Editing Parthenon (section)

==Later history==
===Late antiquity===
[[File:Attica 06-13 Athens 50 View from Philopappos - Acropolis Hill.jpg|thumb|The Parthenon's position on the Acropolis dominates the city skyline of Athens.|upright=1.2]]
A major fire broke out in the Parthenon shortly after the middle of the third century AD.<ref>{{cite web |title=Introduction to the Parthenon Frieze |publisher=[[National Documentation Centre (Greece)|National Documentation Centre]] (Greek Ministry of Culture) |url=http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfrieze_text_version/introduction/history.jsp?lang=en |access-date=14 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028205240/http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfrieze_text_version/introduction/history.jsp?lang=en |archive-date=28 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=69 |language=en |quote=According to one authority, John Travlos, this occurred when Athens was sacked by the Heruli in AD 267, at which time the two-tiered colonnade in the cella was destroyed. |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091648/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref> which destroyed the roof and much of the sanctuary's interior.<ref name = "Chatziaslani">{{cite web |last=Chatziaslani |first=Kornilia |title=Morosini in Athens |publisher=Archaeology of the City of Athens |url=http://www.eie.gr/archaeologia/En/chapter_more_8.aspx |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927091215/http://www.eie.gr/archaeologia/En/chapter_more_8.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Heruli]] pirates sacked Athens in 276, and destroyed most of the public buildings there, including the Parthenon.<ref name = "O'Donovan">{{cite web |last=O'Donovan |first=Connell |title=Pirates, marauders, and homos, oh my! |url=http://www.connellodonovan.com/heruli.html |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-date=22 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222154148/http://www.connellodonovan.com/heruli.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Repairs were made in the fourth century AD, possibly during the reign of [[Julian the Apostate]].<ref name = "AcropolisRestoration">{{cite web |title=The Parthenon |publisher=Acropolis Restoration Service |url=http://www.ysma.gr/en/parthenon |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828211740/http://www.ysma.gr/en/parthenon |archive-date=28 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A new wooden roof overlaid with clay tiles was installed to cover the sanctuary. It sloped at a greater angle than the original roof and left the building's wings exposed.<ref name = "Chatziaslani"/>

The Parthenon survived as a temple dedicated to Athena for nearly 1,000 years until [[Theodosius II]], during the [[Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire]], decreed in 435 that all [[pagan]] temples in the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] be closed.<ref name="Freely69">{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=69 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091648/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is debated exactly when during the 5th century that the closure of the Parthenon as a temple was put into practice. It is suggested to have occurred in {{circa|481}}–484, on the order of [[Zeno (emperor)|Emperor Zeno]], because the temple had been the focus of Pagan Hellenic opposition against Zeno in Athens in support of [[Illus]], who had promised to restore Hellenic rites to the temples that were still standing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trombley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZefAwAAQBAJ&dq=statue+allat-athena&pg=PA145 |title=Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370–529, Volume I |date=1 May 2014 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-27677-2 |language=en |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=17 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117082923/https://books.google.se/books?id=HZefAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=statue+allat-athena&source=bl&ots=J8DvCAWQZN&sig=6CwrxUq7hCUokhhLY5j60U_yebU&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi11Zq2o6fbAhXkIJoKHU-fB3EQ6AEITTAM |url-status=live }}</ref>

At some point in the fifth century, Athena's great [[cult image]] was looted by one of the emperors and taken to [[Constantinople]], where it was later destroyed, possibly during the [[Sack of Constantinople (1204)|siege and sack of Constantinople]] during the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204 AD.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cremin |first=Aedeen |title=Archaeologica |publisher=Frances Lincoln Ltd. |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0llBlzF6UgC&pg=PA170 |page=170 |isbn=978-0-7112-2822-1}}</ref>

