A short history of the parthenon marbles.
Marbles from the pediment of the parthenon.
Thirty six are in athens fifty six are in the british.
The master builder was likely phidias.
The parthenon marbles also known as the elgin marbles are one of the must see collections held by london s british museum beautiful and iconic they are given pride of place in the museum and considered one of the collection highlights but their situation there is not without its controversies.
The elgin marbles are the most famous exhibit in the british museum.
Also known as the parthenon sculptures they re beautiful friezes that once adorned the parthenon on the acropolis of athens.
Mary beard the parthenon profile 2002 william st clair lord elgin and the marbles 3rd edition oxford university press 1998 ian jenkins the parthenon frieze british museum press 1994 these titles and others are.
Lord elgin removed.
The parthenon marbles have remained a central part of the british museum collection ever since.
There were originally 115 panels in the frieze.
Parthenon marbles elgin marbles artist phidias year c.
Of these ninety four still exist either intact or broken.
How the parthenon lost its marbles in 1801 a british nobleman stripped the parthenon of many of its sculptures and took them to england.
Not all of the parthenon marbles however survive down to the present day.
447 438 bce type marble dimensions 75 m 246 ft location british museum london the parthenon marbles greek.
The marbles in london were removed from the parthenon in the first decade of the 19th century under the auspices of thomas bruce the seventh earl of elgin and were first exhibited in london in 1807.
Many people don t realise that as well as athens and london there are a number of other parthenon sculptures in the glyptothek museum in munich the kunsthistorisches museum in vienna the musée du louvre in paris the national museum in copenhagen the university museum in würzburg and the.
They were likely made by several artists including agoracritos.
Thanks to pausanias a greek geographer the themes of.
Why restitution is not always the answer a look at what happened to the sculptures from early christian times to the 21st century and the damage to those.