The Acropolis of Athens, called the ‘ sacred rock ‘, is the most important archaeological site in Greece and is located on a hill in the center of present-day Athens . The acropolis contains three temples built in marble, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike . It also presents a monumental access called Propylaea . All the monuments on the Acropolis were built during the golden age of Pericles, known as the classical period (450-330 BC).
The Parthenon was dedicated to the cult of the goddess Athena , protector of the city-state of Athens. It was built by the architects Ictinos and Kallicratis , under the supervision of the sculptor Fidias. On the Acropolis there were also two colossal statues of the goddess Athena made by Phidias . One of them was inside the Parthenon temple, built in gold and ivory, and measured 9 meters high. The other, also colossal, was made of bronze and was outside the temple.
Right in front of the Parthenon is the Erechtheion . It is a temple with a colonnade with figures of young women, the Caryatids . Workers, stonemasons, painters, artisans, carpenters, goldsmiths, ivory artisans, weavers and artists of all kinds worked for 8 years to build these unique and splendid monuments dedicated to the gods. As Pericles said , “they were built by the people for the people.”
All the monuments of the Acropolis of Athens have survived for 20 centuries. They have survived fires, earthquakes, invasions, wars and bombings. Unfortunately they were unable to survive thieves, looters, or Elgin vandalism.
Elgin, the then British ambassador to Constantinopolis, had the idea of stripping all the monuments of his sculptures and taking them back to his country. As ambassador he obtained some papers from the Ottoman sultan to take some pieces from the Acropolis. Amazing that he could get those documents that allowed him to do what he did next. What exactly did he do? Elgin took most of the sculptural decoration of the monuments, tore out columns, took hundreds of pieces and transferred them to England, then sold them to the British Museum. They are still on display there.
One day in 1801 , after obtaining the sultan’s papers, he hired 350 men to tear off the statues and packed them in boxes. Those that were too big were cut off. Their heads, arms, or legs were cut off to fit in the boxes. They broke columns into pieces and carried them away; They even moved entire temples.
Elgin obtained a total of 253 statues , parts of monuments, parts of columns, marble reliefs, vessels and many other valuable objects . The boxes were loaded onto a ship that left for Britain in December 1801 . Shortly after the ship was wrecked and all the boxes ended up on the bottom of the sea.
Being an intelligent man he knew what he had to do: he went back to doing what he had done before. This time, among other things, he even took one of the columns from a nearby temple, a column shaped like a woman, one of the Caryatids. On this occasion he filled 200 boxes with ancient monuments and had the full support of his government as he and his luggage were traveling aboard a British warship.
He returned to Greece in 1806 and managed to remove the heavy boxes that he had lost at sea and transported them all to Great Britain. He returned to Greece once more in 1810 . This time he managed to take 253 more pieces along with numerous vessels. His men continued to work and in 1812 he received the last 80 boxes .
For almost 10 years this man cut, destroyed and took works of art, monuments of incalculable cultural value that were an integral part of monuments that still stand.
Greece is working continuously to return the Parthenon sculptures to their home. The UNESCO and other international agencies have received a comprehensive description of all items taken and this list is part of world literature. Most of the objects are not individual pieces but are an integral part of monuments that represent a symbol of Western civilization.
Elgin sold his wares to the British Museum for £ 35,000, and they are still there!
Other structures of the Acropolis of Athens
Of many of the buildings that stood on the Acropolis during its golden age, there are hardly any visible remains today. However, in the Acropolis Museum you can see faithful reproductions and explanations about their meaning and their functions. These are the most important:
- The Arreforión , a building located north of the Acropolis where the young women in charge of taking care of the statue of Athena were staying.
- The Eleusinion , a temple built by order of Pericles to worship the Eleusinian mysteries.
- The Asclepeion , a temple dedicated to the god of medicine, where the sick and priests used to go.
