DANBURY, CONN. — Dimitrios Pandermalis, president of the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum, will speak at Western Connecticut State University this month about the massive project to create a home for some of the best-known and most important works of art in world history.

The public is invited to the free lecture, “Approaching Completion: The New Acropolis Museum,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, in Science Building Room 125 on WestConn’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury.

The talk is the second in The Constantine S. Macricostas Lecture series, made possible by a generous donation by the founder and chairman of Brookfield-based Photronics Inc., Constantine “Deno” Macricostas and his wife, Marie.

Pandermalis is a professor of archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, supervisor of the Archaeological site of Dion in northern Greece.

The museum, which is located 800 feet from the Parthenon, is scheduled to open this year to house masterpieces from the Parthenon and the other great ancient temples on the Athenian Acropolis.

Construction has not been without controversy, as ruins of early Christian civilization were discovered during excavation. The museum was redesigned to sit above the new discoveries and incorporate them into the visitor’s experience.

The Greek government expects the museum to bring together sculptures and other elements of the Parthenon now housed in 10 museums in eight countries.

A reception will follow the lecture.

For more information, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.