Greece: Parthenon (Room 18) 

447 - 432 BC

The Parthenon was built as a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. It was the centrepiece of an ambitious building programme on the Acropolis of Athens. The temple’s great size and lavish use of white marble was intended to show off the city’s power and wealth at the height of its empire.

Room 18 exhibits sculptures that once decorated the outside of the building. The pediments and metopes illustrate episodes from Greek mythology, while the frieze represents the people of contemporary Athens in religious procession.

Rooms 18a and 18b feature fragments of the Parthenon sculpture and also pieces of architecture. Video displays using computer graphics explain how the sculptures were placed on the building, and a touch tour for visually impaired visitors includes a model, some original architecture and plaster casts of the frieze.

More information about the Parthenon sculptures at the British Museum

Museum statements

The Parthenon sculptures at the British Museum
Statement of the British Museum trustees
Facts and figures

Research publication

Cleaning and controversy: the Parthenon sculptures 1811 - 1939
By Ian Jenkins

Image captions (clockwise from top left):

Marble metope from the Parthenon 440 BC

Figure of Dionysos from the east pediment of the Parthenon 438-432 BC

Figure of a river-god from the west pediment of the Parthenon 438-32 BC

Horsemen from the west frieze of the Parthenon 438-32 BC