===Christian church===
The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the final decades of the fifth century<ref name="Stephenson">{{cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Paul |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674659629 |title=New Rome: Empire in the East |date=2022 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674659629 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=177 |access-date=30 June 2022 |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022183745/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674659629 |url-status=dead}}</ref> to become the Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary) or the Church of the [[Theotokos]] ([[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Mother of God]]). The orientation of the building was changed to face towards the east; the main entrance was placed at the building's western end, and the Christian altar and [[iconostasis]] were situated towards the building's eastern side adjacent to an [[apse]] built where the temple's [[pronaos]] was formerly located.<ref name="Freely70">{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA70 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=70 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091752/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA70 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hurwit293">{{Cite book |last=Hollis |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/secretlivesofbui0000holl |title=The secret lives of buildings: from the ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories |date=2009 |publisher=Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8050-8785-7 |location=New York, New York |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurwit |first=Jeffrey M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293 |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |date=13 January 2000 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-42834-7 |pages=293 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091726/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> A large central portal with surrounding side-doors was made in the wall dividing the cella, which became the church's [[nave]], and from the rear chamber, the church's [[narthex]].<ref name=Freely70/> The spaces between the columns of the {{Lang|grc-Latn|opisthodomos}} and the [[peristyle]] were walled up, though a number of doorways still permitted access.<ref name=Freely70/> [[Icon]]s were painted on the walls, and many Christian inscriptions were carved into the Parthenon's columns.<ref name = "AcropolisRestoration"/> These renovations inevitably led to the removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures. Sometime after the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church, the metopes of the north, west and east facades of the Parthenon were defaced by Christians in order to remove images of pagan deities. The damage was so extensive that the images on the affected metopes often can't be confidently identified.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwab |first=Katherine A |title=The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-82093-6 |editor-last=Neils |editor-first=Jennifer |location=New York |pages=165 |chapter=Celebrations of Victory: The Metopes of the Parthenon}}</ref><ref>Robert Ousterhout (2005) "'Bestride the Very Peak of Heaven': The Parthenon after Antiquity." In Neils (ed). ''The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present.'' pp. 306–307</ref>

The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] after [[Constantinople]], [[Ephesos]], and [[Thessaloniki]].<ref name=Kaldelis>{{cite web |first=Anthony |last=Kaldellis |url=http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/modgreek/Home/_TOPNAV_WTGC/Lectures%20at%20U-M/ParthenonKaldellis.pdf |title=A Heretical (Orthodox) History of the Parthenon |publisher=University of Michigan |date=2007 |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090824170528/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/modgreek/Home/_TOPNAV_WTGC/Lectures%20at%20U-M/ParthenonKaldellis.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2009 |access-date=26 August 2008}}</ref> In 1018, the emperor [[Basil II]] went on a pilgrimage to Athens after his final victory over the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon.<ref name=Kaldelis/> In medieval Greek accounts it is called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to as famous without explaining exactly which temple they were referring to, thus establishing that it was indeed well known.<ref name=Kaldelis/>

At the time of the [[Latin occupation]], it became for about 250&nbsp;years a [[Roman Catholic]] church of [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Our Lady]]. During this period a tower, used either as a watchtower or [[bell tower]] and containing a spiral staircase, was constructed at the southwest corner of the cella, and vaulted tombs were built beneath the Parthenon's floor.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA295 |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |first=Jeffrey M. |last=Hurwit |date=19 November 1999 |publisher=CUP Archive |via=Google Books |isbn=9780521417860 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091649/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA295#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The rediscovery of the Parthenon as an ancient monument dates back to the period of [[Humanism]]; [[Cyriacus of Ancona]] was the first after antiquity to describe the Parthenon, of which he had read many times in ancient texts. Thanks to him, Western Europe was able to have the first design of the monument, which Ciriaco called "temple of the goddess Athena", unlike previous travellers, who had called it "church of Virgin Mary":<ref>E.W. Bodnar, ''Cyriacus of Ancona and Athens'', Brussels-Berchem, 1960.</ref>

''...mirabile Palladis Divae marmoreum templum, divum quippe opus Phidiae'' ("...the wonderful temple of the goddess Athena, a divine work of Phidias").

