It was saved by a Sydney Morning Herald campaign 70 years ago and now the culturally and historically significant Lysicrates Monument has been rescued for a second time.
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After almost 150 years overlooking Sydney Harbour, worn by wind and rain, the sandstone monument has been restored to its former glory thanks to some philanthropic funding and the handiwork of State Government stonemasons.
The structure in the Royal Botanic Gardens is a replica of the ancient Greek Lysicrates Monument, carved from marble and erected in Athens in 334BC where it was used to celebrate a win in an annual drama competition.
The Sydney version was commissioned by former NSW Premier and Attorney-General James Martin in 1868 and it took pride of place in the garden of his estate on Wylde Street, Potts Point, for decades until the land was resumed to make way for military use, eventually becoming the site of HMAS Kuttabul.
A campaign by the Sydney Morning Herald saved the monument from destruction and it was re-located to the Royal Botanic Gardens in 1943, where it replaced an iron fountain.
Almost 70 years later, philanthropists John and Patricia Azarias saved the monument once more, forming the Lysicrates Foundation to help fund its restoration by NSW Government stonemasons.
NSW Property Minister Dominic Perrottet said government stonemasons completed the painstaking work on the monument's damaged friezes following a $200,000 investment as part of the minister's Stoneworks Program.
"The Lysicrates monument represents the rich cultural history and heritage that has shaped our city, our state and our nation, and we simply must preserve that history for future generations," he said.
The restored monument was unveiled on Sunday along with the finalists in the 2017 Lysicrates Playwriting Competition, which will take place in February next year.
