Latest news with #AcropolisMuseum
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
David Frost is wrong about the Elgin Marbles
Dull is the eye that will not weep to seeThy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removedBy British hands… The campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles began almost from the moment of their removal. Byron's lines have been quoted for two centuries by restitutionists. If there were a way to restore the mouldering shrines to the Parthenon itself, it would surely have happened by now. Who could resist making whole the Temple of Athena? There would be no need for long-term loans. My colleagues Lord Frost and Baroness Debbonaire would not be insisting that their surrender would be 'good diplomacy'. But there is no way to restore them to the original structure. All sides agree that those magnificent metopes and pediments – bleached and numinous yet, at the same time, eerily realistic with their flowing robes and flared horses' nostrils – need to be preserved indoors. A few carvings have found their way into collections in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna and Würzburg. But most are housed either at the Acropolis Museum, which opened in 2009, or at the British Museum. The argument is therefore whether to move them from one museum to another, which raises the question of what makes a successful museum. I would set the following tests. Where will any given artefact be most carefully looked after? Where can we best appreciate its cultural impact? Where is it most accessible to specialists and scholars? Where will the largest number of people get the greatest pleasure from seeing it? The Greeks unquestionably have a great location. To admire those white Pentallic stones on the slopes of the Acropolis, glimpsing its heights through the windows, is quite an experience. But the British Museum is the most visited museum in the world (at least if we count the Louvre as a gallery rather than a museum). Museums, as the etymology implies, are secular temples to the muses, those ancient goddesses who inspired sublime feelings in mortals. They were designed to raise the spirits of the masses, not only to spread knowledge, but also to elevate artistic sensibility. The British Museum has been carrying out that function since the mid-18th century, and in a remarkably universalist spirit. It was the first public institution to call itself 'British', yet it never saw its vocation as national. It was intended from the start to be encyclopaedic, a place to display curios from every culture. This universality is rarer than people realise. Most museums have a national or ethnic focus. In Washington DC, for example, you will find the National Museum of the American Indian, the Chinese American Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. But the British Museum, as its former director Neil MacGregor put it, 'remains a unique repository of the achievements of human endeavour, and there is no culture, past or present, that is not represented within its walls. It is truly the memory of mankind.' If our aim is the greatest happiness for the greatest number, there is a good case for keeping the stones divided, and using modern technology to fill in the gaps with exact replicas (the Acropolis Museum currently represents the missing stones with deliberately rough plaster casts so as to emphasise its grievance). But this is not really about aesthetics. It is about nationalism, and the desire of successive Greek administrations to claim a direct link to the ancient city states. And here, I part ways with my House of Lords colleagues. For demands that rest on collective racial entitlements are incompatible with freedom, property and the rights of the individual. Commentators are often conflicted about these ethnic claims. The kinds of people who insist on performing indigenous land recognition ceremonies in Canada and Australia would be horrified at the idea that second-generation immigrants to Britain were here contingently. Yet free contract rules out ancestral claims. If my grandfather sold his house to yours, I have no right to turf you out. There is no question that the British Museum purchased the collection legally from Lord Elgin, who had acquired it with the full permission of the authorities. Elgin had not at first intended to remove the carvings. He wanted to sketch and measure them, but changed his mind when he saw passers-by carting them off. 'The Turkish government attached no importance to them,' he told a parliamentary committee. 'Every traveller coming added to the general defacement of the statuary in his reach.' Elgin saved the stones. Free contract and private property trump the superstitious idea that being descended from someone, or at least living in the same part of the world, establishes some kind of ownership right. If the Acropolis Museum wants the collection, it should put in an offer. Frankly, the way Britain is going, we might soon need the money. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Telegraph
2 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
David Frost is wrong about the Elgin Marbles