===Islamic mosque===
[[File:Parthenon – 28 May 1838 – Skene James - 1838.jpg|thumb|Drawing of the Parthenon by [[James Skene]], 1838|upright=1.2]]
In 1456, [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Turkish forces invaded Athens and laid siege to a [[Florence|Florentine]] army defending the Acropolis until June 1458, when it surrendered to the Turks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Babinger |first=Franz |title=Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA159 |pages=159–160 |isbn=978-0-691-01078-6 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628092247/https://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA159#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The Turks may have briefly restored the Parthenon to the [[Greek Orthodox]] Christians for continued use as a church.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Ottoman Athens I: Early Ottoman Athens (1456–1689) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=216 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729151054/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=216&la=eng |url-status=dead}} "In 1466 the Parthenon was referred to as a church, so it seems likely that for some time at least, it continued to function as a cathedral, being restored to the use of the Greek archbishop."</ref> Some time before the end of the fifteenth century, the Parthenon became a [[Parthenon mosque|mosque]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Ottoman Athens I: Early Ottoman Athens (1456–1689) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=216 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729151054/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=216&la=eng |url-status=dead}} "Some time later – we do not know exactly when – the Parthenon was itself converted into a mosque."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=D'Ooge |first=Martin Luther |url=http://archive.org/details/acropolisofathen00dooguoft |title=The acropolis of Athens |date=1909 |publisher=New York: Macmillan |others=Robarts – University of Toronto |pages=317 |quote=The conversion of the Parthenon into a mosque is first mentioned by another anonymous writer, the ''Paris Anonymous'', whose manuscript dating from the latter half of the fifteenth century was discovered in the library of Paris in 1862.}}</ref>

The precise circumstances under which the Turks appropriated it for use as a mosque are unclear; one account states that [[Mehmed II]] ordered its conversion as punishment for an Athenian plot against Ottoman rule.<ref name = "Miller">{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Walter |title=A History of the Akropolis of Athens |journal=The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts |volume=8 |issue=4 |year=1893 |pages=546–547 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aMrAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA547 |doi=10.2307/495887 |jstor=495887 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628092248/https://books.google.com/books?id=3aMrAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA547#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The apse was repurposed into a [[mihrab]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hollis |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/secretlivesofbui0000holl |title=The secret lives of buildings: from the ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories |date=2009 |publisher=Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8050-8785-7 |location=New York, New York |page=33}}</ref> the tower previously constructed during the Roman Catholic occupation of the Parthenon was extended upwards to become a minaret,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bruno |first=Vincent J. |title=The Parthenon |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=1974 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNItkhYRrc0C&pg=PA172 |isbn=978-0-393-31440-3 |page=172 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093156/https://books.google.com/books?id=kNItkhYRrc0C&pg=PA172#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> a [[minbar]] was installed,<ref name=Freely70/> the Christian altar and iconostasis were removed, and the walls were whitewashed to cover icons of Christian saints and other Christian imagery.<ref>{{Cite book |last=D'Ooge |first=Martin Luther |url=http://archive.org/details/acropolisofathen00dooguoft |title=The acropolis of Athens |date=1909 |publisher=New York: Macmillan |others=Robarts – University of Toronto |page=317}}</ref>

