From 1807 elgin exhibited the marbles that had arrived in britain in a house that he leased in park lane near piccadilly in london.
Elgin marbles british museum room.
It was the centrepiece of an ambitious building programme on the acropolis of athens.
Dating back almost 2 500 years to the 5th century bc the elgin marbles are seen some of the finest examples of marble sculpture to ever have been created in the world.
His permanent elgin room now room 17 was completed on the west side of the museum in 1832 and the collection remained there and subsequently extended into adjacent galleries until the duveen gallery was built in the 1930s says the british museum.
The marbles were moved to the elgin room in the british.
The elgin marbles are british owned purchased by the crown from lord elgin in 1816 and presented by parliament to the british museum.
From the beginning of 1817 the elgin collection was first housed in a temporary gallery designed by robert smirke.
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.
Greece on saturday urged britain to return the parthenon marbles often known as the elgin marbles as one of the world s greatest ancient sites the acropolis re opens after the coronavirus.
They were chipped away and removed from the parthenon in athens by thomas bruce the 7th earl of elgin between 1801 and 1805.
A portrait depicting the parthenon marbles in a temporary elgin room at the british museum surrounded by museum staff a trustee and visitors 1819 when the marbles were shipped to england they were an instant success among many 9 who admired the sculptures and supported their arrival but both the sculptures and elgin also received.
Ian jenkins the parthenon sculptures in the british museum british museum press 2007 ian jenkins greek architecture and its sculpture in the british museum british museum press 2006 mary beard the parthenon profile 2002 william st clair lord elgin and the marbles 3rd edition oxford university press 1998.
The temple s great size and lavish use of white marble was intended to show off the city s power and wealth at the height of its empire.
The director of the british museum has provoked anger by suggesting the removal of the parthenon marbles from greece in the 19th century could be seen as a creative act.
