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The Parthenon

Parthenon is one of Athens's most outstanding treasures and has been built thousands of years ago as a temple of the goddess Athena. Under the Ottoman rule, his functionality has changed a bit. At first, it was converted into garrison. Then, the Sultan, Mehmed II, turned the Parthenon into a mosque. Soon, troubles were knocking on their door. At this stage of history, Greece had been governed by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years. They have governed Greece for 400 years until the Greek war of independence in 1821. Under the Ottoman rule, a significant reference point of Athens has experienced major changes.

The ambassador

Thomas Bruce was a Scottish noble and the seventh Earl of Elgin. He was looking for a promising career as a politician. But when it was called to act as an ambassador of Sultan Ottoman, Selim III, he launched a trip that changed the course of history forever. Even before accepting his position, Bruce had addressed many British government officials to ask if they wanted to recruit artists to create drawings and mussels of Parthenon's sculptures affirming that he wanted his embassy to be profitable for the progress of Fine arts in great Great Britain.

Adjustment

Bruce's proposal for the display of relics in public proved prosperous. Tourists from around the world have come to see the beautiful pieces of Greek history. The whole thing has become a massive success for tourism in London, making it the biggest exhibition at the British Museum. The idea of ​​displaying the relics could have been a success, but other Bruce ideas were not so successful. He had planned to restore some of the artifacts to make them more attractive. But this idea did not execute well and the process ended up destroying the pieces. They broke even further and instead of improving their condition, they ended up being worse than before.

Always a controversy

Two hundred years later, the controversy of Parthenon has still not diminished. People around the world are heavily divided on the debate on which the collection belongs. Most of the Greek population naturally considers that the pieces should be returned home in Athens. The Greek government has consistently called Britain to return them for nearly two centuries. Great Britain is not interested in the return of marbles. The officials say that art is representative of European culture as a whole and not only of Greek culture. Therefore, they think they belong to Great Britain where they are exposed to one of the largest and most popular exhibitions at the British Museum.

Take museums

The British Museum states that the Athens Acropolis Museum recognizes the rest of Parthenon's sculptures in the backdrop of old history and ancient Athenian history, while the sculptures of Parthenon in London are a primary symbol of the Athenian culture old in the context of world history.