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The visitors route forms a clear dimensional loop, folding an
architectural promenade with a rich spatial experience extending
from the excavations to the Parthenon Marbles & back through the
Roman period. Movement in & through time is a crucial dimension of
architecture. 8ernard Tschuml
Where The Parthenon Marbles are never golng back onto the Parthenon. Pollutlon & the
enects of weatherlng mean that rapld & unacceptable deterloratlon would occur
lf they were left there. Thls ls a fact accepted everyone lnvolved ln the current
restoratlon of the Acropolls monuments. The questlon ls though, lf the sculptures
are no longer dlsplayed on the Parthenon then where should they be sltuated
lnstead!
The 8rltlsh Museum clalms: Because the Parthenon is now a ruin the best use that
the world can make of these sculptures is for them to be here in London in the context
of other great art works. '
Context The orlglnal context of the Parthenon Sculptures was that they were an lntegral part
of the Parthenon, slttlng wlthln the complex of bulldlngs on top of the Athenlan
Acropolls, ln the Attlca area of malnland Greece.
The Parthenon was a bulldlng carefully posltloned as a culmlnatlon of the route
up to the Acropolls, rather than a structure that exlsted ln lsolatlon. Throughout
Athens, even wlthln the densely developed clty that exlsts today, you contlnually
catch gllmpses of the Parthenon hlgh above you.
Por many stages of the approach however, the Parthenon ls hldden, elther by
other bulldlngs, or by other parts of the rock of the Acropolls. As you cllmb up
towards the Propylaeum the Parthenon ls completely hldden from vlew, only
revealed agaln as you emerge out through thls gateway onto the Acropolls. Prom
thls polnt your route across the rock leads you past the Parthenon, your vlew of lt
contlnuously changlng as you move along lts perlmeter. Lventually the bulldlng
dlsappears behlnd you untll you turn to face lt & the maln entrance confronts you
dlrectly, lllng your eld of vlew.
Sculptures Throughout the tlme that you are passlng the bulldlng, the pedlment sculptures &
metopes can be seen clearly, but the frleze ls hldden behlnd them & ls never easlly
vlslble from the outslde of the bulldlng. 8eyond the frleze lles the nal centreplece
to these layers of sculpture. wlthln the dark lnterlor of the temple ltself ls the long
slnce destroyed, glant chryselephantlne (lvory) sculpture of Athena, the goddess
to whom the Parthenon ls dedlcated.
The pedlment & metopes are each deslgned to tell a story & are read ln a dlrec-
tlon as you pass them, whlle the frleze breaks lnto two paths at lts startlng polnt
& wraps around the bulldlng untll the two branches re[oln & conclude above the
maln entrance.
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The bulldlng & sculptures were not deslgned to exlst ln an abstract space, they
were always about constralned channelled paths of movement around & through
them. Thls dlrect relatlonshlp wlth the slte & the wlder context of Athens vls-
lble from lt ls one of the reasons that later repllca bulldlngs, such as the ones ln
Nashvllle, Ldlnburgh & Germany can never come close to recreatlng the sensatlon
of standlng on top of the Acropolls looklng at the Parthenon.
Later context The Parthenons use as a temple ceased durlng the early Chrlstlan perlod, when
lt became a church & many of the metope sculptures were defaced. Most of the
sculptures on the bulldlng remalned relatlvely lntact though untll the exploslon of
!68/ that occurred whlle the bulldlng was used by the Ottomans as a gunpowder
store & was hlt by a cannon shot. Thls slngle event dld more than any other to end
the llfe of the Parthenon as a worklng bulldlng & redened lt as the rulns that we
are famlllar wlth today. Thls was the end of the orlglnal context of the Parthenon
sculptures.
London when Lord Llglns collectlon of sculptures arrlved ln London they were orlglnally
stored ln a shed ad[olnlng hls Park Lane house, before later belng moved to the
Llgln Poom at the 8rltlsh Museum. when the sculptures were dlsplayed there, the
alm was to create lnterestlng composltlons from them, rather than arranglng them
ln a way that related to thelr placement on the Parthenon.