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed By British hands… The campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles began almost from the moment of their removal. Byron's lines have been quoted for two centuries by restitutionists. If there were a way to restore the mouldering shrines to the Parthenon itself, it would surely have happened by now. Who could resist making whole the Temple of Athena? There would be no need for long-term loans. My colleagues Lord Frost and Baroness Debbonaire would not be insisting that their surrender would be 'good diplomacy'. But there is no way to restore them to the original structure. All sides agree that those magnificent metopes and pediments – bleached and numinous yet, at the same time, eerily realistic with their flowing robes and flared horses' nostrils – need to be preserved indoors. A few carvings have found their way into collections in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna and Würzburg. But most are housed either at the Acropolis Museum, which opened in 2009, or at the British Museum. The argument is therefore whether to move them from one museum to another, which raises the question of what makes a successful museum. I would set the following tests. Where will any given artefact be most carefully looked after? Where can we best appreciate its cultural impact? Where is it most accessible to specialists and scholars? Where will the largest number of people get the greatest pleasure from seeing it? The Greeks unquestionably have a great location. To admire those white Pentallic stones on the slopes of the Acropolis, glimpsing its heights through the windows, is quite an experience. But the British Museum is the most visited museum in the world (at least if we count the Louvre as a gallery rather than a museum). Museums, as the etymology implies, are secular temples to the muses, those ancient goddesses who inspired sublime feelings in mortals. They were designed to raise the spirits of the masses, not only to spread knowledge, but also to elevate artistic sensibility. The British Museum has been carrying out that function since the mid-18th century, and in a remarkably universalist spirit. It was the first public institution to call itself 'British', yet it never saw its vocation as national. It was intended from the start to be encyclopaedic, a place to display curios from every culture. This universality is rarer than people realise. Most museums have a national or ethnic focus. In Washington DC, for example, you will find the National Museum of the American Indian, the Chinese American Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. But the British Museum, as its former director Neil MacGregor put it, 'remains a unique repository of the achievements of human endeavour, and there is no culture, past or present, that is not represented within its walls. It is truly the memory of mankind.' If our aim is the greatest happiness for the greatest number, there is a good case for keeping the stones divided, and using modern technology to fill in the gaps with exact replicas (the Acropolis Museum currently represents the missing stones with deliberately rough plaster casts so as to emphasise its grievance). But this is not really about aesthetics. It is about nationalism, and the desire of successive Greek administrations to claim a direct link to the ancient city states. And here, I part ways with my House of Lords colleagues. For demands that rest on collective racial entitlements are incompatible with freedom, property and the rights of the individual. Commentators are often conflicted about these ethnic claims. The kinds of people who insist on performing indigenous land recognition ceremonies in Canada and Australia would be horrified at the idea that second-generation immigrants to Britain were here contingently. Yet free contract rules out ancestral claims. If my grandfather sold his house to yours, I have no right to turf you out. There is no question that the British Museum purchased the collection legally from Lord Elgin, who had acquired it with the full permission of the authorities. Elgin had not at first intended to remove the carvings. He wanted to sketch and measure them, but changed his mind when he saw passers-by carting them off. 'The Turkish government attached no importance to them,' he told a parliamentary committee. 'Every traveller coming added to the general defacement of the statuary in his reach.' Elgin saved the stones. Free contract and private property trump the superstitious idea that being descended from someone, or at least living in the same part of the world, establishes some kind of ownership right. If the Acropolis Museum wants the collection, it should put in an offer. Frankly, the way Britain is going, we might soon need the money.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
10 historic Greek wonders away from the islands
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Greece is home to some of the world's most extraordinary heritage sites. These range from ancient buildings — such as the extraordinary monasteries of Meteora, perched high on sandstone pinnacles, and the Parthenon temple in Athens — to the pretty, pastel-hued villages that line the coast. There are marvels of engineering, too, including the Corinth Canal, which connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas, and the fortified island town of Monemvasia, which seems to tumble down the cliffs straight to the sea. Nothing bellows 'Ancient Greece' like the Parthenon, the crowning glory of the hilltop Acropolis citadel and visible all over Athens. The temple was built by hand from white marble in 447 BCE to give thanks to Athena, goddess of wisdom and military victory, who locals believed saved the city during the Persian Wars. Its treasures take centre stage in the Acropolis Museum. A glass chamber displays the temple's near 200ft-long frieze, with carvings so intricate and vivid, you can almost hear the thunder of hooves. 