The sculptures of the Parthenon

The Acropolis is a hill located in Athens, and there the ancient Athenians,
about 5 centuries before the birth of Christ,
built temples for their ancient gods
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The Parthenon, an evocative temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, dominates the hill to this day.
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from the 5th century BC until the early Byzantine period, these temples were perfectly preserved
the Parthenon, for example, had a roof and frescoes
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so the Christians decided to make him a Christian church.
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despite the minor damage caused to it, the Parthenon remained perfect
even after the fall of the Byzantine Empire
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In fact, the Parthenon is perhaps the only ancient monument that the Christians respected, even though they turned it into a Christian temple,
did not destroy its gables, which depicted ancient deities
(Neptune, Athena, Jupiter, etc.)
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Of course, the Christians did great damage to Erechthion but not destruction.
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Later, during the Ottoman occupation, the Parthenon became a mosque and Erechthio became the site of the military commander's harem.
but we still had no disasters
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Until we got to 1687,
i.e.
2000 years or so ago, the Parthenon was almost perfectly preserved
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the Venetians of General Morosini began the siege of the Acropolis
where the Ottomans had fortified themselves
and
one of Morosini's cannons hit the Parthenon,
he blew the roof off his house
and created a large hole between the columns on either side of it.
(the one that exists to this day)
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Also, the same explosion also destroyed the Erechtheion
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When Morosini finally left Athens, he left the Acropolis so ruined,
which was known all over the world and they ran from all over Europe to plunder what was left and take it back to their homelands to decorate their homes.
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then, the Turks who were in charge, started to retail
They would break heads, arms, legs off statues and sell them to Europeans
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in 1799 a fallen English aristocrat, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, marries (by interest) a wealthy young woman,
Mary Hamilton Nisbet
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After a short time the Count is appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and travels with his wife to Constantinople.
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the bride's dowry was so large that it allowed the couple to carry with them a whole staff of artists, servants, doctors, clergymen, etc.
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Somewhere around that time the young count had the idea to send his artists to Athens,
capture the ancient wonders of the Acropolis in order to make them themselves in the house he was preparing in Scotland
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After a while he decided to travel with his wife to Athens
and enjoy these wonderful monuments in person
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and that's when he got the idea
D
why not take these same ones, unaltered, to decorate my villa?;
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but how?;
there, on the Acropolis was the harem of the Pasha and a barracks
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then they say, that he showed them the Sultan's firman, which allowed him to take whatever he wanted.
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Of course, later Turkish historians say that no such firman was ever issued
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Probably, he said he had a firman and bribed the local Turks to do his job
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So he brought in crews and started to tear down the Parthenon sculptures,
everything he could get from the Pisces, (one Caryatid he managed and another one he half destroyed but he didn't manage to get it)
but
and everything else he could from the other marbles of the Acropolis
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so whetted his appetite that he expanded his excavations, or rather thefts and other
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He sent crews to steal everything they could find
in,
Aegina,
Elefsina,
Delphi,
Nemea,
Mycenae
etc.
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Indeed, in Mycenae, his emissary, the priest Dr. Hunt, intended to seize the Lions of the Gate...
Fortunately, it was deemed impossible, due to the weight of the Lions and
a long distance from the sea...
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Even in Olympia he sent Captain Laney but even there it was considered costly to remove antiquities
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Anyway, with these and with these he loaded the goodies into crates and put them into barges and set sail for England.
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But a barge sank near Kythera and then the Lord of Elgin gave a lot of money to Kalymnos divers,
to shipowners
and to workers
and they finally pulled them up from the bottom of the sea
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but when he set off for England he was arrested by the French and held prisoner
(there was a dispute between England and France at the time)
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Meanwhile other English nobles such as Lord Byron, began to shout at him in all the salons of Europe for the plunder and destruction he caused to foreign monuments.
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Think,
He was a prisoner,
he was cursed by the whole of decent Europe,
He had three or four diseases that plagued him.
(Syphilis, asthma, rheumatism, etc.)
the sculptures had arrived in England and the whole English press and the people were crying about it.
and
his wife had found a boyfriend....
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as if he were cursed by the entire dodecathos
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Eventually, after much he was released and arrived in England, in a miserable financial situation,
(He owed it to anyone who speaks English and French and with a little French)
in poor health,
(his nose had almost completely fallen off and his face was deformed)
and without any reputation
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The wife had made up her mind that she was going to stay with the boyfriend.
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Then came out a long divorce, but it cut the Earl of Elgin off from the dowry.
and he was left alone with the sculptures and the creditors who suddenly realized they were going to lose them and were after him.
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He tried to make a deal with the English parliament and sell them the sculptures
but
they stepped on his throat,
he didn't even get half of the expenses he had incurred.
and
the sculptures went to the British Museum,
and Elgin's fee went straight to his creditors and he didn't even get out of debt
he did not take a franc
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since then the Greek sculptures have been in the British museum and no government has ever thought of asking for them
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well
say that in the early years we had kings totally dependent on England, but after;;;;
when we were being talked about as an independent country?;
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Immediately after the second world war we could have asked for them, but at that time Greece was ruled by the corrupt,
then the right (worse)
then the Americans (three-handed)
and
even later the junta ruled (then half of Cyprus was lost, would we get the sculptures?)
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We had to get to the early 80s when Andreas put Melina Mercouri as Minister of Culture,
which with its international prestige and brilliance, highlighted the issue of
and
today the whole world knows that the English keep the Parthenon sculptures,
while we ask for it back
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The great Melina Mercouri, taught the whole world that they are NOT called elginia,
as the English called them and for many years we called them
but
SCULPTURES OF PARTHENON
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the sublime Melina would say
«...I hope to see the Marbles back in Athens before I die.
But if they come later, I will be reborn...».
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PS. the British museum gives them to us, but only on loan.
if we accept him, it's as if we acknowledge that they own them...
The constant position of all Greek governments up to now has been not to accept them under such a condition...
I hope that no Greek politician will be found to endorse borrowing because it would be a crime...

Author of the article:

Yannis Golias