Duveen Gallery |n the !930s, 1oseph Duveen,` a wealthy & prollc art collector nanced the con-
structlon of a new purpose bullt gallery wlthln the 8rltlsh Museum for the marbles,
whlch opened to the publlc ln !962 & ls known as the Duveen Gallery. Thls new
home for the Parthenon sculptures ls a vast space wlthln the museum, seventy
slx metres long & up to twenty two metres wlde. The problem though ls that
although the sculptures were now clearly on vlew, they stlll werent arranged ln a
way that helped to understand how they orlglnally tted lnto the context of the
Parthenon.
The pedlments are at elther end of the gallery, faclng lnwards. 8ecause of the con-
stralnts of the space, the pleces on dlsplay are pushed together, so that although
a substantlal central segment ls mlsslng, there ls no space left ln the mlddle of the
arrangement for the mlsslng sculptures, glvlng a false lmpresslon of the scale of
the pedlments.
The metopes ln the possesslon of the museum are arranged ln four groups,
around the ends of the gallery, even though orlglnally they all came from a slngle
slde of the Parthenon.
The frleze runs along the two long walls of the gallery, agaln faclng lnwards, so
that lt ls lnstantly vlslble ln lts entlrety. |t ls only broken by 3 doorways & at the
ends, lmplylng that what you are seelng was orlglnally a contlnuous run of the
frleze, whereas ln reallty the sectlons ln the 8rltlsh Museum are actually spllt lnto
twenty ve parts separated by pleces that are elther destroyed, or ln Athens. Lven
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lf you know the Parthenon well, lt ls stlll hard to relate these fragments of the frleze
to thelr orlglnal posltlons on the bulldlng.
Looklng at thls dlsplay of the sculptures as a whole, everythlng ls lnstantly vlslble
as you enter the gallery. ou are the focus at the centre, wlth the sculptures look-
lng ln at you. There ls no sense of a llnear narratlve belng revealed as you move
past, nor ls there anythlng to lndlcate the hlerarchy & layerlng that dened the
placement of the sculptures when they were on the Parthenon. Contlnulty should
be broken by the absent sculptures, but there ls never a sense that you are not
seelng the complete set.
One aspect of Attlca ln Greece, that denes external spaces there, ls the unforglv-
lng brlghtness & clarlty of the sunllght. Anyone who has vlslted wlll have seen
the surfaces of bulldlngs there forced lnto sharp rellef by the contrast between
llght & shade. As you move around a bulldlng, one slde ls dark, whlle the other
ls brllllantly llt, the balance shlftlng constantly through the day as the sun moves
across the sky. The Metopes & Pedlments of the Parthenon were exposed to thls
harsh sunllght whereas the frleze, whlch was completely shaded, was therefore
percelved ln a dlnerent way to the other sculptures on the bulldlng through soft
dlnuse llght. |n the Duveen Gallery however, frosted glass roof llghts ensure that
everythlng ls lllumlnated ln an equal level of grey, wlth lmperceptlble shadows.
Acropolis museum The current Acropolls Museum datlng from !865, ls a cramped bulldlng, sunk
lnto the ground on one corner of the Acropolls. |t houses varlous nds from
the Acropolls, from earller temples of the Archalc perlod, through to some of
the Parthenon sculptures & Poman remalns. As pollutlon problems necessltated
the removal of the remalnlng sculptures on the Parthenon to a safer locatlon, lt
became clear that a new bulldlng was needed to house the growlng collectlon &
dlsplay ltems that had been kept ln storage due to the lack of space.
New acropolis museum |n !989, the thlrd competltlon for a new Acropolls Museum was announced, wlth
a cholce of three posslble sltes & attracted an unprecedented 438 submlsslons. The
wlnnlng entry was by the |tallan archltects Passarelll & Nlcolettl, located on a slte
known as Makrylannl, after the road that ran down one slde of lt.
After delays durlng the early !990s due to legal lssues, work on clearlng the slte
began ln !998, only to stop soon afterwards when the excavatlons revealed prevl-
ously unknown remalns of the Larly Chrlstlan settlement of Athens. After lnltlal
consultatlons lt became clear that lt was not posslble to adapt the deslgn to avold
the remalns & therefore the best optlon was to deslgn a new proposal that reacted
to & lntegrated wlth the archaeologlcal remalns on the slte.
A competltlon was launched ln the summer of 2000 & ln addltlon to the requlre-
ments of the museum ltself, the brlef also lald out where the bulldlng could make
contact wlth the slte, so that there would be no posslblllty of damage to the
archaeologlcal remalns.
