For all the depth of its history, Greece never had the museum to fully encapsulate its ancient grandeur. Athens’ newly opened Acropolis Museum fills that void once and for all.

Long overdue, the Acropolis Museum finally opened to the general public on June 21. A long queue of visitors wound its way to the ultra-chic museum, situated 300 yards away from the Parthenon, the world-famous temple on Acropolis hill.

Sprawling with 14,000 square meters of exhibition space, the Acropolis Museum houses over 4,000 relics—a number only exceeded by their age. Holdings include the finest works that festooned the Acropolis in Greece’s classical era.

French-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi magnificently optimized $180 million in funds for the museum’s construction. The resulting edifice is a contemporary masterpiece of glass, by far a well-ventilated home for its priceless residents. In this arrangement, visitors can gape as much at the majestic holdings as the spectacular vistas outside.

Nearly every hall has glass for walls, exploiting the Greek sunlight while tempering its harshness. Once can even see through the floors, right into the foundations. At night, dramatic indoor lights illumine the statues, while floodlights flaunt the Parthenon outside.

Crowning the museum is a glass hall dedicated to every sculpture from the Parthenon. Tschumi patterned the cavernous chamber after the Parthenon itself, the sculptures arranged in their original positions.

Such museum is a jarring disparity from the diminutive one nearer the Parthenon, which for years served as an inadequate custodian of Greek history. In a meticulous 2007 operation, Greek officials began relocating the smaller museum’s collection to their new address.

Visitors, most of which snapped their admission tickets from the Internet, queued up as early as Saturday for next day’s opening. A certain Chryssa Salamanou registered first in line for the spectacle. Like the other visitors, she paid $1.40 to gain admittance, a nominal price expected to go up in 2010. Tickets for Sunday’s rendezvous and three days thereafter are already sold out.

These crowds were only preceded by 400 elite guests of the $4-million opening party on Saturday evening. Led by Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Culture Minister Antonis Samaras, the museum’s dignified first-timers included Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President and Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO Director-General.