steps, in Rome. Photo: AP
The average global temperature in June was 16.55 degrees Celsius, exceeding the 20th century average by 1.05 degrees Celsius, the first time worldwide that a summer month was more than one degree Celsius, hotter than normal. according to NOAA.
Other climate monitoring systems, such as NASA, Berkeley Earth and Europe’s Copernicus, have already referred to the past month as hottest june on record but NOAA is the highest reference in terms of files, which They go back 174 years to 1850.
Agencies
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