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Tschumi design |n October 2002, a [olnt entry by 8ernard Tschuml Archltects & Mlchael Photladls
Archltects was selected as the wlnner & work on slte began the followlng year,
although lt has slnce been heavlly delayed by legal & polltlcal lssues.
Tschuml saw the bulldlng as a challenge on three levels, rstly he had to relate
a landmark modern bulldlng to the Parthenon. Secondly he was deslgnlng for
a complex slte wlth lssues ranglng from the archaeologlcal remalns through to
earthquakes & harsh sunllght. Most lmportantly, he saw lt as a museographlc chal-
lenge, denlng the best way to vlew sculptures that were deslgned to be vlewed
by the anclent Greeks ln a speclc way & are now seen by us ln a dlnerent way.
Site The Makrylannl slte ls close to the Acropolls & the upper levels wlll have a clear
vlew of the Acropolls, although lower down the vlew ls obscured by the !9th cen-
tury bulldlng at the front of the slte, houslng the Centre for Acropolls Studles. The
locatlon benets from the recent pedestrlanlslng of the road that leads around
the base of the Acropolls. |t ls also next to the entrance to the recently opened
Acropolls Metro Statlon. Lven before you enter the bulldlng, you are already ln the
context of the Parthenon.
The New Acropolls Museum acts as the rst stage of a vlsltors [ourney from the
metro statlon, before they contlnue on to the Acropolls ltself.
Lxternally, Tschumls deslgn has a slmple form, uslng a llmlted palette of materlals
so that lt does not ght for attentlon wlth the hlstorlc monuments surroundlng lt,
but lnstead slts above & wlthln the hlstory of the area.
Building As you enter the museum across a concrete & glass brldge, you can [ust manage
to see the Parthenon sculptures at the top of the bulldlng, behlnd a glass wall. As
wlth the route up to the Acropolls though, you loose slght of the sculptures as you
pass through the doors of the museum.
Through the glass noor of the brldge you can see beyond the modern bulldlng to
the dlmly llt excavatlons on the slte below. The bulldlng ls not [ust about exhlbltlng
artefacts ln gallerles, but lt also acts as a roof over another archaeologlcal slte.
Once lnslde, a wlde ramp wlth a glass noor leads up between two walls. The act
of walklng up the ramp, focusslng on the top of lt symbollses the act of cllmblng
up to the Acropolls & varlous nds from the lower slopes are dlsplayed on elther
slde of thls ramp. Hlgh above a serles of brldges pass across the space & dayllght
lters ln through the roof.
The maln gallery ls a space wlth a monumental feel to lt, wlth tall columns sup-
portlng the roof. |t holds ltems from the archalc perlod, parts of bulldlngs on the
Acropolls that were destroyed long before the Parthenon was bullt.
At the end of the maln gallery, escalators lead up through the mezzanlne to the
top of the bulldlng, where you arrlve ln a central courtyard, nooded wlth llght from
the glass roof above. Multlple slots ln the concrete walls form doorways leadlng
out from thls space.
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Parthenon gallery Passlng through one of these openlngs you emerge lnto the Parthenon Gallery, &
on turnlng around you are confronted agaln wlth the Parthenon sculptures, that
you prevlously gllmpsed as you entered the museum. Pull helght glass walls glve
the lmpresslon that you are on top of Athens, & you look out wlth a slmllar sensa-
tlon to belng up on the Acropolls ltself.
Sunllght noods ln to the gallery, lllumlnatlng the sculptures ln harsh rellef. The
space lnltlally feels llke a long room, wlth glass one slde & a concrete wall on the
other. Thls back wall forms the settlng for the frleze, whlch ls not hlt by dlrect sun-
llght durlng the day as lt ls sheltered by the roof & ls lnstead lllumlnated by more
dlnuse llghtlng through a slot above, repllcatlng the dlsparlty between the harsh
& dlnuse that dened the orlglnal settlng of the sculptures.
Throughout the deslgn, Tschuml sees llght as the central theme of the museum,
uslng lt as a tool to repllcate as closely as posslble the orlglnal outdoor envlron-
ment of the sculptures.
|n front of the frleze the metopes slt on lndlvldual pllnths, formlng a layer shleldlng
the frleze behlnd. Columns rlse up between these pllnths, thelr spaclng ldentlcal
to those on the Parthenon.
