Elgin Marbles

The Elgin Marbles is the popular term for the Parthenon Marbles, a large collection of marble sculptures brought to Britain between 1801 and 1805 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the official British resident in Ottoman Athens, who had ordered them removed from the Parthenon. Since 1939 they have been housed in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery of the British Museum, London.

Related Topics:
Marble sculpture - Britain - 1801 - 1805 - Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin - Ottoman - Athens - Parthenon - 1939 - British Museum - London

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The Elgin Marbles include some of the statuary from the pediments, the Metope panels depicting battles between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, as well as the Parthenon Frieze which decorated the horizontal course set above the interior architrave of the temple. As such, they represent more than half of what now remains of the surviving sculptural decoration of the Parthenon: 247 feet from the original 524 feet of frieze; 15 out of 92 metopes; 17 partial figures from the pediments, as well as other pieces of architecture. Elgin's acquisitions also included objects from other buildings on the Athenian Acropolis: the Erechtheum, reduced to ruin during the Greek War of Independence (1821-33); the Propylaea, and the Temple of Athena Nike. Lord Elgin took half of the marbles from the Parthenon and wax casts were produced from the remaining ones.

Related Topics:
Pediment - Metope - Lapiths - Centaur - Frieze - Acropolis - Erechtheum - Greek War of Independence - Propylaea - Temple of Athena Nike

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Lord Elgin was neither the first, nor the last, to disperse elements of the marbles from their original location. The remainder of the surviving sculptures that are not in museums or storerooms in Athens are held in museums in various locations across Europe. The British Museum also holds additional fragments from the Parthenon sculptures acquired from collections that have no connection with Lord Elgin.

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When the marbles were shipped to Britain, there was criticism of Elgin (who had spent a fortune on the project) but also much admiration of the sculptures. Lord Byron strongly objected to their removal from Greece:

Related Topics:
Lord Byron - Greece

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:Dull is the eye that will not weep to see

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:Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed

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: By British hands, which it had best behoved

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: To guard those relics ne?er to be restored.

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:::—"Childe Harold's Pilgrimmage"

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Byron was not the only Englishman to protest the pillage at the time:

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:"The Honourable Lord has taken advantage of the most unjustifiable means and has committed the most flagrant pillages. It was, it seems, fatal that a representative of our country loot those objects that the Turks and other barbarians had considered sacred,"

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said Sir John Newport, a contemporary MP. Thomas Hughes, an eye witness, later wrote:

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:"The abduction of small parts of the Parthenon, of a value relatively small but which previously contributed to the solidity of the building, left that glorious edifice exposed to premature ruin and degradation. The abduction dislodged from their original positions, wherefrom they precisely drew their interest and beauty, many pieces which are altogether unnecessary to the country that now owns them."

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John Keats was one of those who saw them privately exhibited in London, hence his two sonnets about the marbles. Some scholars, notably Richard Payne Knight, insisted that the marbles dated from the period of the Roman Empire, but most accepted that they were authentic works from the studio of Phidias, the most famous ancient Greek sculptor. They were eventually purchased by Parliament for the nation in 1816, for £35,000 a much lower sum than the £75,000 Lord Elgin had been asking. The marbles were subsequently deposited in the British Museum, where they were displayed in the Elgin Saloon (constructed in 1832), remaining there until the Duveen Gallery was completed in 1939.

Related Topics:
John Keats - Sonnet - Richard Payne Knight - Roman Empire - Phidias - 1816 - British Museum - 1832 - 1939

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The housing of the marbles in the British Museum has been a mixed blessing. While the artifacts held in London, unlike those on the Parthenon, have been saved from the hazards of the elements, they have also been irrevocably damaged by the "cleaning" methods employed by the British Museum in the 1930s. Acting under the erroneous belief that the marbles were originally bright white, the marbles were cleaned with metal tools and caustics, causing serious damage and altering the marbles' coloring. (The Pentelicon marble on which the carvings were made naturally acquire a tan color similar to honey when exposed to air.) In addition, the process scraped away all traces of surface coloring that the marbles original held. As such, the marbles in both locations have suffered: while the marbles of the Parthenon have been damaged by weather, the ones held in Britain have been damaged by faulty methods.

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At present, approximately two-thirds of the frieze is in London and a third remains in Athens. Considerable debate surrounds the meaning of the frieze but most agree that it depicts the Panathenaic procession that paraded through Athens every four years. The procession on the frieze culminates at the East end of the Parthenon in a depiction of the Greek gods who are seated mainly on stools, either side of temple servants in their midst. This section of the frieze is currently under-appreciated as it is split between London and Athens, a doorway in the British Museum masking the absence of the relevant section of Frieze. An almost complete copy of this section of the Frieze is displayed and open to the public at Hammerwood Park near East Grinstead in Sussex.

Related Topics:
Panathenaic - Greek gods - Hammerwood Park - East Grinstead - Sussex

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There has been considerable debate over what should now be done with the marbles. Many people, especially the Greek government, feel that they should be returned to Athens. While it is no longer feasible or advisable to reposition the marbles onto the Parthenon, the Greek government is in the process of building the New Acropolis Museum, designed by the Swiss / American architect Bernard Tschumi. The new museum is designed to hold the Parthenon sculptures arranged in the same way as they would have been on the Parthenon. It is intended to leave the spaces for the Elgin Marbles empty, rather than using casts in these positions, as a reminder to visitors of the fact that parts are held in other museums. The New Acropolis Museum is due to be completed in late 2006.

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Despite decades of debate and offers of compromise, no consensus has been reached, and the British Museum strongly defends its right to own and display the marbles.

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