by Rebecca Stone
The site of
the Parthenon, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has had many purposes during
its 2,500-year life. Originally an ancient Greek temple, it has been a church,
a mosque and a romantic ruin, lying in the centre of Athens. Since 1807,
however, a vast amount of the temple’s great marble decorations have sat in the
British Museum, in London. They should now return to their homeland…
The Parthenon, situated on the Acropolis, in Athens, was built over 15 years, from 447 BC, as a temple to honour Athena, the patron saint of Athens. The temple's glistening white marbles, with remarkable, vivid colour, were once a symbol of Athens’ wealth and great power. The precise constructions of the Parthenon and the skilled carving of the scenes presented in the marble work and sculptures have been celebrated for thousands of years.
These brilliant works of art are now split almost equally between London and Athens. The fantastic dedication to the Athenian’s patron saint, which was built with the money and funds and tireless effort of all the city-states in the Delian League, are currently two-thousand miles away from their original resting place.
In 1799, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, was appointed British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Greece had been a part of the empire for nearly 350 years, and would not become an independent nation until the uprising of 1812. Lord Elgin was particularly interested in the Ancient Greek remains and the Parthenon, which stood in ruins and was, unfortunately, suffering further damage at an alarming rate. Therefore, he appealed to the Ottoman officials and obtained written permission to retrieve “any pieces of stone with inscriptions, and figures which do not interfere with the works or walls of the Citadel”. In 1807, the marbles were brought to London and exhibited for the first time to the public. In 1816, Parliament voted special funds for the British Museum to purchase Lord Elgin’s collection.
The collection in the British museum included fourteen figures from the East and West pediments, one Doric capital, fifteen metopes from the temple’s south flank and fifty-six of the surviving ninety-seven blocks of the Panathenaic frieze. This is over sixty percent of the Parthenon’s surviving sculptures.
At the time that Lord Elgin retrieved the artefacts, and transported them back to England, the marbles and sculptures were worse for wear and would probably have been destroyed, had Lord Elgin refrained from his looting, due to corrosion from weather and mal-treatment. This is due to the fact that in the fifth century AD, the temple became a Christian citadel, for the Virgin Mary. The relocation of the entrance to the temple, from the east end to the west, was probably the reason many of the metope sculptures were defaced, and the scenes showing the dramatic birth of Athena were removed in the east pediment. Then, in 1687, when the Parthenon was a mosque for the Ottomans who ruled Athens at that time, a Venetian army besieged them on the Acropolis. The gunpowder, stored in the Parthenon, was ignited by a canon shot. The devastating effects of this caused the temple to lie in ruins from that time on.
The arrival of the sculptures in London were to make a profound impression on western ideas of art and taste, and promoted the high regard that the Enlightenment period already had for Grecian architecture.
The British museum was responsible for the restoration of these sculptures, and the decent maintaining of them, from 1816 to the present day. The British museum states that “Here [the sculptures] are seen by a world audience and are actively studied and researched by an international community of scholars, to promote understanding both of ancient Greek culture and its role in the cultures of the world. The Museum has published the results of its own research extensively.”
However, there are many elements for the restoration of the marbles in Athens to contend with. The written permission of Selim III, Sultan of Turkey, allowed for Lord Elgin to “enter freely within the walls of the Citadel, and to draw and model with plaster the Ancient Temples there; to erect scaffolding and to dig where they may wish to discover the ancient foundations; for the liberty to take away any sculptures or inscriptions which do not interfere with the works or walls of the Citadel”. The removal of the sculptures, which left other parts of the Parthenon in cast-off ruins interfered dramatically with the “works or walls of the Citadel”. Edward Daniel Clarke, a writer, who was present during the removal of sculptures from the Parthenon, even recorded that the temple sustained great injury from the looting.