At what you thought was the end of the gallery, lt turns a corner & a new vlew ls
revealed. The frleze contlnues along the wall, wlth the metopes ln front of lt, but ln
front of the metopes ls a larger pllnth holdlng the pedlment sculptures.
Acropolis regained At the next corner you nally regaln your vlew of the Acropolls capped by the
Parthenon hlgh above you, whlle at the same tlme you can look at the sculptures
that once formed part of the bulldlng.
The deslgn of the Parthenon Gallery ls carefully planned to match that of the
Parthenon ltself. The slze ls the same & the allgnment ls the same. As you move
past the sculptures, exactly the same areas are ln shade as would have been on the
Parthenon ltself. |t ls easy to understand where a partlcular sculpture would have
tted onto the Parthenon. |n areas where there are no sculptures survlvlng, the
walls are left blank & the pllnths removed, so that you qulckly bulld up a plcture of
whlch parts are destroyed. The entrances lnto the gallery occur through the spaces
where the mlsslng frleze panels would be. Lvery aspect of the gallerys form ls
dened by aspects of the Parthenon. The spaces where sculptures are mlsslng also
accentuate how much of the collectlon ls stlll held ln the 8rltlsh museum.
Due to the deslgn of the gallery, lt ls lmposslble to see all the sculptures slmulta-
neously, you are forced to move through the space & pass each of the sculptures
lndlvldually at close range, trylng to understand the story belng told. Tschuml
llkens thls to a clnematlc experlence, where you dlscover the sculptures frame by
frame.
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Route down At the end of your clrcult through the Parthenon gallery, a dlnerent route leads
back down through the bulldlng lnto gallerles contalnlng artefacts from the Post
Parthenon & Poman perlods of the Acropolls.
Once you reach ground level, steps lead down beneath the bulldlng, where you
can look at the excavatlons from the 3rd, 4th & /th centurles. Llght lters down
onto you through the glass noor of the ramp that you passed over at the start of
your [ourney through the bulldlng.
The Parthenon On leavlng the museum slte, you contlnue your [ourney up the Acropolls, culmlnat-
lng at the Parthenon. Although the museum ls left behlnd you, & soon becomes
hldden from vlew, once you reach the Parthenon you can look down & seen the
dlstant sculptures ln the Parthenon gallery once more, addlng a contemporary
element lnto the Parthenons theme of vlews that are concealed before belng
revealed agaln. our perspectlve of the Acropolls Museum has now completely
changed, & rather than nestllng behlnd bulldlngs, you are looklng down onto lt
wlth lts roof formlng lts fth elevatlon.
Conclusions Creatlng a bulldlng that can exlst comfortably ln the context of a monument as
lconlc as the Parthenon, yet at the same tlme fullllng a complex programme of
functlons would be a challenglng task for any archltect, but Tschumls museum
has no problems deallng wlth thls challenge. The [ourney through the bulldlng ls
a three dlmenslonal loop, not only ln space, but also ln tlme, as you move through
the dlnerent perlods of the Acropollss exlstence ln order, rlght through to the
present day, represented by the bulldlng ltself. Here the sculptures are presented
perfectly wlthln thelr hlstorlc & topographlc context.
ou have to ask yourself, when MPs argulng for the retentlon of the sculptures
descrlbe the posslblllty of thelr return to Greece as Iconoclastic Decontextualisation',
do they really understood what the true context of the Marbles ls!
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References
1 Nell MacGregor speaklng on 88C Padlo 4s Pront Pow, 2nd 1anuary 2003
The 8rltlsh Museum's omclal posltlon that they provlde the best context for the marbles was also put
forward ln the memorandum submltted to the Select commlttee on Culture, Medla & Sport by the
8rltlsh Museum on 28th 1une 2000
The legal status of the collection is fully documented and was confirmed by the British Museum Act
(1963). Ownership in a broader moral sense is justified by the Museums commitment to serve a world audi-
ence by providing the widest possible access. The British Museum provides an international context where
cultures can be experienced by all, studied in depth and compared and contrasted across time and place.
