Athens is undergoing a makeover, shedding some of the worst of the commercial fashions of the 70s and 80s for a more classical look.

'De-construction' teams are tearing down advertising hoardings and tidying up the skyline in a multimillion pound bid to restore some of the Greek capital's ancient glory ahead of the 2004 Olympics.

Legal powers

Backed up by an array of new legal powers, crews are removing the forests of billboards that have sprouted up to block the view of the Parthenon with giant-sized cigarette packets and neon ads for diet products.

"We started in 2001 with Omonia Square and the surrounding area, now we have reached Syntagma Square which we hope to finish this week," said Yiota Goni from the state agency, the Unification of Archaeological Sites.

The effort is part of a 40-million euro campaign to restore a number of key ancient sites and eventually link the main archaeological areas with cobbled walkways in place of the congested roads that dominate the city now.

Biggest makeover in 10 years

"This is the biggest beautification project in Athens since independence 170 years ago, we are trying to reclaim the historical centre not ban advertising altogether," said Ms Goni.

However, progress has been slow as the targeted 10,000 advertising hoardings and their owners have proved tougher than expected to budge.

Cranes have had to be moved in to bring down signs where single letters can measure up to 4 metres tall, meaning work has to be completed in off peak hours.

"Its not easy to bring cranes into the centre without bringing the city to a halt, we have had to work late nights and Sundays and that has meant that progress has been slow," said Ms Goni.

"Of course we have encountered resistance from some the owners of buildings who had rented their space to advertisers but we have public support. People will stop to congratulate us and urge us to do more," she insisted.

Business backing

Many businesses have been less than pleased at losing their prime city centre advertising space and in some cases crews have come to blows with the owners of buildings.

Not all advertisers are against the project though. "As it is now Athens outdoor advertising suffers from unbelievable clutter," said advertising industry figure Manolis Kontosoros. "We support the removal of billboards. Less can be more as the present situation works in no one's favour."

Officials admit that 90 percent of the work remains to be done but insist that the pace of the project is picking up, promising that it will be finished midway through 2003.

Residents' reservations

Central Athens resident Costas Petropoulos is faced with roadworks in front of his apartment block for the next 18 months as part of the pedestrianisation project and has mixed feelings.

"Its annoying as its almost impossible to drive to my home but in the long term it should make it a nicer place to live," he said.