[BG] The Parthenon Sculptures are one of the reasons 
that I’m really proud to be a Trustee of the British Museum. 
I really believe they belong here. 
You know, I have been trying to figure out why I think that way.
The Parthenon Sculptures were brought from the Acropolis in Athens 
by Lord Elgin to Britain at the start of the 19th century.
Originally they were placed up on the side of the great Athenian temple.
For me these wonderful sculptures raise the bar artistically 
for everything that came since.
As a playwright I love the narrative power of this, I love its vigour.
You could write speech bubbles, 
a thousand people could have speeches coming out of these guys’ mouths 
and you would never exhaust what their relationship to each other is. 
It’s absolutely magnificent.
They’re so beautiful, sometimes when I look at them they really seem like they’re alive
[IJ] Well it’s the ultimate in alchemy isn’t it? 
You take cold hard marble 
and you turn it into warm flesh and flowing drapery.
[Visitor] It is the first time for me that I see the place. 
I’m very impressed, I think they are simply perfect. 
I mean they are so simple, but at the same time they have everything.
[Visitor] Probably the most beautiful sculptures I’ve ever seen really.
[Visitor] To be able to come into the city of London 
and go back to a time where such art like this was created is very exciting.
[IJ] They’ve become great works of art 
because they have been taken from the building 
and placed in front of the spectator.
There is another body of sculpture from the Parthenon 
and that is gradually being brought down to earth 
as part of the great conservation programme that our colleagues in Greece are undertaking.
The British Museum is a centre for Parthenon studies 
and actively researches the sculptures. 
It works with scholars from all around the world, including colleagues in Athens. 
With them we share a desire for better understanding 
of what the sculptures meant to people in antiquity. 
And what the sculptures looked like before so many of them were broken or lost.
Computer graphics can help here, especially in restoring missing parts, 
offering alternative restorations and even reconstructing the colours 
that may once have been applied to the marble.
[BG] At the British Museum you can see the marbles next to earlier cultures that influenced the Greeks. 
It is amazing to think that when the Greeks were learning and admiring from these objects, 
they were as far as away from the Egyptians as we are from the Greeks today.
But just as interesting is the influence they wielded over those that came after. 
Walk around the Roman gallery, 
and you can see how slavishly they copied the Greeks they so admired.
1,500 years later Renaissance artists like Michelangelo were inspired by these Roman copies 
as you can see in the Museum’s Prints and Drawings room.
[IJ] A drawing like this study for the Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, 
makes marvellous comparison with the reclining River God 
from the West Pediment of the Parthenon. 
And we can see him refitting the human form to create his ideal version.
[BG] But moving on to the Indian galleries other more surprising connections can be made. 
You know Sona, this really reminds me of the sculptures and of Greek art in general. 
Because look at the flow here, the drapery flows, 
and the foot stands and this kind of heroic arms outstretched and the shoulders. 
It’s very Greek isn’t it?
[SD] It’s very interesting you should say that 
because this sculpture comes from about the 2nd century AD 
from a place in the north-western frontier which is today Pakistan. 
Where the remnants of Alexander’s army penetrated India 
and so they were trying to be absorbed into the majority faith. 
So what do you? How do you make that easier? 
You dress the Buddha up to look like a Greek. 
[BG] Throughout the Museum you can find exciting parallels with other cultures and other times.
Writer and broadcaster Jeremy Paxman is making a film 
about the influence the sculptures had on British artists in the 19th century.
[JP] The Victorians saw their culture and their empire as being the kind of modern version 
of the Greek empire or the Roman empire. 
And at a time when they were trying to address all these issues of what constituted human beauty
you couldn’t really do much better than this I think.
[BG] The Parthenon Sculptures raises the bar for all of us. 
And it includes everybody all over the world. And is for all of us, all over the world.