Cultural Heritage of my Country THE PARTHENON. Created by students from the 2 nd Junior High School of Lefkada

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1 Cultural Heritage of my Country THE PARTHENON Created by students from the 2 nd Junior High School of Lefkada

2 The Parthenon is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens in Greece. It belongs to the national cultural heritage of our country and it is the most important surviving monument of classical Greece. It was built in honor of the goddess Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who was patron of the city. The temple was built in the 5 th century B.C., after the Persian army tried to conquer Athens. The Persians lost the battle but before leaving, they burned down and destroyed the city. Then Pericles, ruler of Athens, had the vision to rebuild the destroyed city and lead Athens to the peak of its glory, culture, and power lead Athens to the Golden Age. Pericles Pericles persuaded his fellow citizens to create a unique monument that would be the symbol of the cultural identity of Athens, the ideas of the Athenian people and the system of governance - the Athenian democracy - where every citizen had a voice in the matters of the city.

The Parthenon was built of Pentelic marble, a white marble quarried on Mount Pentelicus near Athens, in Doric style with many Ionic features and was the result of the cooperation of the architects

3 The Parthenon was built of Pentelic marble, a white marble quarried on Mount Pentelicus near Athens, in Doric style with many Ionic features and was the result of the cooperation of the architects Ictinos and Kallikrates and the sculptor Pheidias. Its construction began in 448 B.C. and was completed in 432 B.C. _Phidias_Showing_the_Frieze_of_the_Parthenon_to_his_Friends.jpg?uselang=el The sculptor Pheidias was also responsible for the great statue of the goddess Athena, made of gold and ivory, inside the temple.

4 The centuries passed and the glory of Athens faded. Many conquerors passed from the Acropolis, each leaving their mark on the Parthenon. The Heruls, an ancient barbaric German tribe, the Romans, the Christians, the Franks, the Ottomans, the Venetians... In the 6 th century AD, it was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In the 15 th century A.D., after the Ottomans had conquered Greece, it was turned into a mosque. In 1687, during a bombardment by the Venetian army under General Francesco Morosini against the Ottomans, it was severely damaged. In the early 19 th century, from 1801 till 1812, a British nobleman, named Lord Elgin, removed many of the surviving marble sculptures that decorated the temple and shipped them to Britain, causing even greater damage to the monument. With the alleged permission of the Ottoman Empire, he hired workers to detach the sculptures from the Parthenon using special saws and primitive methods. Unfortunately this led to the destruction not only of the monument but of many statues and other architectural frameworks as well.

5 Lord Elgin Lord Elgin was the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. At that time Greece was under Ottoman occupation. Elgin was a great admirer of Greek art and a collector of antiquities so he took advantage of his position and of the political situation of Europe in the beginning of the 19 th century and he had his crew violently cut as many marble sculptures as they could off the Parthenon and shipped them to Britain in order to decorate his new mansion. However, we went bankrupt in 1816, so he sold the marbles to the English Government to be displayed in the British Museum. He even named the marbles after himself calling them The Elgin Marbles. Today, however, these marble sculptures are known as the Parthenon Marbles.

6 The Parthenon marbles Sculptures detached from the Parthenon now displayed in the British Museum

It is hard to understand how a man who claimed he loved art, could do such great damage to a monument of unique importance and how a European government could buy the national archeological treasures

7 It is hard to understand how a man who claimed he loved art, could do such great damage to a monument of unique importance and how a European government could buy the national archeological treasures of a country that had been illegally and so brutally obtained. The marble sculptures on the Parthenon All temples in Greece were designed to be seen from the outside. Therefore the marble sculptures that decorated this temple were on the exterior of the monument. There were three main sets of sculptures on the Parthenon: the pediments, the metopes and the frieze.

pediment metopes frieze https://www.flickr.

8 pediment metopes frieze The pediments The pediments are the triangular spaces formed by the eaves of the roof.

The east pediment, above the entrance of the temple, depicted the birth of the goddess Athena from the head of her father, Zeus, in the presence of the Olympian gods.

9 The east pediment, above the entrance of the temple, depicted the birth of the goddess Athena from the head of her father, Zeus, in the presence of the Olympian gods. East pediment (representation) The west pediment depicted the contest between the gods Athena and Poseidon for claiming the protection of the city, which resulted in the victory of the goddess Athena, who became patron of Athens. West pediment (representation)

The metopes trigliphs metopes http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:parthenon_xl.

10 The metopes trigliphs metopes The metopes were individual sculptures in high relief above the outside row of columns, in total 92 square plaques separated by trigliphs. The themes of the metopes had to do with the Trojan War, the battle between the Olympian Gods and the Giants, the battle between the Greeks and the Centaurs and the battle of the Greeks against the Amazons.

11 The battle between the Greeks and the Centaurs, mythological creatures half men and half horse. Metopes from the Parthenon displayed in the British Museum.

The frieze frieze http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:the_parthenon_%283473190054%29.

12 The frieze frieze The frieze is a long continuous sculpture in low relief which runs around the outside upper part of the main temple. The theme of the frieze was the grand Panathenaic procession, the most important festival of the Athenians in honor of the goddess Athena.

The offering of the veil, a gift from the Athenians to the goddess Athena. Part of the central section of the east frieze displayed in the British Museum. http://commons.wikimedia.

13 The offering of the veil, a gift from the Athenians to the goddess Athena. Part of the central section of the east frieze displayed in the British Museum. Parthenon-British_Museum.jpg Unfortunately these sculptures are not on the Parthenon today. Some of them are at the New Acropolis Museum while others are still in the British Museum.

The Parthenon marbles in the British Museum http://commons.wikimedia.

14 The Parthenon marbles in the British Museum The Parthenon marbles in the New Acropolis Museum

Of the 28 pediment statues that still survive today, 9 are in Athens and 19 in the British Museum in London. Of the 64 surviving metopes, 48 are in Athens and 15 in London.

15 Of the 28 pediment statues that still survive today, 9 are in Athens and 19 in the British Museum in London. Of the 64 surviving metopes, 48 are in Athens and 15 in London. Of the 97 surviving blocks of the frieze, 40 are in Athens and 56 in London. The New Acropolis Museum (pediment, metopes, frieze from the east side of the Parthenon)

The New Acropolis Museum (metopes and frieze) https://www.flickr.

16 The New Acropolis Museum (metopes and frieze) The New Acropolis Museum

The hall in the British Museum where the Parthenon marbles are displayed https://www.flickr.

17 The hall in the British Museum where the Parthenon marbles are displayed The Parthenon marbles in the British Museum

18 The Greeks have been trying for years to bring the Parthenon marbles back to Athens from the British Museum, especially now that the New Acropolis Museum - one of the most modern and well equipped museums in the world - has been completed. Since 1983 (on the initiative of Culture Minister Melina Mercouri), the Greek government has been committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece. But even before that,

many people, among them even members of the British Parliament, had demanded the return of the Parthenon marbles to Athens. Melina Mercouri https://www.flickr.

19 many people, among them even members of the British Parliament, had demanded the return of the Parthenon marbles to Athens. Melina Mercouri We believe the Parthenon marbles should be returned to the New Acropolis Museum as they are integral architectural members of a unique monument of great importance and when they are reunited with the rest of the monument this will allow their understanding as a whole at the very place they were created.

Ancient Greece: The Parthenon

Ancient Greece: The Parthenon Figure of a river-god from the Parthenon Greece, 438-432 BC Visit resource for teachers Key Stage 2 Contents Before your visit Background information Resources Gallery information