Additionally, the issue of the decree to allow Lord Elgin to excavate the sculptures was never in the power of Selim III to give. The Ottoman empire tyrannically controlled Athens at that time, however there was always strong Athenian rebellion to their rule. Only a couple of years later, the Athenians actively rebelled in the Greek War of Independence and by 1832 they had become an independent, solitary state once again. The illegitimate, autocratic power of the Ottomans during the late 1700s to 1800s surely assures that it was never in their legal authority to sign away any antiques belonging to the extremely historic and ancient land of Greece.
There is, additionally, an argument against the “great care” that the British Museum have taken of the Greek sculptures. In the late 1930s the British Museum scraped the Parthenon Marbles with a wire brush to make them look whiter. This action resulted in the removal of most of the fine details of the pieces including such details as muscles and sinews. In other words: they damaged the sculptures beyond repair. This is an atrocity, especially considering the British’s argument that the marbles will be cared for better in England that in Greece.
The Greeks, still proud of their missing masterpieces, have recently built a new museum in the shadow of the Acropolis to house the Parthenon Sculptures should they be returned. The Acropolis museum already holds finds from the sanctuaries that were founded on the slopes of the Acropolis, as well as objects that Athenians used in everyday life from all historic periods. The Acropolis Museum, as stated on their website, “has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters” and enough room that, should the British release the sculptures, they will be exhibited in a “Museum that offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century”. Furthermore, housing the sculptures in the British Museum means that viewers are unable to truly appreciate them in their proper context; tourists miss out on an opportunity to better understand Classical Greek art and culture- These sculptures are part of a larger work of art. the experience of viewing the Parthenon sculptures will be more authentic given that they will be near their original founding place.
Most vitally, however, these sculptures represent the heart of Greek cultural heritage. The Parthenon, to the modern-day Athenians, are the most prominent and symbolic link they have to the greatness of their ancient ancestors. The Parthenon was originally built under the orders of Pericles to show the wealth, honour, glory and power of the Athenians. They were made in Greece, by Greeks to honour the glory of Greece, and for that reason, the symbolic representation of a Greek’s honour of his fatherland is, first and foremost, the reason the marbles should be returned to their place of origin. After all, how would any Englishman feel if Stonehenge was stolen illegally by a foreign power?
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| A detail from the Elgin Marbles (Wiki Commons) |
The Parthenon, situated on the Acropolis, in Athens, was built over 15 years, from 447 BC, as a temple to honour Athena, the patron saint of Athens. The temple's glistening white marbles, with remarkable, vivid colour, were once a symbol of Athens’ wealth and great power. The precise constructions of the Parthenon and the skilled carving of the scenes presented in the marble work and sculptures have been celebrated for thousands of years.
These brilliant works of art are now split almost equally between London and Athens. The fantastic dedication to the Athenian’s patron saint, which was built with the money and funds and tireless effort of all the city-states in the Delian League, are currently two-thousand miles away from their original resting place.
In 1799, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, was appointed British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Greece had been a part of the empire for nearly 350 years, and would not become an independent nation until the uprising of 1812. Lord Elgin was particularly interested in the Ancient Greek remains and the Parthenon, which stood in ruins and was, unfortunately, suffering further damage at an alarming rate. Therefore, he appealed to the Ottoman officials and obtained written permission to retrieve “any pieces of stone with inscriptions, and figures which do not interfere with the works or walls of the Citadel”. In 1807, the marbles were brought to London and exhibited for the first time to the public. In 1816, Parliament voted special funds for the British Museum to purchase Lord Elgin’s collection.
The collection in the British museum included fourteen figures from the East and West pediments, one Doric capital, fifteen metopes from the temple’s south flank and fifty-six of the surviving ninety-seven blocks of the Panathenaic frieze. This is over sixty percent of the Parthenon’s surviving sculptures.
