The Acropolis Statues

Explore the artistic richness of the Acropolis statues, such as the Caryatids or the controversial Elgin Marbles. Here, you will understand which pieces you can see on the ground and which require a visit to the museum.

There has been an ongoing cultural conflict between Greece and the United Kingdom for decades over the Acropolis sculptures. We must travel back to the early 19th century and meet Thomas Bruce (Lord Elgin) who was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. At that time, Greece was under Turkish rule, and Elgin obtained a permit, the interpretation of which remains highly debated, to remove pieces from the temples.

Elgin ordered the removal and transport of a large number of reliefs and figures, mainly from the Parthenon, but also from the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Propylaea. These pieces ended up being sold to the British government and, since 1817, the British Museum in London has exhibited them as one of its most prized collections. Since then, the British Museum has refused to return the sculptures to the Acropolis in Greece.

If you wonder: where are the Parthenon marbles now? The answer is that they are divided: a significant portion is in London and the other in Athens.

The Greeks argue that these works were looted illegally while the country was not sovereign, calling the act a dismemberment of a national monument. For its part, the British institution has always argued that Elgin saved the sculptures from destruction and neglect. However, with the opening of the new Acropolis Museum in 2009, Greece eliminated one of London’s technical arguments by demonstrating that it has state-of-the-art facilities to house and protect these masterpieces.

If you look at the upper ends of The Parthenon, in those triangular spaces called pediments, you will see some remains of human figures and horses. Originally, these spaces narrated two key moments: the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus on the east side, and the contest between Athena and Poseidon for control of the city on the west. Today, only eroded fragments remain on-site, but their mere presence gives you an idea of the grandeur of the ensemble.

Just below the roof, on the sides of the temple, are the metopes. These are square panels sculpted in high relief, of which there were originally 92. They depicted mythical battles, such as the Gigantomachy or the Centauromachy, symbolizing the triumph of civilization and order over barbarism. Although many that remain on the building are badly damaged by centuries of wear and historical explosions, you can still appreciate the muscle tension and dynamic movement in the figures that have survived.

The Erechtheion is arguably the most elegant building on the sacred rock. What will strike you most is the famous Porch of the Maidens (Caryatids), where six female figures act as columns. Again, remember that the figures you see up there, exposed to wind and sun, are cast concrete replicas. The originals were removed in 1979 to prevent pollution from dissolving the Pentelic marble they were created from.

These statues represent women from Caryae, a city in Asia Minor, and are a marvel of ancient engineering. If you look at their posture, you will see they have one leg slightly bent, giving them an appearance of lightness despite supporting tons of stone on their heads. The Acropolis Museum preserves five of the originals, arranged so that you can walk around them and even see the intricate hairstyles on their backs. There is a very significant empty space in the exhibition, reserved for the sixth sister that Lord Elgin took and which remains in the British Museum today.

This small temple, located right next to the Propylaea (the main entrance), is often ignored by visitors rushing toward the Parthenon. However, its reliefs are a jewel of delicacy. The frieze surrounds the top of the building and depicts battle scenes, both mythical and historical, including the Greek victory over the Persians. Unlike other temples, gods and humans mingle here in a very fluid way.

In the museum, you can see one of the most famous pieces that belonged to its balustrade, the “Nike Adjusting Her Sandal.” It is a low relief where the artist managed to make the marble look like wet, transparent fabric, revealing the form of the body beneath the folds of the dress.

Even though you can only see the structure and a few remains of the friezes in the current building, knowing what they represent helps you understand that this place was dedicated to celebrating Athens’ victory and its gratitude toward its patron goddess. Our recommendation is that, when you visit, you take a few minutes to observe the precision of the reliefs that still withstand the passage of time.

If you decide to visit, when you walk through the Parthenon Gallery in the Athenian museum, you will see something striking: curators have placed the original pieces that remained in Greece alongside plaster replicas of the Elgin Marbles. The color contrast between the original marble and the white plaster visually highlights everything that is missing.

As one Reddit user put it: “On the top floor of the Acropolis museum there’s an empty plinth and a plaque that says the Parthenon (Elgin) marbles belong here, but instead, they’re at the British museum.”

It is a silent but powerful way to demand the reunification of an artistic set that was conceived as a narrative unity. Therefore, it is not just a matter of ownership, but of archaeological and artistic integrity, as many of these sculptures are part of a continuous frieze that told a specific story of the city.

Photo: "Acropolis Museum, Athens" by faungg's photos.