The Art of the Parthenon, Lord Elgin and the New Acropolis Museum, Athens

In this highly visual presentation, Kevin O'Toole will conduct an exploration of the art of the Parthenon: the architecture and the sculptural art (the pediments, the metopes, and the frieze).

The Parthenon and its art will be put into their historical context and followed through the ages to the present day. In the journey the story of Lord Elgin and its ramifications will be reviewed including the stimulus that the display of the Parthenon marbles in Britain has given to the arts there. The Parthenon as an iconic building will be considered.

The capacity of ongoing studies of the Parthenon to generate new insights will also be considered letting the Parthenon be seen as a living monument. The new Acropolis Museum under construction in Athens will be introduced along with the hopes the Museum will carry for the preservation in our memory of the stunning cultural phenomenon, the Age of Classical Athens that the Parthenon in so many ways represents.

Finally, it will be proposed that the art of the Parthenon has a unique claim to be seen as far as possible in its original whole as much for what it represents as for what it is.

Speaker: Kevin O'Toole (B.Ec. Dip.Ed. B.Sc. LL.B) Barrister and Solicitor Supreme Courts of Victoria and Western Australia Barrister and Solicitor, Perth Director, Australian Institute of Comparative Legal Systems Member, Board of Directors, European Centre for Public Law, Athens, Greece