2 Mary 8eard, The Parthenon, 2002. P !6!
Here the sculptures from the Parthenon jostled with many of the other antiquities that had ended up,
thanks to his agents, in Elgins packing cases: not just the famous caryatid from the porch of the Erechtheion,
but some bits & pieces from Mycenae, a whole variety of architectural fragments, some plaster casts of other
material not removed from Greece, as well as a notable statue of the god Dionysus from a monument on
the Acropolis slopes
No attempt was made to recapture the original placement of the sculpture, nor to separate what
belonged to the Parthenon from the rest. It was a picturesque arrangement, whose main purpose was to
provide the most congenial atmosphere for artists to draw. Many of the most famous pieces were fxed to
swivelling bases, so that they could be moved to catch the best light.
3 1oseph Duveen !869-!939, Plrst 8aron of Mlllbank was also the person responslble for lnstlgatlng the
controverslal cleanlng of the Marbles ln the !930s wlthout the approprlate permlsslons from the 8rltlsh
Museum Authorltles.
4 The dlmenslons glven are the maxlmums. The wldth at the ends ls 22.8 metres, but for the central sec-
tlon of the gallery ls !2.5 metres.
5 A small amount of the frleze ls held ln other museums ln Lurope. The largest of these pleces ls ln the
Louvre & constltutes less than !% of the orlglnal frlezes area. Other smaller fragments, whose collectlve
total area ls less than 0.3% of the orlglnal frleze are located ln vlenna, Palermo, Pome & Heldelberg.
6 |n !9/6 & !9/9, competltlons were held to deslgn a new museum, but ln both cases the llmltatlons of
the sltes avallable for the competltlons meant that no acceptable proposals wer found.
7 Prom a lecture glven by 8ernard Tschuml ln London, November !2th 2002.
8 |bld.
9 |bld.
10 Tlm Loughton MP (Conservatlve, worthlng & Last Sussex) speaklng ln the House of Commons on 5th
May 2002
The hon. Gentleman said that his proposals were modest, but they are not. The implications for the future
of all world museums housing universal collections are enormous. I oppose this latest attempt at iconoclas-
tic decontextualisation and will judge it on the following grounds. Are the Elgin marbles rightfully in the
British museum, are they in the best place to be appreciated most by the widest audience, and what are the
real motives for destroying the status quo?
The British museum is a world museum. Forces for educational and cultural enlightenment across the
globe exist there. It has million visitors a year. Academics, students, school children, Greeks, Britons, South
Africans, Koreans all visit for free. They are able to see the Elgin marbles not just as a single artistic treasure
but in the context of the great developing panoply of archaic and classical art and architecture."
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Images
Front Cover Lntrance to the New Acropolls Museum - Pendered vlew produced by the Archltects
Page 1 The Acropolls from Lykavlttos - Photo by Matthew Taylor
Plaka - Photo by Matthew Taylor
The west end of the Acropolls - Photo by Matthew Taylor
Page 2 The exploslon at the Parthenon - Drawlng by M. Korres
The marbles ln the Llgln Poom at the 8rltlsh Museum - Palntlng by A Archer, !8!9.
The Duveen Gallery atthe 8rltlsh Museum - Photo by Matthew Taylor
Page 3 Sunllght on the columns of the Parthenon - Photo by Matthew Taylor
The current Acropolls Museum - Photo by Matthew Taylor
The !989 wlnner of the new museum competltlon - Drawlng by Passarelll & Nlcolettl Archltects
Page 4 Aerlal vlew of the archaeologlcal remalns on the slte - Prom booklet by OANMA
Makrylannl slte from road - Photo by Matthew Taylor
Glass bottomed ramp ln Museum - Pendered vlew produced by the Archltects
Page 5 Lntrance to the Parthenon gallery - vlew from anlmatlon produced by the Archltects
The Parthenon Gallery - vlew from anlmatlon produced by the Archltects
Sectlon through Parthenon Gallery, showlng sculptures - Drawlng produced by the Archltects
Page 6 Parthenon gallery wlth vlew to Acropolls - Pendered vlew produced by the Archltects
Contextual cross sectlon through New Acropolls Museum - Drawlng produced by the Archltects
vlew of Museum slte from the Acropolls - Photo by Matthew Taylor
All content 2004 Matthew Taylor (except for lmages created by others, where noted)
The author's moral rlghts have been asserted
Por further lnformatlon contact: mtaylorQelglnlsm.com

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