The elgin marbles are a collection of ancient greek marble sculptures that originally decorated some of the ancient monuments on the akropolis in athens particularly the parthenon but were removed in the early nineteenth century by thomas bruce 7th earl of elgin and are currently held in the british museum in london.
The elgin marbles london.
The elgin marbles are a source of controversy between modern britain and greece it s a collection of stone pieces rescued removed from the ruins of the ancient greek parthenon in the nineteenth century and now in demand to be sent back from the british museum to greece.
Elgin marbles collection of ancient greek sculptures and architectural details in the british museum london where they are now called the parthenon sculptures.
The parthenon marbles greek.
The objects were removed from the parthenon at athens and from other ancient buildings and shipped to england by arrangement of thomas bruce 7th lord elgin who was british.
They were originally part of the temple of the parthenon and other buildings on the acropolis of athens.
The parthenon marbles are often called the elgin marbles after thomas bruce 7th earl of elgin who had them removed from the acropolis complex between 1801 and 1812.
In 1816 parliament paid 350 000 for the parthenon marbles most of which went to elgin s many creditors and a new home was found at the british museum albeit initially in a shed.
In many ways the marbles are emblematic of the development of modern ideas of national heritage and global display which.
The marbles in london were removed from the parthenon in the first decade of the 19th century under the auspices of thomas bruce the seventh earl of elgin and were first exhibited in london in 1807.
William st clair lord elgin and the marbles 3rd edition oxford university press 1998 ian jenkins the parthenon frieze british museum press 1994 these titles and others are available in the british museum book shop.
To take them from our museum would impoverish the world writes labour mp alan howarth.
By then the fifth century parthenon was showing its age having suffered a catastrophic 1687 explosion while it was being used by the turks as a gunpowder magazine.