GS Paper I

News Excerpt:

British PM Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the status of the Parthenon Sculptures housed at the British Museum.

What does History and culture say about Parthenon Sculptures?

• The Parthenon Sculptures are from Athens, Greece (then the city-state of Athens). 
• The Parthenon was constructed between 447 and 432 B.C.E., under the direction of sculptor and architect Phidias. The sculpture decorating the Parthenon rivaled its architecture in careful harmony.
• When Athens was selected as the capital of the new country in 1834, most of the post-Roman period structures on the Acropolis were removed, to accommodate further archaeological exploration and to return the site to a state that reflected Greece's idealized 'Classical' past.
  • It became a symbol for the modern nation-state of Greece following independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832.
• It was known as a period of artistic and military triumph considered the golden age of ancient Greece.
  • It shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival (the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena); a series of metopes (sculpted relief panels) depicting the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage-feast of Peirithoos.