Show T "ap THE OQUEN ST A SUNDAY MORNING NOVEMBER 2 T3U PXAMINFR ) r n w 'J YY4 y-- Ac 4 -- sq&K X p s v - Why the Most Magnificent Temple of Ancient Greece Was Looted Desecrated and Bombarded and May Be Restored to All Its Former Greatness 'f £ $ ‘Y '- xf - CY ' N SVW— ! - - i a heifer-n- r r itrfyz t ’Yy i v'" f WY Hih A-V -- Y& - ' W Heads Magnificently Carved to Represent a Priestess of the Athene Cult Few of These Columns Are Intact and All Will Have to be Restored with New Carvings M ’'V Z ? ' ? 1 1 x k' p i ' 1 ' s tM h - 1 evvV v Cve ’i Close-u- y : of One of the Great Marble Pillar ' fV J fK siir jl f ' J A V"Y '( yy f ta C 11 11 I 11 1 1 1 - MW—1 1 ill! III! 'X wx V' " "x $'w “g ' - TT! s Wi('VArffY Ah ' Y'A iO 4 -- I till ii X 'V ill III I RJ 4 Hi Sill § i V fv ' v' V A v- !'& O'v § 1 - iiii 1 1 ilI The Ruins of the s 1 1111 and art lovers will be keenly interested in the proposition now being seriously considered by the Government of Greece looking toward the eventual restoration of the beautiful Parthenon at Athens to the magnificent condition in which it stood revealed over two thousand years ago The magnitude of the task is almost beyond immediate comprehension involving as it does the reclamation of art treasures sections of columns bases and chapiters carvings and friezes taken from the famous ancient temple in' times past and now - zealously guarded in various European museums For many hundreds of years the Parthenon stood at the mercy of armies of who thoughtvandals and lessly devastated and marred the wonderful columns galleries and stairways The temple is too well guarded nowadays to permit of any further desecration but there is much to be done before the Parthenon can be restored to a condition approaching to any marked degree a semblance of its former greatness If and when the glory of the Parthenon is restored the world will marvel at the supreme masterpiece of Greek art for that temple to Athena Parthenos has long been considered the very finest specimen of Greek architecture and sculpture that the genius of Greece could or did produce Fresh from the hands of incomparable Pheidias its sculptures outdid all that had been made before and the chaste architecture has long been pointed to a3 the climax of Greek achievement It was only 228 curio-seeke- I III! 1 llll III! -- feet long and symmetry and finish of the Parthenon were considered the acme of all Greek art It was right that it should dominate all Athens from the great rock of the Acropolis rising more than 500 feet above the sea so that it wa3 visible from afar Dedicated 438 B C only seven years before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War it was the last great cry for survival of the ancient Greek spirit Yet it 'managed to survive many disasters and changes of ownership Converted into a Christian church during the fifth century only some of the statues on the interior were removed When the Turks captured Athens in r448 tae temple became a Mahometan mosque but notwithstanding the opposition of the Moslems to all idols the magnificent sculptures of the exterior remained unharmed It was not until 1687 that the destruction of this wonder of the world began Then the Venetians led by Morosinin besieged the Turks in the Acropolis and a shell from the guns of the besiegers landing which the in the Turks had established in the Parthenon blew out the centre of the great temple Coveting the sculptured horses of Athene’s chariot which stood on the western pediment Morosinin tried tto lower them to the ground but so inexpertly that they fell and were This damage smashed to fragments was fight indeed when compared to the vandalism which occurred in 1801 rs when the British Lord Elgin set covetous eyes upon thg sculptures of this building and lost no time in taking Ax j '' t U w i i nr r7 V hrt iii 1 J vW " "VX"' -- i' ¥yS A x i -- 4 C" § ss ‘ v ’ 1 1 1 n 111! i v llll Is ir Hi - v f W 'll- - ' si " if -- u i: - jfairinrwr'- f - moon-godde- toration is going on with the approval of every that Britain will