Designed by the sculptor Phidias about 2,500 years ago, the Parthenon was the essence of Greek architecture. Perfect lines, tall Doric columns along the sides, and bas-relief freezes tell the story of the Panathenaic procession, an ancient Greek festival celebrating the city’s celebrations. The four Ionic pillars that support the roof of the patronage goddess Athena and the opistodomos in the back room of the temple.
For 1,000 years, the temple remained more or less intact. When Christianity built a foothold in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the Parthenon became the Parthenon Mary Church (Virgin Mary), then the mosque, and finally the Turkish powder magazine.
In 1687, during a Venetian siege, munitions exploded, hundreds were killed, the roof of the building was torn, 28 pillars, parts of the freeze, and interior rooms destroyed. rice field. For the next century or so, rubble provided a gateway and hearthstone for the local masses, and the Turkish Garrison Army used numbers engraved for target practice. By the time Sir Elgin took office as a diplomat in Constantinople, about 40 percent of the original sculptural decoration of the temple had been destroyed.
A vaguely written license from the Ottoman Empire allowed Sir Elgin’s men to remove “some of the old inscriptions and stones with numbers.” Although there was no clear permission to cut the sculptures from the Parthenon, Elgin clearly had a vast view, cutting off about half of the sculptures remaining in the Athens citadel. His herd includes 17 life-sized figures from the temple pediment, 15 of the 92 metopes that adorned the exterior walls of the building, and about half (247 feet) of the sculpted freeze that once ran inside. Part) was included.
The Count planned to display these ancient treasures in his country house in Scotland, Bloom Hall. However, when the ship was founded on the Greek island of Citella in 1802, one shipment on the HMS Mentor was delayed. Many boxes were lost overboard and it took more than two years to rescue them from the sea.
