# The Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum > Pheidias, general overseer of the Parthenon's sculptural programme under Pericles; the individual carvers of specific pediment figures, metopes and frieze blocks are not named in any surviving source - c. 447-432 BC, as part of the Parthenon's building programme; the frieze is usually dated to the earlier part of that range, c. 442-438 BC, and the pediment sculptures to the final years, 438-432 BC > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/pheidias-parthenon-workshop/parthenon-sculptures-british-museum/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-08-14 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Pheidias, general overseer of the Parthenon's sculptural programme under Pericles; the individual carvers of specific pediment figures, metopes and frieze blocks are not named in any surviving source - **Date:** c. 447-432 BC, as part of the Parthenon's building programme; the frieze is usually dated to the earlier part of that range, c. 442-438 BC, and the pediment sculptures to the final years, 438-432 BC - **Medium:** Pentelic marble, quarried from Mount Pentelicus northeast of Athens; the pediment figures were carved fully in the round, the metopes in high relief, and the frieze in continuous low relief - **Dimensions:** The group has no single set of dimensions. The British Museum's holding comprises 17 over-lifesize figures from the pediments, 15 of the Parthenon's original 92 metopes, and 56 blocks (about 75 m / 247 ft) of the roughly 160 m frieze that ran around the exterior of the cella wall, together with one caryatid from the Erechtheion and four slabs from the parapet of the Temple of Athena Nike. About 128 m (80 per cent) of the original frieze survives worldwide across all locations; the British Museum's 56 blocks are the largest single share. - **Object type:** Sculpture - **Period:** Classical Greek, Athens under Pericles, fifth century BC - **Current location:** The British Museum, London, Room 18 (the Duveen Gallery) and the adjoining Rooms 18a and 18b - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary Seventeen over-lifesize marble figures from the Parthenon's two pediments, 15 of its 92 carved metopes, and 56 blocks, about 75 metres, of the temple's 160-metre frieze, together with a caryatid from the Erechtheion and four slabs from the Temple of Athena Nike: this is what the British Museum holds of a monument that Pericles' Athens finished decorating in 432 BC. Agents working for Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, then Britain's ambassador to the Ottoman Sultan, cut most of it away from the building between 1801 and 1805, under the authority of an Ottoman document whose original has never been found; only an Italian translation of it survives. Elgin sold the collection to the British Government in 1816 for 35,000 pounds, well under half of what he said he had spent, after a Parliamentary Select Committee that year concluded, in its own words, that the acquisition had been honourably and meritoriously conducted.Greece's government first formally asked for the sculptures back in October 1983, a year after its Culture Minister, Melina Mercouri, put the case to a UNESCO conference in Mexico City. Greece built the Acropolis Museum, which opened in 2009, largely to answer the British Museum's argument that Athens had nowhere adequate to display the material were it returned. The dispute has not moved past that point: the British Museum's Trustees state, in their own published position, that they hold clear legal title under the British Museum Act 1963 and would consider only a loan that acknowledges that ownership, while Greece's government has for decades declined to request or accept a loan on those terms. A meeting between the two countries' prime ministers collapsed in November 2023 over the issue, and as of a UNESCO committee session in May 2026, talks between the British Museum's chairman and Greek officials over a proposed long-term loan arrangement, described by the Museum as a "Parthenon Partnership," remain, in the Museum's own account, ongoing but not concluded. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **c. 447 BC-432 BC** The Parthenon, Athens, dedicated to Athena Parthenos `[documented]` (origin) Carved as part of the Parthenon's building programme under Pericles, with Pheidias credited by Plutarch as general overseer of the sculptural decoration. Individual attribution of specific pieces to named sculptors is not established by any source. - **c. AD 500-1460s** Church of the Virgin Mary of the Athenians (Christian conversion of the Parthenon) `[documented]` (alteration and partial loss) The building was converted into a Christian church; the middle section of the east pediment was removed to insert an apse, destroying about a dozen original statues. - **1460s-1687** Ottoman Empire (Parthenon used as a mosque, then as a garrison magazine) `[documented]` (continued use) The Parthenon became a mosque in the early 1460s and remained substantially intact until the Ottoman garrison began using it to store gunpowder. - **26 September 1687-1687** Building destroyed by Venetian bombardment `[documented]` (catastrophic loss) A Venetian mortar shell detonated the gunpowder stored inside the Parthenon during the siege of Athens, blowing off the roof, destroying much of both long colonnades and a large further share of the surviving sculpture. The building has been a ruin since. - **31 July 1801-1805** Removed by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Sultan `[disputed]` (removal) Removal was conducted under a document obtained in July 1801, whose original Turkish text has never been located; only an Italian translation survives, and its legal scope and authenticity are disputed among historians (Demetriades, Williams, Eldem) and, more recently, by the governments of Turkey (statement, May 2024) and Greece (statement to UNESCO's ICPRCP, 22 May 2026). The British Museum's Trustees state that Elgin acted with the full knowledge and permission of the legal authorities of the day in both Athens and London. - **1802-1812** In transit to England, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin `[documented]` (transport) Shipped from Athens via Malta in a series of consignments. One shipload, aboard the brig Mentor, sank off the island of Cythera in 1804; the cargo was salvaged in full at Elgin's expense. The final shipment reached London in 1812. - **1807-1816** Private collection of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, London `[documented]` (private display) Displayed privately from 1807, initially in a shed at Elgin's Park Lane house. Elgin's finances collapsed under the cost of the removal and transport, compounded by a public divorce from Mary Nisbet from 1807, leading him to seek a government purchase. - **June 1816-present** The British Museum, London (Trustees, under the British Museum Act 1963) `[documented]` (acquisition and continuous display) Purchased from Elgin for 35,000 pounds following a House of Commons Select Committee report finding the acquisition 'honourably and meritoriously' conducted; the House of Commons voted the funds 82 to 30. On public display since 1817, in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery (Room 18) since the 1930s. Subjected to an abrasive, damaging cleaning campaign in 1937-38 at the instigation of the donor Joseph Duveen. - **1982-present** Held by the British Museum; ownership and the legality of the original removal both publicly and repeatedly disputed by the Greek government `[documented]` (standing restitution dispute) A continuing, unresolved public and diplomatic dispute, not a change of custody. Melina Mercouri's July 1982 UNESCO address; Greece's formal October 1983 request and its April 1984 UK rejection; the 2009 opening of the Acropolis Museum; Greece's 2013 UNESCO mediation request, declined by the UK Government and the British Museum in 2015; the ICPRCP's September 2021 recommendation, rejected by the UK Government; the November 2023 collapse of a planned Sunak-Mitsotakis meeting; ongoing 'Parthenon Partnership' loan talks under British Museum chairman George Osborne, described in December 2024 as still some distance from agreement; and the ICPRCP's 25th session, 22 May 2026, at which 20 states formally backed Greece's position. No loan, restitution, or change in the British Museum's stated legal position has resulted from any of the above as of this record's last verification. ## Open questions - Did an authentic Ottoman firman, issued directly in the Sultan's name, ever exist for the removal of standing sculpture, as against permission only to draw, cast and remove loose fragments? The original Turkish document has never been located; only an Italian translation survives, and specialists (Demetriades, Williams, Eldem) disagree on whether the surviving document even represents the right category of Ottoman instrument. - Has Greece's government ever filed, or formally threatened, a legal claim or litigation over ownership, as distinct from a diplomatic or UNESCO request? Reporting from 2015 describes Greece's culture ministry seeking and then rejecting legal advice on litigation in favour of a diplomatic and political approach; no filed claim has been identified in the sources consulted for this record. - What is the exact current legal mechanism, if any, by which the UK Government has sought to exempt the British Museum from provisions of the Charities Act 2022 concerning disposal on moral grounds? This claim was made by Greece's own delegation to UNESCO's ICPRCP on 22 May 2026 and has not been independently verified against a primary UK government or parliamentary source for