At the time that Lord Elgin retrieved the artefacts, and transported them back to England, the marbles and sculptures were worse for wear and would probably have been destroyed, had Lord Elgin refrained from his looting, due to corrosion from weather and mal-treatment. This is due to the fact that in the fifth century AD, the temple became a Christian citadel, for the Virgin Mary. The relocation of the entrance to the temple, from the east end to the west, was probably the reason many of the metope sculptures were defaced, and the scenes showing the dramatic birth of Athena were removed in the east pediment. Then, in 1687, when the Parthenon was a mosque for the Ottomans who ruled Athens at that time, a Venetian army besieged them on the Acropolis. The gunpowder, stored in the Parthenon, was ignited by a canon shot. The devastating effects of this caused the temple to lie in ruins from that time on.
The arrival of the sculptures in London were to make a profound impression on western ideas of art and taste, and promoted the high regard that the Enlightenment period already had for Grecian architecture.
The British museum was responsible for the restoration of these sculptures, and the decent maintaining of them, from 1816 to the present day. The British museum states that “Here [the sculptures] are seen by a world audience and are actively studied and researched by an international community of scholars, to promote understanding both of ancient Greek culture and its role in the cultures of the world. The Museum has published the results of its own research extensively.”
However, there are many elements for the restoration of the marbles in Athens to contend with. The written permission of Selim III, Sultan of Turkey, allowed for Lord Elgin to “enter freely within the walls of the Citadel, and to draw and model with plaster the Ancient Temples there; to erect scaffolding and to dig where they may wish to discover the ancient foundations; for the liberty to take away any sculptures or inscriptions which do not interfere with the works or walls of the Citadel”. The removal of the sculptures, which left other parts of the Parthenon in cast-off ruins interfered dramatically with the “works or walls of the Citadel”. Edward Daniel Clarke, a writer, who was present during the removal of sculptures from the Parthenon, even recorded that the temple sustained great injury from the looting.
Additionally, the issue of the decree to allow Lord Elgin to excavate the sculptures was never in the power of Selim III to give. The Ottoman empire tyrannically controlled Athens at that time, however there was always strong Athenian rebellion to their rule. Only a couple of years later, the Athenians actively rebelled in the Greek War of Independence and by 1832 they had become an independent, solitary state once again. The illegitimate, autocratic power of the Ottomans during the late 1700s to 1800s surely assures that it was never in their legal authority to sign away any antiques belonging to the extremely historic and ancient land of Greece.
There is, additionally, an argument against the “great care” that the British Museum have taken of the Greek sculptures. In the late 1930s the British Museum scraped the Parthenon Marbles with a wire brush to make them look whiter. This action resulted in the removal of most of the fine details of the pieces including such details as muscles and sinews. In other words: they damaged the sculptures beyond repair. This is an atrocity, especially considering the British’s argument that the marbles will be cared for better in England that in Greece.
The Greeks, still proud of their missing masterpieces, have recently built a new museum in the shadow of the Acropolis to house the Parthenon Sculptures should they be returned. The Acropolis museum already holds finds from the sanctuaries that were founded on the slopes of the Acropolis, as well as objects that Athenians used in everyday life from all historic periods. The Acropolis Museum, as stated on their website, “has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters” and enough room that, should the British release the sculptures, they will be exhibited in a “Museum that offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century”. Furthermore, housing the sculptures in the British Museum means that viewers are unable to truly appreciate them in their proper context; tourists miss out on an opportunity to better understand Classical Greek art and culture- These sculptures are part of a larger work of art. the experience of viewing the Parthenon sculptures will be more authentic given that they will be near their original founding place.
Most vitally, however, these sculptures represent the heart of Greek cultural heritage. The Parthenon, to the modern-day Athenians, are the most prominent and symbolic link they have to the greatness of their ancient ancestors. The Parthenon was originally built under the orders of Pericles to show the wealth, honour, glory and power of the Athenians. They were made in Greece, by Greeks to honour the glory of Greece, and for that reason, the symbolic representation of a Greek’s honour of his fatherland is, first and foremost, the reason the marbles should be returned to their place of origin. After all, how would any Englishman feel if Stonehenge was stolen illegally by a foreign power?
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