After the withdrawal of the Turkish garrison, the Acropolis of Athens was occupied by a Bavarian military garrison. On , by a royal decree issued on the advice of the Bavarian architect Leo von Klenze, the troops were dismissed from the Acropolis and the area declared an archaeological site. Despite Pittakis's existing status as "custodian" of its antiquities and the fact that Athens fell under the jurisdiction of his sub-ephorate, he was not selected to carry out the restoration work: instead, the task went to the German-born Ross, a favourite of King Otto, who was recommended by Klenze directly. Ross worked mostly alongside architects from northern Europe, particularly the Prussian Eduard Schaubert, the Danish Christian Hansen and the Saxon Eduard Laurent, an architect from Dresden. The dominance of non-Greek scholars in the excavation and conservation of Greek monuments provoked resentment from the native Greek intelligentsia, and tensions between Pittakis and Ross.