'Suspended in the air' is the rough translation of Meteora, and it's a fitting description of its most famous assets: six still-functioning monasteries, dating from the 14th to 16th centuries, perched on soaring sandstone pinnacles. Each is unique and, if you've got the puff, accessible – but don't neglect the less obvious architectural treasures, visible (if not reachable) from the thickly wooded trails threaded between these natural pedestals. These include cave churches, ascetics' lofty hollows, and a six-storey hermitage built into the cavity of a sheer rock face, which is so intricate and implausible it could be a fairy house. Jutting out into the turquoise Aegean Sea, Northern Greece's 'Blue City' spells out its history in architecture. It was under Byzantine rule until the Ottomans rocked up in 1387, razing the acropolis and building a hulking 15th-century fortress in its place. The Turkish influence can still be felt in the cobbled alleys of the medina-like old town, Panagia, with its tangle of pastel-painted houses and hidden courtyards. Seek out the late-Ottoman Mohammed Ali's House, where the former ruler of Egypt was born in 1769, and the blush-hued Halil Bey Mosque, before tackling the climb to the castle for soul-soaring views. Pressing up against Turkey, the town of Soufli in Greece's Evros region gained fame across Europe for its silk production in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a wealthy legacy mapped out in mansions and bitziklikia, or 'cocoon houses', built specifically for it. A major stop on Greece's Silk Road, the river valley was once cloaked in mulberry trees that fed the silkworms. This heritage is woven into its one-of-a-kind industrial architecture. Narrow, cobbled streets lead to stone-and-timber buildings unravelling the history of production. For insights into the town's rich past, visit the Art of Silk Museum, lodged in a beautifully restored neoclassical house, and the chimney-topped Tzivre Silk Factory, founded by the Ceriano Fratelli company from Milan in 1910. Pushing through solid limestone and creating a short-cut between the Ionian and Aegean seas, the four-mile-long, 80ft-wide Corinth Canal is an engineering marvel. The tyrant Periander dreamt up the canal in the sixth century BCE, but was afraid building it would provoke the wrath of the gods. Roman emperor Nero had no such qualms and struck the first blow himself with a golden pickaxe in 67 BCE. The canal was finally completed by the French in the 19th century. With sheer walls towering 300ft above the water, it's an impressive sight. You can travel along it, on cruises lasting around 90 minutes. In the southern Peloponnese, Ancient Messini delivers a shot of history without the madding crowds, with ruins as vast and impressively intact as those in much busier Olympia. The city-state was founded in 371 BCE after the Thebans defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra. And if you believe local legend, Zeus was born here and raised by nymphs Neda and Ithomi. History and myth intertwine as you explore its theatre, bathhouse, Doric temple and vast agora (marketplace), once the ancient city's beating heart, framed by stoas (columned porticoes). Just as compelling are the Sanctuary of Asclepius, an ancient healing temple, and one of the largest and best-preserved stadiums in Greece, where once Roman gladiators did bloody battle. The island Monemvasia off the Peloponnese's east coast, linked to the mainland by a short causeway, was founded by the Byzantines in the sixth century, making it one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited fortified towns. Once a strategic port on Eastern Mediterranean shipping routes, its past glory is etched out in its rock-top medieval citadel, Kastro. A wander through the cobbled lanes of the lower town brings you to the main square and church of Christos Elkomenos, filled with Byzantine icons. A steep path clambers up to the medieval castle ruins for arresting views out to sea. The Olympic flame still burns brightly in Ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese, where the modern-day games have their Greek origins. From 776 BCE to 393 CE, the Olympics were held here quadrennially. Myth has it that Zeus, king of gods, victoriously wrestled his father Kronos for the throne at the first games. As you wander the sunlit ruins, scattered among plane and olive trees, you can almost envisage the athletes and the cheering spectators. Follow the trail past the gymnasium, palaestra (wrestling school) and Workshop of Pheidias – where the now-lost ivory-and-gold Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was sculpted – to reach the sacred sanctuary of Altis, and finish at the nearby archaeological museum. In Homeric lore, the most powerful Greek ruler at Troy was Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, immortalised in the 8th-century BCE epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey as a citadel 'rich in gold'. Indeed, this was the greatest of Mycenaean cities in the late Bronze Age, its influence extending from the Argolis region of the eastern Peloponnese to the world beyond. You can still feel the rumble of history and myth as you pass through the mighty Lion Gate and the Cyclopean Walls – lore has it the namesake one-eyed giant built them from huge, rough-hewn limestone boulders. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the expansive, captivating ruins, encompassing royal tombs, apartments, artisans' workshops and Agamemnon's Palace reflect the dazzling scope of human genius. Greece isn't short of attractive coastal towns, but Nafplio blows most straight out of the water. And it has plenty of history to back up those good looks. A major port since the Bronze Age, when it was crowned by Akronafplia Fortress, the bijou city in the Argolis region of the eastern Peloponnese briefly served as capital of the newly independent Greek state until Athens took over in 1834. Its old town is one of Greece's loveliest, with streets lined with pastel-hued Venetian mansions and bougainvillea-draped neoclassical houses leading to cafe-rimmed Syntagma Square. And that's before you reach its biggest showstopper: Palamidi Fortress, a top-of-the-rock, early 18th-century Venetian citadel that is a masterpiece of engineering. Puff up 999 steps to the top for front-row views over city and sea. Published in the April 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here.(Available in select countries only).
