With this in mind in 1800 elgin dispatched a number of renowned artists to make sketches paintings and molds of ancient monuments in athens.
The elgin marbles inventory number.
Ownership of the artefacts once part of the 2 500 year old.
The elgin marbles.
At its broadest the term elgin marbles refers to a collection of stone sculptures and architectural pieces which thomas bruce seventh lord elgin gathered during his service as ambassador to the court of the ottoman sultan in istanbul.
During 18 th and 19 th centuries educated and wealthy westerners held the firm belief that ancient greek art and architecture was the highest expression of civilization.
The parthenon marbles acquired by elgin include some 21 figures from the statuary from the east and west pediments 15 of an original 92 metope panels depicting battles between the lapiths and the centaurs as well as 75 metres of the parthenon frieze which decorated the horizontal course set above the interior architrave of the temple.
In practice the term is commonly used to refer to the stone objects he gathered an official greek website prefers looted from.
It is one of a number of relics acquired by lord elgin in athens in the early 19th century now known collectively as the elgin marbles.
As such they represent more than half of what now.
In 1810 elgin published a defense of his actions that silenced most of his detractors.