Despite the alterations accompanying the Parthenon's conversion into a church and subsequently a mosque, its structure had remained basically intact.<ref name = "Rathus">{{cite book |last=Fichner-Rathus |first=Lois |title=Understanding Art |publisher=Cengage Learning |edition=10 |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPlYOG52w2UC&pg=PT324 |page=305 |isbn=978-1-111-83695-5 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093157/https://books.google.com/books?id=JPlYOG52w2UC&pg=PT324 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1667, the Turkish traveller [[Evliya Çelebi]] expressed marvel at the Parthenon's sculptures and figuratively described the building as "like some impregnable fortress not made by human agency".<ref>{{cite book |last=Stoneman |first=Richard |title=A Traveller's History of Athens |publisher=Interlink Books |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/travellershistor00ston |url-access=registration |isbn=978-1-56656-533-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/travellershistor00ston/page/209 209]}}</ref> He composed a poetic supplication stating that, as "a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself, [it] should remain standing for all time".<ref name="Holt">{{cite journal |last=Holt |first=Frank L. |title=I, Marble Maiden |journal=[[Saudi Aramco World]] |volume=59 |number=6 |date=November–December 2008 |pages=36–41 |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200806/i.marble.maiden.htm |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801063702/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200806/i.marble.maiden.htm |archive-date=1 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The French artist [[Jacques Carrey]] in 1674 visited the Acropolis and sketched the Parthenon's sculptural decorations.<ref name="Bowie">T. Bowie, D. Thimme, ''The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures'', 1971.</ref> Early in 1687, an engineer named Plantier sketched the Parthenon for the Frenchman Graviers d'Ortières.<ref name = "Chatziaslani"/> These depictions, particularly Carrey's, provide important, and sometimes the only, evidence of the condition of the Parthenon and its various sculptures prior to the devastation it suffered in late 1687 and the subsequent looting of its art objects.<ref name="Bowie"/>

===Partial destruction===
[[File:MotarFragmentFromParthenon-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Fragment of an exploded shell found on top of a wall in the Parthenon, thought to originate from the time of the Venetian siege]]
As part of the [[Morean War|Morean War (1684–1699)]], the [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]] sent an expedition led by [[Francesco Morosini]] to [[Siege of the Acropolis (1687)|attack Athens]] and capture the Acropolis. The Ottomans fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as a [[gunpowder magazine]] – despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]] – and as a shelter for members of the local Turkish community.<ref name="Tomkinson2">{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Venetian Athens: Venetian Interlude (1684–1689) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=217 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221546/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=217 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 26 September 1687 a Venetian mortar round, fired from the [[Philopappos Monument|Hill of Philopappos]], blew up the magazine.<ref name="AcropolisRestoration" /><ref>Theodor E. Mommsen, ''The Venetians in Athens and the Destruction of the Parthenon in 1687'', American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 45, No. 4 (October–December 1941), pp. 544–556.</ref> The explosion blew out the building's central portion and caused the cella's walls to crumble into rubble.<ref name="Rathus" /> According to Greek architect and archaeologist Kornilia Chatziaslani:<ref name="Chatziaslani" />

{{Blockquote|text=...three of the sanctuary's four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs, and metopes.}}

About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over nearby Turkish defenders<ref name="Tomkinson2" /> and sparked fires that destroyed many homes.<ref name="Chatziaslani" />

[[File:Parthenon (3388138127).jpg|thumb|The southern side of the Parthenon, which sustained considerable damage in the 1687 explosion (photo taken in 2009)|upright=1.2]]
Accounts written at the time conflict over whether this destruction was deliberate or accidental; one such account, written by the German officer Sobievolski, states that a Turkish deserter revealed to Morosini the use to which the Turks had put the Parthenon; expecting that the Venetians would not target a building of such historic importance. Morosini was said to have responded by directing his artillery to aim at the Parthenon.<ref name="Chatziaslani" /><ref name="Tomkinson2" /> Subsequently, Morosini sought to loot sculptures from the ruin and caused further damage in the process. Sculptures of [[Poseidon]] and Athena's horses fell to the ground and smashed as his soldiers tried to detach them from the building's west pediment.<ref name="Hurwit293" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Palagia |first=Olga |title=The Pediments of the Parthenon |edition=2 |publisher=Brill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA10 |isbn=978-90-04-11198-1 |year=1998 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093213/https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1688 the Venetians abandoned Athens to avoid a confrontation with a large force the Turks had assembled at [[Chalcis]]; at that time, the Venetians had considered blowing up what remained of the Parthenon along with the rest of the Acropolis to deny its further use as a fortification to the Turks, but that idea was not pursued.<ref name="Tomkinson2" />

