WHY IN ATHENS AND NOT IN LONDON ?
1. Because in Athens, there is the Monument where they belong, that is the Parthenon.
2. Because in Athens, the Marbles will be exposed near the Parthenon and in visual contact with it, so that the visitor will form a picture of the Monument as a whole.
3. Because they constitute an inseparable part of the monument- symbol of the Greek classic civilization at the moment of its acme. With the returning of the Marbles, the unity of the decoration and the architectural cohesion will be restored.
4. Because the restoration of the Parthenon, which is the emblem of UNESCO, is an obligation of the British, not only opposite the Greek, but also opposite the universal cultural inheritance.
At the Acropolis there is in progress the top Greek restoration program, which is one of the biggest and most important worldwide. This program is accomplished on the basis of research, which undergoes international criticism, through scientific meetings, and is approved as the law provides for, and the scientific ethics. The works have already been completed at Erechtheum, they are been continued at the Parthenon and at Propylaea and are about to begin at the Temple of Athena Victory. Today’s works of the Parthenon restoration are mainly intended to: · the structural maintenance · the surface maintenance · the highest degree of the sculptures’ protection · the correction of the place of formerly restored stones · the complementary restoration of certain parts, mainly by using pieces of extant fallen stones, which are still on the ground and belong to the Monument. This restoration program, which is in the vanguard of the scientific research, pushes forward, in the most substantiated way, the dramatical consequences of the mutilation of the Monument by Elgin and his collaborators.