admit the theft and restore the spoil that it may be replaced where it once adorned this structure Those now undertaking the work of rebuilding the Parthenon have no small task before them True the description by Pausanias who saw it in all its pristine glory in the second century will aid greatly in filling out the gaps of column and statue but the greatest aid should come from those who have taken away many of its finest adornments such as the Elgin Marbles Many of the columns still i'n ii3- four-hors- art-lov- er ’ sr vase-painting- far in vain It is hoped now that the work of res- X ‘ stand though bits have been broken off by shot and shell or by the hahd of visiting vandals The eight columns at the ends and the seventeen on each side will soon be in position with the architrave resting upon them surmounted by the square sculptured Above panels known a3 metopes these at both ends are the triangular gables 'or pediments which ' unfortuThe nately have suffered greatly centre of the east pediment has disappeared altogether but thanka to the description by Pausanias it i3 known to have portrayed the birth of Athene from the brain of Zeus and this may be restored in the light of similar Greek sculptures of this scene and from Greek' But fortunately there still remain the sun-go- d rising in his e chariot on the left and the sinking with her team on the right together with some other figures not so certainly identified There stand three draped feminine figures which are held to be the Three Fates and a splendid male figure identified by some authorities as Theseus If the British insist upon their legal possession of the statues and carvings these will have to be copied in the museum for they have fifteen of the are panels or metopes but forty-on- e still in place If after years of painstaking labor the Parthenon is at last restored to its pristine beauty and completeness the world will have regained what scholars claim is the most complete expression of Atticism and that means the finest architecture and sculpture of which The dominance Greece was capjable of Athene typifies the Attic spirit which attempted to express in stone the highest aspirations of the human intellect for sublime forms of imperishable beauty I True in 1816 the British Nation paid to Greece the paltry sum of 35000 pounds for these priceless sculptures but the world of art still holds that this does not give her just ownership The Greek Government has pleaded over and over again for the return of the “Elgin 'Marbles” a3 these sculptures are known but thus This Remarkable But Sadly Mutilated Torso of a Female Figure Stands oi One of the Upper Galleries of the Temple Much of the Carving Has Been Chipped off by Relic Hunters s s C “But tcVo of all the plunderers of yon fane On high where Pallas linger’d loth to flee The latest rehc of her ancient reign The last the worst dull spoiler who was he !’’ powder-magazin- e 101 v away for the British Museum a large portion of the frieze several metopes and numerous other sculptures Lord Byron wrote of hist despoiling these savage lines : : k — nt Archaeologists Is llll 4 ' ' Parthenon as They Appear Today the City of Athens Overlooking Once-Magnifice- is I - rrJt:W 1 1 !I s ? 1 Ili Hi 30 MW ? i 11 '' W- 'L 5 v?jB s : 4 - - r vt y ' ' ' srf ' '4 I a 7 j X f 6 S- - ' vv f ' ' tej aT ti A s v 3 s? y p 4? s “ Y ' f ’t 'V ' i 7-- — V t - v A- y y A A “' y— 1 ’" i - 7 I 0 a 1 ? fM' ¥IA i 4 V u v irsaww- s Base of One of the Broken Columns of the Parthenon £ t Ruins of the Once-Gracul Marble Columns Which Bordered the Front and Sides of the Temple These Columns Stood 34 Feel In Height and Were Considered Masterpieces f f I' V ef The Overturned i of Art a''S m Jf ' s V i t at I ' : It 4 ” i i '-- XY rr- ( ft ( (x : V J f‘ J 7 pO d 4 7 4 i j r- x 1 i I - ’ 1 C-TY x v ' '7 - 'vf’w 1 Ik a k Some of the Disfigured Carvings on the Panels or Metopes of the Parthenon Nowspaper Featurs Service t!3f ! ' s ht ! f t V' i - '7Y? rY7 kj :K& "V i j A J Many of Them Have Been Broken and Overthrown iii jj- I |