The Elgin Parthenon Marbles

[Bardas]

From the BBC site

In pictures: Cleaning the Parthenon frieze


Debate revived There has been wide praise for Greek experts' laser cleaning of part of the Parthenon west frieze. These carvings were left behind when Lord Elgin took others to London in 1911. But the display of the cleaned slabs has reopened debate on whether Elgin "saved" his Marbles from pollution.


Left behind Most of the west frieze of the Parthenon remained in place until 1993. Once a rich story told in colours , it was badly in need of cleaning and far from public view. Even after laser cleaning, acid rain scars remain.


Lift off The remaining west frieze slabs were transferred to the Acropolis museum in 1993. The British Museum says the surface had deteriorated badly after exposure to pollution, particularly sulphur in the air of Athens. It adds that the parts Elgin took were more exposed and would have suffered worse.


Stained by time Slab VII of the west frieze in situ on the Parthenon, showing riders in the Panathenaea procession. When the slabs were taken down "people feared the worst" - says writer William St Clair. But after cleaning, he says, they are in "far better condition than what was taken to London".


A new look Slab VII after its laser cleaning. Professor Tony Snodgrass of the Committee to Restore the Parthenon Marbles praises the detail, finish and traces of colour which the cleaned slabs exhibit. He watched as the "honey-brown patina" emerged from below the black sooty deposit during cleaning.


Well groomed Horse from slab VIII during laser cleaning. The holes held harness in ancient times. The British Museum denies that the Athens slabs are in better shape than its own. Professor Snodgrass says people can now make up their minds about whether Elgin "saved" his Marbles.

The Greek team combined infra-red and ultra-violet beams to avoid the yellowing effect of lasers on marble. Dr Martin Cooper of the Liverpool Conservation Centre says lasers are a “very, very controlled” way of removing dirt.


On show The cleaned slabs have gone on display in the Acropolis Museum - looking rather browner than those in London (inset). Pro- and anti-Elginists agree that the brown "patina" of the surface has preserved many of the original details. They disagree over how much was lost during cleaning in London.

[Bardas]

Museum admits 'scandal' of Elgin Marbles

The British Museum has admitted that the controversial Elgin Marbles were damaged by "heavy handed" cleaning 60 years ago.

And it has said an attempt to cover up the damage to the marbles in the 1930s was "a scandal".

The admissions came on Tuesday during a two-day symposium in London to examine the ancient sculptures.

Two dozen conservation and archaeology specialists are trying to determine how the surfaces of the 2,500-year-old sculptures have been altered by cleaning.

Greece says staff used wire wool to clean the marbles at the British Museum in the 30s and caused significant damage.

But while admitting that the cleaning was "heavy handed", British Museum officials said the damage is not as bad as the Greeks claim.

The marbles have been in the British Museum for almost 200 years after being taken from the temple at the Parthenon in Athens by the then British ambassador Lord Elgin.

'Lost originality'

And amid increasing pressure for Britain to return the marbles, the Greeks say part of the reason they want them back is because Britain has failed to take proper care of them.

Greek expert Dr Alekos Mantis told the BBC the marbles had lost "the sense of originality".

But Ian Jenkins of the British Museum said the damage had been exaggerated for political reasons and that the Greeks were guilty of excessive cleaning of the marbles before they were brought to Britain.

Mr Jenkins said: "If Lord Elgin did not act as he did, the sculptures would not survive as they do. And the proof of that as a fact is merely to look at the things that were left behind in Athens."

The museum says the cover-up in the 1930s should not affect whether the marbles go back to Greece.

On Monday, Greece's culture minister Elisavet Papazoi said the "barbarous cleaning" of the marbles had meant many of the marble surfaces were stripped of original details such as chiselled grooves which characterise the architectural work of the Parthenon.

The battle over the fate of the 17 figures and part of a giant frieze that once decorated the Parthenon, on the Acropolis, has rumbled on for decades.

Lord Elgin took them while he was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which then included Greece.

The Greeks describe his actions as theft, but the UK government has always insisted they were legally acquired and that there is no question of returning them to Greece.

But President Bill Clinton gave his support to Greece's campaign to reclaim the statues during a visit to the Acropolis earlier this month.

The British Museum is hosting the two-day gathering at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/543077.stm

[Makedonia25]

Athens home fit for the Elgin Marbles

July 6, 2008

The Acropolis will finally have a museum fit for Greece’s greatest treasure.

A new museum will open in Athens later this year. No big deal, you might think. You’d be wrong. The New Acropolis Museum is not merely a dazzling piece of modernist architecture, but the latest gambit in a 200-year campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles.

