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The sculptures from Parthenon, known as the Elgin Marbles, is a
large collection of marble sculptures that were transferred to
Britain in 1806 by Thomas Bruce, Lord of Elgin, ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire from 1799 until 1803. Taking advantage of the Ottoman
rule in Greece, he acquired by the Ottoman Sultan a licence for the
purpose of measuring and painting them. Having this licence he put
down from the temple the most important sculptures and took
them to England. The sculptures were stored in the British Museum in
London in 1816. This collection of sculptures includes some of the
sculptures of the Parthenon frieze, with battles between the
Lapithians and and Centaurs , representing more than half from what
remains of the decoration of the Parthenon sculptures that survived.
The marbles of Elgin include objects from other buildings of the
Athenian Acropolis and the Erechtheion, the Propylaia and the Temple
of Athena Nike. Lord Elgin took approximately half of the sculptures
of Parthenon.
The late great Greek actress and politician Melina Mercury as former
minister of Culture tried to get the Elgin marbles back to Greece,
the effort was supported by the Greek government the Greek people
and numerous organisations and personalities of the arts and
sciences worldwide.
In a notice issued by the British Museum in April 2007, stated that
it did not intend to transfer any ownership of the Parthenon
sculptures in Greece or any Greek museum.
VIEW OUR COLLECTION OF THE
PARTHENON MARBLES FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM
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