Facts about The Elgin Marbles

1. 15

   Visitors to the British Museum can view 247 sculptural fragments from the Parthenon arranged across 38 gallery rooms, representing roughly half of the temple's original marble decoration.

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2. 14

   A 2009 study found that surface cleaning treatments applied to the Elgin Marbles in the 1930s had chemically altered the marble, removing original ancient patina and affecting how light reflects off the sculptures.

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3. 13

   Casts made from the Elgin Marbles were sent to the Royal Academy in London in 1807, allowing art students to study classical proportions without traveling to Greece.

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4. 12

   Sculptures from the Elgin Marbles collection have been displayed in the British Museum's Duveen Gallery since 1962, where visitors encounter them arranged chronologically across 38 rooms.

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5. 11

   Extensive damage to the Parthenon sculptures occurred when a Venetian bombardment struck Athens in 1687, destroying the roof and interior structures before Lord Elgin's agents began their removal work.

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6. 10

   During the 19th century, casts and copies of individual Elgin Marbles sculptures were created to help Greek artists study classical techniques while the originals remained in London.

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7. 09

   Approximately 80 of the Elgin Marbles are high-relief metope panels depicting battles between Lapiths and Centaurs, originally positioned around the Parthenon's outer walls.

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8. 08

   Lord Elgin's agents used saws and chisels to cut the Parthenon sculptures from the building's marble framework, damaging edges and surfaces in the extraction process during the early 1800s.

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9. 07

   The collection includes 15 sculptural figures from the Parthenon's east pediment, depicting the birth of Athena in dynamic marble relief spanning approximately 100 feet of architectural space.

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10. 06

    Controversy over the Elgin Marbles intensified after 1939 when Greece formally requested their return, a demand the British Museum has consistently refused for over 80 years.

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11. 05

    Plaster casts of the Elgin Marbles were distributed to museums across Europe and America during the 19th century, allowing institutions without access to the originals to study Parthenon sculpture.

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12. 04

    Phidias carved the original Parthenon sculptures around 447-432 BCE, approximately 2,250 years before Lord Elgin's removal in the early 1800s.

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13. 03

    Roughly 50 percent of the Parthenon's original sculptural decoration now resides in the British Museum as part of the Elgin Marbles collection.

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14. 02

    In 1816, the British Museum paid Lord Elgin 35,000 pounds to acquire the Parthenon sculptures, a sum equivalent to approximately 3.5 million pounds in modern currency.

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15. 01

    Between 1801 and 1812, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, removed approximately 247 sculptural pieces from the Parthenon in Athens.

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