additional steps leading towards the gate, and by 17 May it had become clear that they had found the edge of a fortified wall around the Acropolis, and within it a late Roman gateway, which became known as the Beulé Gate. The site was visited by King Otto and Queen Amalia, and the discovery made Beulé's scholarly reputation. Towards the end of the excavation, used explosives to blast through a particularly difficult block of mortar, a decision criticised by contemporary archaeologists, as well as the Greek newspapers, one of which had previously accused Beulé of wanting to blow up everything on the Acropolis. Pittakis, who had been watching the operation, was almost struck by a fragment of the debris which pierced his hat: reports circulated in the aftermath that he had been killed. In 1854, Pittakis reconstructed the western part of the podium of the pinakotheke on the monument's north-eastern side, which was in danger of collapsing. In 1851, on the resignation of Rangavis, he took the post of Secretary of the Archaeological Society of Athens, which he held until 1859. In April 1854, on the outbreak of the Crimean War, British and French troops occupied the Piraeus with the aim of preventing Greece from assisting the Russian Empire against Ottoman Turkey. The occupation led to an outbreak of cholera, which lasted from June 1854 to January 1855 and killed around 3,000 people, including the Archaeological Society's president, Georgios Gennadios. The situation meant that archaeological work was effectively impossible, and led to a financial crisis within the Archaeological Society which meant that it effectively ceased to exist, though Pittakis continued writing and publishing the Archaeological Journal, until 1858. Between 1851 and 1858, in the judgement of Vasileios Petrakos, Pittakis was effectively the sole figure in both the Archaeological Society and Greek archaeology. When Pittakis wrote to the Ministry of Education in October 1855, informing them of Gennadios' death and requesting approval to call a meeting to reconstitute the society, he received no response. In 1858, the Minister for Education, Charalampos Christopoulos, asked Pittakis to reform the society and hold elections for new officials. These took place in the second half of the year: Pittakis was elected as secretary, a position which he handed over the following year to Stefanos Koumanoudis. During his time as Ephor General, Pittakis excavated on Anafi, recording monuments and collecting inscriptions. He also advocated for the