The pillage if the monuments of the Acropolis from Lord Elgin for us Greeks is and will always be an open wound for every civilized individual on this planet an unjust action from a representative of the English crown against the cultural heritage of a glorious and proud nation who even from the darkness of his work never once stopped teaching Europe Art and Culture.

E.F.

Από ομιλία στην Σ.Σ.Α.Σ. 23/7/2009

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The predatoriness of Elgin didn’t only stop at the Parthenon. He grabbed a Caryatid and an lonic column from the Erechtheion depriving the monument from basic construction and decorative items. All of these together with four plates from the frieze of the Temple of Athena Nikis(victory) and a kyonokrano(capitol) and a spondyl from Propylaea today are found in the British History Museum far from the monuments and positions that had been chosen from the enlightened Greek sculptures. Imagine these creators these half gods who had carved the pentelic marbles to know the fate of their works.

E.F.

Από ομιλία στο κέντρο ιστορίας της Θεσ/νίκης (Μέγαρο Μπίλλη) 26/4/2006

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The descriptions and narrations of the two British visitors Edward Donwell and Edward Daniel Clark who were witnesses to the seizure of the sculptures shows the barbaric behaviour of the ‘artists’ of Elgin. The professor and Historian Edward Donwell who had visited Athens twice wrote “I faced the sorrow and humiliation as I witnessed the Parthenon being stripped of its brightest sculptures. Some of these sculptures were thrown to the ground from the height of 12 meters. We turned our faces away as not to witness these profane actions which were destroying the works of high intelligence of Perikles and the performances of the genius Feidias.

The professor Edward Daniel Clark described the scene where the sculptures being taken apart one piece slipped from the hands of the workers and fell smashing into pieces on the marble steps of the Parthenon. “We saw with such sadness the gap that was left from the removal of the fascias.

No matter how much wealth or means the rulers had in their possession it would be impossible to reconstruct the damage. Fancinating is the narration of another British, the famous architect Robert Smirk who was doserving the workers of Lord Elgin vidently and clumsily ripping and taking down the plates of friezes. “I was particularly annoyed when I saw the workers of Elgin tranfer the marbles with crowbars from the walls to remove the plates and friezes”.The stones that fell on the floor of the Parthenon shook the ground with a deep hollow sound which resembled the howl of the hurt soul of the temple.

E.F.

Από ομιλία στο Ανοιχτό Πανεπιστήμιο Ασπρόπυργου 3/3/2008

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Most of the British people have always been opposed to the way these treasures had been obtained. People were opposed and reacted against this action from the moment they arrived in London. Officials and authorities expressed their sorrow that a representative of the crown had committed this abominable actions. The biggest reaction came from the filellinon Lord Byron who with his poetic cry condemned the unethical and barbaric actions of Elgin against the cultural heritage of a slaved nation who were once glorious and free. “Blind are the eyes that do not cry watching the pillage of the sacred marbles from the profane hands of the English”…

“Let those be cursed who fled their island to come and demolish the sacred marbles that envious time respected and tyrannts left intact”. “Come you miserable thieves to despoil what has remained of this grieving place and pilgrims have asked to see”.

In his poem the “Curse of Athens”, Byron sees himself among the ruins of the Parthenon. While he is counting the ruins Athena appears before him, wounded armour and with a broken spear. “Human this spectacle of shame shows you are British. Once an honoured name, the first amongst the powerful leaders of freedom. Look around you look well and hard out the empty desecrated temple. Count again the violent pillmaging of the ruins. The leader of enemies the Pallada will be.

After, Byron dares to give an answer to Athenas outery. “Don’t blame England for this atrocious action. England repudiates because of the Darkness and in this country the Goddess of Wisdom will never rule. In this country were the agriagkatho betrays its stinginess of the soil the dark fog and the germs that cloud the human brain. This land that send its treacherous children to the East and West illegal profits to conquer. Let it be cursed the hour this land sent this miserable man to this sacred land”. Lord Byron was awarded like no other fillelinon from Greece. His name has been carved from anonymous Greeks on the Marble at Sounio on Mount Penteli, at Delphe oh the monument Lusicrate and on kyonokrano(capital) at Erechtheion.

