Parthenon Project | Autumn 2022

Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum

The Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, are fragments of the Parthenon Frieze that are currently housed in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum. When Greece was under Ottoman rule, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin claimed that procured a mandate from a Turkish official to take pieces of the Parthenon. The reaction by the British public to the acquisition of the sculpture was varied but the sculptures remain in the British museum to this day. Today, the British Museum claims that seeing the Parthenon Sculptures in a global context provides the user with an experience unlike any other and is vehemently opposed to the repatriation of the sculptures. However, as of 2022, there has been the recent development that the British Museum is in talks with the Acropolis Museum to arrange a deal where the pieces may be displayed alongside the Parthenon marbles in the Acropolis Museum.

Here is a link to the British Museum’s description of the sculptures.

Here is a link to the location of the British museum on Google Maps:

Here is a link to a 3D model of Block XXXVII of the North Frieze on Sketchfab, by the British Museum: