200 years of the Elgin collection

2016 marks the 200th anniversary of the British Museum’s acquisition of the Elgin collection. The collection included many important antiquities, but of course the sculptures from the Parthenon immediately became a major focus within the Museum’s galleries.

Successive arrangements and reinterpretations of these sculptures have sought to display them as art, as architecture, and as part of a greater assemblage of world cultures. A panel of experts will review this history and assess the impact of the Elgin collection on taste, art and politics over 200 years.

Chaired by Curator Ian Jenkins, British Museum, panellists include David Bindman, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at UCL, Athena Leoussi, Associate Professor in European History at the University of Reading, and author and historian Dominic Selwood. Introduced by Lesley Fitton, Keeper of the Department of Greece and Rome, British Museum.