The Elgin Marbles

The Parthenon sculptures collected by Lord Elgin nearly 200 years ago rank amongst the highest achievements of mankind. Since they went on display in the British Museum in 1817, artists, scholars, poets and millions of visitors have stood before them in wonder. This book tells their story, beginning in the fifth century BC when the Parthenon was built in Athens. The author explains what the sculptures represent, who made them and how they fitted into the grand design of the temple. He describes their gradual destruction by religious zealots, beseiging Venetians and other vandals before Lord Elgin brought them to the safety of London.

When Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics to "A Foggy Day," he expressed the ne plus ultra of London unhappiness with the words, 'The British Museum has lost its charm.' As a new series of paperbacks from Harvard University Press...demonstrates, such an unthinkable state must needs constitute the very slough of despond. The institution's vast range of artistic treasures is suggested by the titles in the series: The Elgin Marbles, Assyrian Sculpture, Clocks and Watches, Egyptian Sculpture, Roman Britain, and Egyptian Mummies. Each has numerous illustrations, [and] literate texts by Museum staff members. (Sunday Boston Globe)