Once the Turks had recaptured the Acropolis, they used some of the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon.<ref name="Tomkinson3">{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Ottoman Athens II: Later Ottoman Athens (1689–1821) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=218 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=6 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806130324/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=218&la=eng |url-status=live }}</ref> For the next century and a half, parts of the remaining structure were looted for building material and especially valuable objects.<ref name="Grafton">{{cite book |last1=Grafton |first1=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&pg=PA693 |title=The Classical Tradition |last2=Most |first2=Glenn W. |last3=Settis |first3=Salvatore |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-674-03572-0 |page=693 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093157/https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&pg=PA693#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=28 June 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The 18th century was a period of [[Sick man of Europe|Ottoman stagnation]]—so that many more Europeans found access to Athens, and the picturesque ruins of the Parthenon were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise in [[philhellenism]] and helping to arouse sympathy in Britain and France for Greek independence. Amongst those early travellers and archaeologists were [[James Stuart (1713–1788)|James Stuart]] and [[Nicholas Revett]], who were commissioned by the [[Society of Dilettanti]] to survey the ruins of classical Athens. They produced the first measured drawings of the Parthenon, published in 1787 in the second volume of ''Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated''.

From 1801 to 1812, agents of [[Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin]], removed about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures, sending them to Britain in efforts to establish a private museum. Elgin stated he removed the sculptures with permission of the Ottoman officials who exercised authority in Athens at the time.<ref name=":8">{{cite book |last=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the Earl of Elgin's Collection of Sculptured Marbles. |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008272383 |title=Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Earl of Elgin's collection of sculptured marbles |date=1816 |publisher=Printed for J. Murray, by W. Bulmer and Co. |place=London}}</ref> The legality of Elgin's actions has been disputed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Alexander |author-link= |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/parthenon-marbles-dispute-9781509967179/ |title=The Parthenon Marbles Dispute |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1509967179 |edition= |place=London |pages=1–3}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

=== War of Independence ===
During the [[Greek War of Independence]] (1821–1833) which ended the 355-year Ottoman rule of Athens, the Acropolis was besieged twice, first [[Siege of the Acropolis (1821–22)|by the Greeks]] in 1821–22 and then [[Siege of the Acropolis (1826–27)|by the Ottoman forces]] in 1826–27. During the first siege, the besieged Ottoman forces attempted to melt the lead in the columns of the Parthenon to cast bullets. During the second siege, the Parthenon was significantly damaged by Ottoman artillery fire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Alexander |url= |title=The Parthenon Marbles Dispute |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1509967179 |edition= |place=London |pages=66}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eldem |first=Edhem |title=Scramble for the Past. A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914 |date=2011 |publisher=Istanbul, SALT |isbn= |editor-last1=Barani |editor-first1=Zainab |pages=281–328 |chapter=From Blissful Indifference to Anguished Concern: Ottoman Perceptions of Antiquities, 1799–1869 |editor-last2=Celik |editor-first2=Zeynep |editor-last3=Eldem |editor-first3=Edhem}}</ref>

