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About us News and press Statements Parthenon Sculptures Trustees statement Facts and figures 1930s cleaning Video
What is the Parthenon and how did the sculptures come to London?
The Parthenon in Athens has a long and complex history. Built nearly 2,500 years ago as a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it was for a thousand years the church of the Virgin Mary of the Athenians, then a mosque, and finally an archaeological ruin. The building was altered and the sculptures much damaged over the course of the centuries. The first major loss occurred around AD 500 when the Parthenon was converted into a church. When the city was under siege by the Venetians in 1687, the Parthenon itself was used as a gunpowder store. A huge explosion blew the roof off and destroyed a large portion of the remaining sculptures. The building has been a ruin ever since. Archaeologists worldwide are agreed that the surviving sculptures could never be re-attached to the structure. By 1800 only about half of the original sculptural decoration remained. Between 1801 and 1805 Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, of which Athens had been a part for some 350 years, acting with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman authorities, removed about half of the remaining sculptures from the fallen ruins and from the building itself. Lord Elgin was passionate about ancient Greek art and transported the sculptures back to Britain. The arrival of the sculptures in London had a profound effect on the European public, regenerating interest in ancient Greek culture and influencing contemporary artistic trends. These sculptures were acquired from Lord Elgin by the British Museum in 1816 following a Parliamentary Select Committee enquiry which fully investigated and approved the legality of Lord Elgins actions. Since then the sculptures have all been on display to the public in the British Museum, free of entry charge.
Further information
Watch a video about the Parthenon Sculptures
For further information or images please contact Hannah Boulton the Press Office +44 (0)20 7323 8583/8522, or e-mail: communications@britishmuseum.org
3. Parthenon Sculptures in other museums The following institutions also hold sculpture from the Parthenon: Muse du Louvre, Paris Vatican Museums National Museum, Copenhagen Kunsthistorisches Museum,Vienna University Museum, Wrzburg Glyptothek, Munich
Further reading
The following books provide good introductions to the Parthenon and its sculptures: Mary Beard, The Parthenon (Profile, 2002) Brian Cook, The Elgin Marbles (British Museum Press, 1984) Ian Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze (British Museum Press, 1994) Ian Jenkins, The Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum (British Museum Press, 2007) Ian Jenkins, Greek Architecture and its sculpture in the British Museum (British Museum Press, 2006) Ian Jenkins and Kate Morton, Explore the Parthenon an ancient Greek temple and its sculptures (British Museum Press, 2009) William St Clair, Lord Elgin and the Marbles (3rd edition Oxford University Press, 1998) These titles, and others, are available in the British Museum shop.
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