Last month, I was lucky enough to be in Athens, in the sunshine, while everyone at home was huddling indoors to keep out of the rain!
At the strong recommendation of fellow author Louise Allen, I spent a lot of time in the impressive new Acropolis Museum. It was built to house the sculptures and artefacts from the Acropolis, partly in hopes that the British Museum would return the "Elgin Marbles" which have been on display there since 1816.
Here are some of the stunning originals still in Athens:
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| Horseman, possibly Theseus. Sculpture attributed to Phidias. |
And this is a 19th century reconstruction of the west Pediment of the Parthenon. You can see how breathtaking it would have been, even high above worshippers' heads.
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, was British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799-1803. At that period, Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire and not an independent state. Britain had recently defeated Napoleon in Egypt and was held in high regard in Constantinople, which may have helped Elgin to pursue his obsession with the Acropolis, especially the Parthenon and its sculptures.
Elgin spent £70,000 of his own money removing about half of the existing Parthenon sculptures and shipping them back to England, a process which took his agents over 10 years. He claimed to have permission to do so from the Ottoman authorities though that is still a subject of dispute. Even at the time, he was accused of vandalism and looting, most notably by Lord Byron. To put his actions in perspective, though, it was commonplace for tourists of the time to take away souvenirs from places they visited, ignoring any damage they did.
After a British parliamentary debate, the Elgin Marbles were bought from Lord Elgin for £35,000 in 1816 and presented to the British Museum. So Elgin suffered a huge financial loss as a result of his passion. He is reputed to have turned down much higher offers for the Marbles, including one from Napoleon. Whatever we may think about Elgin now, he seems to have had some redeeming qualities.
The new Acropolis Museum displays the Parthenon frieze and sculptures in a huge sunlit gallery at the top of the museum. From its floor-to-ceiling windows, visitors have a splendid view across to the Acropolis itself and the Parthenon on its summit.
The frieze has been recreated life-size and with the same aspect as the originals – the west side faces west, east faces east, etc. Those sculptures which remained on the Parthenon were removed to the Museum, to preserve them from pollution. Plaster casts of the ones in the British Museum fill many of the gaps, though some have been lost forever.
The marbles are stunningly beautiful, especially seen at eye-level in the Acropolis Museum, which would never have been possible when they were in situ, high up on the Parthenon. What's more, the original ones, with their beautiful colouring, are much easier to photograph than the white plaster casts.
It is very noticeable that the marbles are not white, as we might expect. The originals are of a colour between honey and tan which is the natural patina of Pentelec marble as a result of exposure to air. Sadly, past restorers did not know that, and considerable damage was done to the marbles in the British Museum by restorers who were trying to make them white. In the Acropolis Museum, modern restorers are cleaning away the grime of centuries using lasers; the amount of detail being revealed is astonishing. Even the sculptors' chisel marks can be seen.
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| A white plaster cast. next to an original panel |
This is the Erechtheion, built in the 5th century BC, which held the wooden cult statue of Athena. Its porch is supported by Caryatids, though those you can see are copies. Five of the originals are in the Acropolis Museum being painstakingly cleaned. The hairstyles, seen close up, are beautifully sculpted.
There should be six Caryatids, but Lord Elgin removed one. Athenians say that, at night, you can hear her five sisters mourning her loss. Sad, don't you think?
Joanna
