ELGIN MARBLES

collection of ancient Greek sculptures and architectural details in the British Museum, London. The objects were removed from the Parthenon at Athens and from other ancient buildings and shipped to England by arrangement of Thomas Bruce, 7th Lord Elgin, who was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (17991803). The removal created a storm of controversy in England that led to an investigation by Parliament. The controversy continued into the late 20th century. Elgin was a lover of art and antiquities. By his own account, he was concerned about damage being done to important artworks in the temples of Greece, then under Ottoman sway. Fearing that they would eventually be destroyed because of Turkish indifference, he asked permission of the Sublime Porte to have artists measure, sketch, and copy important pieces of sculpture and architectural detail for posterity. At length the request was grantedalong with the authority to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon. Elgin then began selecting a vast store of the treasures for shipment to England. Among these were friezes, pediment sculptures, and fragmented statues from the cella (interior chamber) walls of the Parthenon; the northeast column, an anta capital, blocks of wall crown including architrave and cornice, and a caryatid from the Erechtheum (a temple of Athena); and various other antiquities from Athens, Attica, and other sites. A series of shipments took the treasures to England in 180212 with but one mishapHMS Mentor sank in a storm off the Greek isle of Cythera in 1804, but the entire cargo was recovered. Elgin left the embassy in 1803 and arrived in England in 1806. The collection remained private for the next 10 years. An outcry arose over the affair, and Elgin was assailed for rapacity, vandalism, and dishonesty in hauling the Grecian treasures to London. Lord Byron and many others attacked Elgin's actions in print. A select committee of Parliament was established to examine the sculpture and the possibility of acquiring it for the nation. In 1810 Elgin published a defense of his actions that silenced most of his detractors. The final shipment of the Elgin Marbles reached London in 1812, and in 1816 the entire collection was acquired from Elgin by the crown for the sum of 35,000. The Greek government has frequently demanded the return of the marbles, but the British Museumclaiming among other reasons that it has saved the marbles from certain damage and deteriorationhas not acceded, and the issue remains controversial.