E.F.

Ομιλία στην κεντρική βιβλιοθήκη του Δήμου Θεσ/νίκης 29/3/2006

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As regards the stolen Caryatid the emigrated daughter of the Athenians who was separated from her five sisters there are concussive narrations, poems and suggestions for her return.

In the Lament of Caryatid the British author and historian Fred Sylvester N. Douglas wrote that the servant of the Acropolis confirmed that the five Caryatids that had lost their sister express their grief at night with deep sorrowful sighs and when he heard these sighs he would be forced to move away. Another reference about the Caryatid informs us that when she was removed from the Erechtheion the whole city could hear the sorrowful sighs as the remaining five Caryatids expressed their grief as their sister was being taken away.

E.F.

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Imagine the sorrow I felt when I finally found her in a completely unsuitable place resembling a prison cell. She is loaded with a concrete bean on her head, two centuries now she has been supporting the loft of the British Museum.

Imagine my rage and indignation when I saw a group of visitors waiting in line to see her, to be photographed with her and to embrace her. A young man used indecent gestures in front of her  to entertain his friends.

I stayed with the Caryatid for three hours and guarded her from the visitors. She accepted my caress with relief it was a Greek caress.

Then, suddenly I heard children’s voices coming closer, they were a group from a Greek school. As they were approaching they whispered “Our marbles, they have been stolen”. When they came up close to the Caryatid they all shouted “Oh Karyatida! Oh Karyatida!” I called them over next to me and urged them to caress our emigrated Daughter of Athenians.  A BROTHERLY CARESS, A GREEK CARESS!

E.F.

Από ομιλία στο Γενικό Λύκειο Πευκών Θεσ/νίκης 23/10/2014

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The Greeks reacted as soon as Lord  Elgin undertook his catastrophic endeavor on the Acropolis. However, their reactions only took the form of silent discontent and unbearable pain. Suffering under the intolerable tyranny of the Ottoman yoke, the Greeks could not prevent Elgin from pillaging the monuments.

Athanassios  Psalidas  from Yiannena told a British traveler:      “You, Englishmen, who take away the artifacts of our ancestors, should take good care of them because there will come a time when we, Greeks, will ask them back.”

E.F.

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After a lot of adventures, the Acropolis Sculptures arrived in London to be welcomed by a deluge of reactions. Local dignitaries expressed sorrow over the fact that a respectable Englishman and representative of the Crown had committed these despicable acts.

Hugh Hammersley proposed to the British Government to buy the Scupltures from Elgin with the purpose of preserving them and returning them to the country where they were created when conditions permitted. It was also considered necessary to make know that Britain would keep and preserve the sculptures until the current or future possessors of Athens demanded their return and that they were bound to comply without question or negotiation.

E.F.

The post FROM A SPEECH AT THE MUNICIPALITY OF EMMANOUEL PAPAS (13 May 2006) appeared first on Ε.Ε.Ε.G.Α.

Not only Greece, which is the birthplace of these cultural treasures, but also the whole world should make sure the Acropolis sculptures are gathered in the area and the people that created them. According to a survey conducted in Great Britain, the new Acropolis Museum is the best museum in the world.

Under the blue Greek sky, in direct view to the Parthenon, and with state-of-the-art air-conditioning, the misused statues will be preserved to be handed down to the generations to come in the best possible condition.

Great Britain must realize that it does not own the sculptures because it is a third country and cannot even claim that they are spoils of war. Furthermore, the whole world and the majority of the British citizens are now in favor of returning the sculptures to Greece because the Parthenon sculptures are not a self-standing work of art that could be exhibited in any museum. They are fragments of a complete work of art, they are members of a family, they are part of history. Removing some fragments from the statues and the sculptures of the Parthenon is like tearing off some pages or removing some illustrations from a valuable book. It is as if we decide to do away with the refrain of a beautiful song.

E.F.

Ομιλία στη σύναξη της Ι. Μητρόπολης Ιερισσού 24/1/2009 και στην Ιερατική σχολή Κατερίνης 29/12/2013

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 E.F.

Από ομιλία στο Βαφοπούλειο πνευματικό κέντρο 12/12/2014

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