National Geographic
24-04-2025
- National Geographic
10 historic Greek wonders away from the islands
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Greece is home to some of the world's most extraordinary heritage sites. These range from ancient buildings — such as the extraordinary monasteries of Meteora, perched high on sandstone pinnacles, and the Parthenon temple in Athens — to the pretty, pastel-hued villages that line the coast. There are marvels of engineering, too, including the Corinth Canal, which connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas, and the fortified island town of Monemvasia, which seems to tumble down the cliffs straight to the sea. 1. Parthenon Nothing bellows 'Ancient Greece' like the Parthenon, the crowning glory of the hilltop Acropolis citadel and visible all over Athens. The temple was built by hand from white marble in 447 BCE to give thanks to Athena, goddess of wisdom and military victory, who locals believed saved the city during the Persian Wars. Its treasures take centre stage in the Acropolis Museum. A glass chamber displays the temple's near 200ft-long frieze, with carvings so intricate and vivid, you can almost hear the thunder of hooves. 2. Rock churches of Meteora 'Suspended in the air' is the rough translation of Meteora, and it's a fitting description of its most famous assets: six still-functioning monasteries, dating from the 14th to 16th centuries, perched on soaring sandstone pinnacles. Each is unique and, if you've got the puff, accessible – but don't neglect the less obvious architectural treasures, visible (if not reachable) from the thickly wooded trails threaded between these natural pedestals. These include cave churches, ascetics' lofty hollows, and a six-storey hermitage built into the cavity of a sheer rock face, which is so intricate and implausible it could be a fairy house. 3. Kavala Jutting out into the turquoise Aegean Sea, Northern Greece's 'Blue City' spells out its history in architecture. It was under Byzantine rule until the Ottomans rocked up in 1387, razing the acropolis and building a hulking 15th-century fortress in its place. The Turkish influence can still be felt in the cobbled alleys of the medina-like old town, Panagia, with its tangle of pastel-painted houses and hidden courtyards. Seek out the late-Ottoman Mohammed Ali's House, where the former ruler of Egypt was born in 1769, and the blush-hued Halil Bey Mosque, before tackling the climb to the castle for soul-soaring views. 4. Soufli Pressing up against Turkey, the town of Soufli in Greece's Evros region gained fame across Europe for its silk production in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a wealthy legacy mapped out in mansions and bitziklikia, or 'cocoon houses', built specifically for it. A major stop on Greece's Silk Road, the river valley was once cloaked in mulberry trees that fed the silkworms. This heritage is woven into its one-of-a-kind industrial architecture. Narrow, cobbled streets lead to stone-and-timber buildings unravelling the history of production. For insights into the town's rich past, visit the Art of Silk Museum, lodged in a beautifully restored neoclassical house, and the chimney-topped Tzivre Silk Factory, founded by the Ceriano Fratelli company from Milan in 1910. 5. Corinth Canal Pushing through solid limestone and creating a short-cut between the Ionian and Aegean seas, the four-mile-long, 80ft-wide Corinth Canal is an engineering marvel. The tyrant Periander dreamt up the canal in the sixth century BCE, but was afraid building it would provoke the wrath of the gods. Roman emperor Nero had no such qualms and struck the first blow himself with a golden pickaxe in 67 BCE. The canal was finally completed by the French in the 19th century. With sheer walls towering 300ft above the water, it's an impressive sight. You can travel along it, on cruises lasting around 90 minutes. The tyrant Periander dreamt up the Corinth Canal in the sixth century BCE, but was afraid building it would provoke the wrath of the gods. Photograph by Getty Images; Giacomo Augugliaro 6. Ancient Messini In the southern Peloponnese, Ancient Messini delivers a shot of history without the madding crowds, with ruins as vast and impressively intact as those in much busier Olympia. The city-state was founded in 371 BCE after the Thebans defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra. And if you believe local legend, Zeus was born here and raised by nymphs Neda and Ithomi. History and myth intertwine as you explore its theatre, bathhouse, Doric temple and vast agora (marketplace), once the ancient city's beating heart, framed by stoas (columned porticoes). Just as compelling are the Sanctuary of Asclepius, an ancient healing temple, and one of the largest and best-preserved stadiums in Greece, where once Roman gladiators did bloody battle. 