Parthenon Marbles
THE PARTHENON AND THE ELGIN MARBLES
BY EPAMINONDAS VRANOPOULOS
Athens 1985
PREFACE
The response to the Greek government's demand for the return to Greece of the sculptures of the Parthenon, now in the British Museum, has been so encouraging that it has given rise to hopes that the Elgin Marbles, as they have come to be known, may indeed one day be restored to their rightful home.
The favourable response has come from UNESCO and from public opinion world-wide, including Britain.
For the time being, however, the British government and the authorities of the British Museum do not agree that the marbles should be returned. They base their stand on the argument that if the Parthenon sculptures were returned, it would set a precedent by which all the great museums of the world would ultimately have to return …show more content…
It was on this voyage that Lord Byron was apparently inspired to write his poem "The Curse of Athena". During this voyage the "Hydra" crossed paths with another vessel carrying the British architect Charles Robert Cockerell to Aegina where he intended to despoil the ancient temple of Aphaea. The pieces ended up in Munich but Cockerell was nevertheless able to remove the decoration of the temple of Apollo at Figaleia in Arcadia, another of Ictinus's masterpieces. As for the insatiable Lusieri, he returned to Greece in 1817 to load two more warships, the "Tagus" and the "Satellite" with gravestones, copperware and hundreds of vases. Indeed, the loading of Greece's ancient treasures had become so fashionable that the captain of the "Satellite" moored his ship off Delos and removed sculptures that, following Lord Elgin's example, he later offered to the British Museum. Elgin visited Delos in 1802 and removed an exquisite altar from that sacred place. It can now be seen in the ancestral home of the Elgins in
BY EPAMINONDAS VRANOPOULOS
Athens 1985
PREFACE
The response to the Greek government's demand for the return to Greece of the sculptures of the Parthenon, now in the British Museum, has been so encouraging that it has given rise to hopes that the Elgin Marbles, as they have come to be known, may indeed one day be restored to their rightful home.
The favourable response has come from UNESCO and from public opinion world-wide, including Britain.
For the time being, however, the British government and the authorities of the British Museum do not agree that the marbles should be returned. They base their stand on the argument that if the Parthenon sculptures were returned, it would set a precedent by which all the great museums of the world would ultimately have to return …show more content…
It was on this voyage that Lord Byron was apparently inspired to write his poem "The Curse of Athena". During this voyage the "Hydra" crossed paths with another vessel carrying the British architect Charles Robert Cockerell to Aegina where he intended to despoil the ancient temple of Aphaea. The pieces ended up in Munich but Cockerell was nevertheless able to remove the decoration of the temple of Apollo at Figaleia in Arcadia, another of Ictinus's masterpieces. As for the insatiable Lusieri, he returned to Greece in 1817 to load two more warships, the "Tagus" and the "Satellite" with gravestones, copperware and hundreds of vases. Indeed, the loading of Greece's ancient treasures had become so fashionable that the captain of the "Satellite" moored his ship off Delos and removed sculptures that, following Lord Elgin's example, he later offered to the British Museum. Elgin visited Delos in 1802 and removed an exquisite altar from that sacred place. It can now be seen in the ancestral home of the Elgins in