===Independent Greece===
When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished; only its base and spiral staircase up to the level of the [[architrave]] remain intact.<ref>{{cite book |last=Murray |first=John |title=Handbook for travellers in Greece, Volume 2 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1884 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ac4GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA317 |page=317}}</ref> Soon all the medieval and Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed. The image of the small mosque within the Parthenon's cella has been preserved in [[Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière|Joly de Lotbinière]]'s photograph, published in Lerebours's ''Excursions Daguerriennes'' in 1842: the first photograph of the Acropolis.<ref>Neils, ''The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present'', p. 336 – the picture was taken in October 1839.</ref> The area became a historical precinct controlled by the Greek government. In the later 19th century, the Parthenon was widely considered by Americans and Europeans to be the pinnacle of human architectural achievement, and became a popular destination and subject of artists, including [[Frederic Edwin Church]] and [[Sanford Robinson Gifford]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carr |first=Gerald L. |title=Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonne of Works at Olana State Historic Site, Volume I |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0521385404 |location=Cambridge, England |pages=342–343}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: Ruins of the Parthenon |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.121547.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728071050/https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.121547.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 July 2020 |website=National Gallery of Art |access-date=28 May 2020}}</ref> Today it attracts millions of tourists every year, who travel up the path at the western end of the Acropolis, through the restored [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]], and up the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon, which is surrounded by a low fence to prevent damage.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}
[[File:Flickr - Nic's events - London - 14-15 Dec 2007 - 067.jpg|thumb|Life-size pediment sculptures from the Parthenon in the British Museum]]

===Dispute over the marbles===
{{Main|Elgin Marbles}}
The dispute centres around those of the Parthenon Marbles removed by Elgin, which are in the [[British Museum]].<ref name=":1" /> A few sculptures from the Parthenon are also in the [[Louvre]] in Paris, in [[Copenhagen]], and elsewhere, while more than half are in the [[Acropolis Museum]] in Athens.<ref name="Br" /><ref name="BrIT">[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Acropolis_Museum.php Greek Premier Says New Acropolis Museum to Boost Bid for Parthenon Sculptures], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221053500/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Acropolis_Museum.php|date=21 February 2007}}, International Herald Tribune.</ref> A few can still be seen on the building itself.  In 1983, the [[Greek government]] formally asked the UK government to return the sculptures in the British Museum to Greece, and subsequently listed the dispute with [[UNESCO]]. The British Museum has consistently refused to return the sculptures,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Parthenon sculptures: The Trustees' statement |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/parthenon-sculptures-trustees-statement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122014500/https://www.britishmuseum.org/parthenon-sculptures-trustees-statement |archive-date=22 November 2019 |access-date=24 January 2020 |publisher=The British Museum}}</ref> and successive British governments have been unwilling to force the museum to do so (which would require legislation). In 2021, UNESCO called upon the UK government to resolve the issue at the intergovernmental level.<ref name=":202">{{Cite web |date=September 2021 |title=Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation Twenty-Second SessionParis, UNESCO Headquarters, Room XI27-29 September 2021DECISIONS |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379856/PDF/379856eng.pdf.multi |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=UNESCO}}</ref> Discussions between UK and Greek officials are ongoing.<ref name=":172">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Helena |date=3 December 2022 |title=Greece in 'preliminary' talks with British Museum about Parthenon marbles |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/03/greece-in-preliminary-talks-with-british-museum-about-parthenon-marbles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208001447/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/03/greece-in-preliminary-talks-with-british-museum-about-parthenon-marbles |archive-date=8 December 2023 |access-date=4 December 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name=":212">{{cite news |date=4 January 2023 |title=British Museum says in 'constructive' discussions over Parthenon marbles |url=https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/british-museum-says-constructive-discussions-over-parthenon-marbles-2023-01-04/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201112458/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/british-museum-says-constructive-discussions-over-parthenon-marbles-2023-01-04/ |archive-date=1 December 2023 |access-date=10 July 2024 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref>

Four pieces of the sculptures have been repatriated to Greece: 3 from the Vatican, and 1 from a museum in Sicily.<ref>{{Cite web |agency=Associated Press |date=16 December 2022 |title=Pope returns Greece's Parthenon Sculptures in ecumenical nod |url=https://ictnews.org/outside/pope-returns-greeces-parthenon-sculptures-in-ecumenical-nod |access-date=10 July 2023 |website=ICT News |language=en |archive-date=10 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710201544/https://ictnews.org/outside/pope-returns-greeces-parthenon-sculptures-in-ecumenical-nod |url-status=live }}</ref>