this record. - Will the 'Parthenon Partnership' loan talks between George Osborne and Greek officials conclude, on what precise terms, and within what timeframe relative to the British Museum's planned Bloomsbury redevelopment? As of the sources consulted for this record (through the ICPRCP's May 2026 session), no agreement had been announced. - What overall percentage of historic surface loss on the British Museum's sculptures is actually attributable to the 1937-38 Duveen cleaning, as against two thousand years of prior weathering and the violence of the original removal itself? St Clair's 80 per cent figure and Payne's 2023 reassessment as comparatively minor have not been reconciled in the sources used here. - Which specific sculptors, beyond Pheidias as overseer, actually carved the individual metopes and pediment figures now in London? No ancient source names any of them, and this record treats the question as open rather than assigning names on stylistic inference alone. ## Sources - [1] British Museum, 'Parthenon Sculptures - the Trustees' statement', accessed 2026-08-14. The Museum's own published legal and policy position, addressing common misconceptions about ownership, legality and loan requests. - [2] British Museum (blog), 'An introduction to the Parthenon and its sculptures', published 11 January 2018. - [3] British Museum, 'Greece: Parthenon' (Room 18 gallery page), accessed 2026-08-14. - [4] House of Commons Library, 'The Parthenon Sculptures', research briefing SN02075, accessed 2026-08-14. UK Government and British Museum official positions, the 1816 Select Committee, UNESCO mediation correspondence 2013-2015. - [5] Smithsonian Magazine, 'How the Much-Debated Elgin Marbles Ended Up in England'. - [6] Wikipedia, 'Elgin Marbles'. Tertiary source consolidating removal timeline, firman authenticity dispute, the 1816 Select Committee, the British Museum Act 1963, restitution campaign chronology and recent developments. Flagged for replacement with primary British Museum and UK parliamentary records. - [7] Wikipedia, '1937-1938 Elgin Marbles cleaning scandal'. Tertiary source on the Duveen cleaning campaign. Flagged for replacement with the British Museum's own internal 1938 inquiry report if it can be located and fetched directly. - [8] Wikipedia, 'Acropolis Museum'. Tertiary source on the museum's 2009 opening and Parthenon Gallery design. Flagged for replacement with the Acropolis Museum's own published architectural documentation. - [9] Wikipedia, 'Parthenon Frieze'. Tertiary source for frieze composition figures (160 m original length, 128 m surviving, 56 blocks in London, 40 in Athens). Flagged for replacement with the British Museum's and Acropolis Museum's own published catalogue figures. - [10] Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Elgin Marbles', revised by Meg Matthias, accessed 2026-08-14 (article dated 14 July 2026 per masthead). Tertiary source, used for the Mentor shipwreck date (1804, off Cythera), Pheidias's role, and the 1816 committee and sale. - [11] GreekReporter (Tasos Kokkinidis), 'Melina Mercouri's 1982 Speech That Changed the Parthenon Marbles Debate', 30 July 2026. - [12] GreekReporter (Tasos Kokkinidis), 'Greece, British Museum Discuss Long-Term Parthenon Marbles Loan', 9 June 2025. The Times' original reporting on the Osborne-led negotiations, and the British Museum's own 'Parthenon Partnership' quote. - [13] GreekReporter (Tasos Kokkinidis), 'UNESCO Calls on UK and Greece to Intensify Parthenon Marbles Talks', 23 May 2026. Report of the ICPRCP's 25th session, concluding 22 May 2026, including Greece's Ministry of Culture statement and the list of supporting states. - [14] The National Law Review, 'Part II - The Debate over the Parthenon Sculptures: Cultural Assets'. Legal analysis of the firman's status and the inapplicability of the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the UNIDROIT Convention and the Hague Convention to the 1801-1805 removal. - [15] Al Jazeera, 'Parthenon marbles row derails talks between UK's Sunak, Greece's Mitsotakis', 28 November 2023. - [16] Balkan Insight (Eleni Stamatoukou), 'Vatican Returns Three Fragments of Parthenon Marbles to Greece', 8 March 2023. - [17] Museums Association, 'Parthenon sculptures deal "still some distance" away, says Osborne', December 2024. - [18] Acropolis Museum, 'The permanent reunification of the Fagan fragment at the Acropolis Museum', official museum page. - [19] GreekReporter, 'Parthenon Marbles Fragment Returns Home to the Acropolis Museum', 10 January 2022. - [20] Plutarch, Life of Pericles, chapter 13, translated by John Dryden, revised by Arthur Hugh Clough, via Wikisource. Primary ancient source (though written centuries after the events it describes) for Pheidias's role as general overseer of the Periclean building programme. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.