The museum, which has been 30 years in the planning and has cost the Greek government more than £100m, will at last provide a permanent home for the greatest treasures of the classical period, safe from the city’s corrosive, polluted air.

Built in the shadow of the Acropolis, it will display the sections of the marbles owned by Greece – alongside plaster copies of the “missing” sections that reside in the British Museum.

Whether the trustees of the British Museum will be persuaded to give up one of their biggest crowd-pullers, only time will tell.

But regardless of the outcome, the Greek authorities have created a world-class attraction, as I discovered recently on an exclusive tour with the museum’s curator, Professor Dimi-trios Pandermalis.

First, the history. In the early 19th century, the Parthenon was under attack by looters. Lord Elgin, the British ambassador, hired a team of workers to hack away at the monument, taking many of its finest sculptures and large chunks of the marble frieze that lined the inside rim. Elgin shipped the treasures back to England and then sold them to the British Museum for £35,000.

Fast-forward to the late 20th century. The marbles remain divided. Scientists discover the pollution in Athens is eating into the fabric of the Parthenon. The original Acropolis museum, built in the late 19th century, is cluttered and poorly maintained. A new museum is planned.

It took 25 years of wrangling before an architect was chosen: the controversial, Swiss-born Bernard Tschumi. His high-tech angular design – all glass, concrete and marble – stands in bold contrast to the monuments on the Acropolis. It’s a huge two-fingered salute to traditionalists, as emphatically modern and pleasing as IM Pei’s Louvre Pyramid in Paris.

Problems began as soon as the first spadeful of earth was dug. Beneath the site, builders discovered the remains of a settlement dating from the 4th century BC. Before each foundation was laid, protracted negotiations took place between architects, engineers and archeologists.

The result, though, is astonishing. The three-storey building appears to float over the ground on concrete piles, while beneath it the entire 4,000 sq metre site has been preserved. As you approach the entrance, you look down through glass panels cut into the plaza floor to see more than 2,000 years of history below, including immaculate mosaics.

Once inside, you climb a glass-floored ramp lined with some of the 50,000 artefacts found during the dig. “There are lifts, but we want people to walk up to remind them of the walk to the top of the Acropolis hill,” said Pandermalis.

We then went into a vast gallery designed to house 120 sculptures from the Archaic period. Daylight flooded in through floor-to-ceiling windows and glass panels high above our heads.

“The light is so beautiful in here, and it changes with the time of day and the seasons,” said the professor, standing before a towering statue of a goddess. “Look at the texture, the detail, it’s so soft. You can’t get that with artificial light.” I admired the quality of the marble. “We spent a long time choosing it,” he said. “It comes from Helicon, the sacred mountain of the Muses.”

The sheer scale – 10 times the size of the original Acropolis museum, with 14,000 sq metres of floor space – means exhibits have room to breathe. Visitors can wander between the thick concrete columns to find fresh angles and perspectives. It feels more like a temple than an exhibition space.

Beautiful though it was, Pandermalis was clearly anxious to get me up to the top floor, a huge glass-walled gallery where the treasures of the Parthenon will be displayed. Even without any exhibits, this would be a stunning building, with panoramic views across the city.

Wrapped around the central core of the gallery at eye level is the 160-metre-long frieze, with the Greek originals – coated in a soft brown patina – standing alongside white-plaster copies of the sections removed by Elgin. The effect is awe-inspiring. For the first time, visitors can see for themselves the travesty of splitting the marbles.

“It’s clearly ridiculous if you have a body in London and a head in Athens to keep them separate,” said Pandermalis. “Reunification is not just an emotional issue, it is a logical one. It’s a basic principle of archeology.”

With 2m people expected to visit the museum each year, the Greeks hope that public opinion will slowly force a change of heart in London. That looks unlikely in the near future.

The official line from Great Russell Street is that the British Museum is a superior home because it provides a “unique overview of world sculpture”.

After a recent visit to Athens, Dr Andrew Burnett, deputy director of the British Museum, said he was “very impressed”. So does the new building move the argument forward? “No,” said Burnett. “There is no proposition on the table [to return the marbles to Greece], so the subject has not been discussed by the trustees.”

Whatever the arguments, when you stand in that gallery, looking at the missing sections and gazing across to the Parthenon, it is hard not to feel an emotional tug. It may have been 30 years in the making, but this museum has been worth the wait.

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/...cle4268110.ece

[Pan]

When you don't have an illustrious ancient history, you take from others through jealousy. This the western powers have been doing for 200yrs. If they truly thought otherwise they would return the artifacts to their rightful owners. This they will not do because their museums will become empty!!