Greece: Parthenon

Reclining figures and long bands of shallow carving once fitted different parts of Athena’s temple on the Acropolis in Athens. Room 18 brings those surviving pieces into a gallery. Their poses and proportions still carry the shape of the building for which they were made. The Parthenon sculptures date to the fifth century BC. Large figures occupied the triangular ends of the roof, square metopes showed episodes from myth, and a long frieze represented a religious procession. Rooms 18a and 18b add fragments, architectural material and explanations of the original arrangement. The sculptures in London were removed under Elgin and acquired by Parliament in 1816. Greece seeks their return and reunification with the pieces in Athens. The British Museum asserts legal ownership and argues for displaying them within its wider collection. Their division remains part of the story of this room.