Lord Elgin
The diplomat who shipped the Parthenon sculptures to Britain, sparking two centuries of controversy.
Life
Ambassador
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, became British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1799. Athens was then under Ottoman rule.
Removing the sculptures
From 1801, claiming permission from the Ottoman authorities, he had workers remove large numbers of reliefs, pediment statues and other antiquities from the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis and ship them to Britain. The work took more than ten years, and one ship carrying the marbles sank on the way.
Financial ruin
The project ruined him financially, and in 1816 he sold the collection to the British government for far less than it had cost him. Now in the British Museum, they are known as the "Elgin Marbles." Greece has demanded their return ever since independence.
Legacy
The Elgin Marbles are one of the world's most famous disputes over the ownership of antiquities; Byron wrote poems bitterly denouncing his actions.
Did you know? The original of the "permission" he cited has never been found; only an Italian translation survives, and its validity is still disputed.
Key dates
- 1799Became ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
- 1801Began removing the Parthenon sculptures
- 1816Sold them to the British government
- 1841Died