7. Monemvasia The island Monemvasia off the Peloponnese's east coast, linked to the mainland by a short causeway, was founded by the Byzantines in the sixth century, making it one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited fortified towns. Once a strategic port on Eastern Mediterranean shipping routes, its past glory is etched out in its rock-top medieval citadel, Kastro. A wander through the cobbled lanes of the lower town brings you to the main square and church of Christos Elkomenos, filled with Byzantine icons. A steep path clambers up to the medieval castle ruins for arresting views out to sea. 8. Ancient Olympia The Olympic flame still burns brightly in Ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese, where the modern-day games have their Greek origins. From 776 BCE to 393 CE, the Olympics were held here quadrennially. Myth has it that Zeus, king of gods, victoriously wrestled his father Kronos for the throne at the first games. As you wander the sunlit ruins, scattered among plane and olive trees, you can almost envisage the athletes and the cheering spectators. Follow the trail past the gymnasium, palaestra (wrestling school) and Workshop of Pheidias – where the now-lost ivory-and-gold Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was sculpted – to reach the sacred sanctuary of Altis, and finish at the nearby archaeological museum. 9. Ancient Mycenae In Homeric lore, the most powerful Greek ruler at Troy was Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, immortalised in the 8th-century BCE epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey as a citadel 'rich in gold'. Indeed, this was the greatest of Mycenaean cities in the late Bronze Age, its influence extending from the Argolis region of the eastern Peloponnese to the world beyond. You can still feel the rumble of history and myth as you pass through the mighty Lion Gate and the Cyclopean Walls – lore has it the namesake one-eyed giant built them from huge, rough-hewn limestone boulders. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the expansive, captivating ruins, encompassing royal tombs, apartments, artisans' workshops and Agamemnon's Palace reflect the dazzling scope of human genius. 10. Nafplio Greece isn't short of attractive coastal towns, but Nafplio blows most straight out of the water. And it has plenty of history to back up those good looks. A major port since the Bronze Age, when it was crowned by Akronafplia Fortress, the bijou city in the Argolis region of the eastern Peloponnese briefly served as capital of the newly independent Greek state until Athens took over in 1834. Its old town is one of Greece's loveliest, with streets lined with pastel-hued Venetian mansions and bougainvillea-draped neoclassical houses leading to cafe-rimmed Syntagma Square. And that's before you reach its biggest showstopper: Palamidi Fortress, a top-of-the-rock, early 18th-century Venetian citadel that is a masterpiece of engineering. Puff up 999 steps to the top for front-row views over city and sea. Published in the April 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here.(Available in select countries only).
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Greece welcomes Vatican's return of Parthenon fragments to Acropolis
Greece has welcomed the return of ancient artefacts from the Acropolis, furthering a campaign to press the British Museum to hand back a collection of sculptures taken from the ancient site in Athens more than 200 years ago. Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni led a ceremony Friday for the repatriation of three sculpture fragments – representing a horse and two male heads – from the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis which had been kept at the Vatican Museums. The fragments will be added to the collection at the Acropolis Museum. The Vatican called the return an ecumenical 'donation' to Greece's Orthodox Church, but the gesture added pressure on the UK to reach a settlement with Greece following a long-running campaign launched by Athens 40 years ago. The Culture Minister said Greece would be willing to lend the British Museum ancient Greek artefacts for exhibition to 'fill the gap" if it returned the collection known as the Elgin Marbles. Carved in the 5th century BC, the sculptures from the Parthenon were taken in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin before Greece won independence from the Ottoman Empire. Greece argues that the Parthenon sculptures are at the core of its ancient heritage, while supporters of the British Museum maintain that their return could undermine museum collections and cultural diversity globally. Related Egyptians call on British Museum to return famous Rosetta stone British Museum pledges 'not to dismantle' Parthenon sculptures amid reports of talks with Greece Culture Ministry officials in Greece have played down remarks made last month by British Museum chair George Osborne that the UK and Greece were working on an arrangement to display the Parthenon Marbles in both London and Athens. Last year another marble sculptural fragment from the Parthenon temple – depicting a foot of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis – was returned to Athens from a museum in Palermo, Sicily. Bishop Brian Farrell, a Vatican secretary for promoting Christian unity, headed the visiting delegation to Athens and said the return of the three fragments from the Vatican had been discussed during a visit to Athens by Pope Francis in 2021.
