Greek culture minister outraged by fashion show in British Museum featuring sculptures
Published on: Sunday, February 18, 2024
By: Bernama
Erdem unveiled an Autumn/Winter 2024 line at London Fashion Week. - Getty Images
ATHENS: Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, said on Sunday that the fashion demonstration in front of the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum is an insult to the masterpieces of ancient Greek sculptor and architect Phidias.
British designer Erdem Moralıoglu presented his collection, inspired by renowned American-born Greek opera singer Maria Callas and her iconic 1953 performance as Medea at Milan's Scala theatre, in front of the Parthenon sculptures as part of London Fashion Week.
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"The British Museum once again demonstrated its disrespect for the masterpieces of Phidias by organising a fashion show in the halls with the sculptures of Parthenon on display. The heads of the British Museum humiliate and insult not only the monument, but also the universal values that it embodies. The conditions for exhibiting and storing sculptures in the Duveen Gallery are constantly deteriorating," the minister said in a statement seen by Sputnik.
Mendoni noted that the time has come for the "stolen and abused masterpieces of sculptures to shine in the light of Attica".
The British envoy to Constantinople from 1799 to 1803, Lord Elgin, imported to his homeland many ancient Greek artworks that were later purchased by the British Museum. The collection includes the pediment statues and metopes of the Athenian Parthenon, the caryatid of the Erechtheion, the statue of Dionysus and other unique works.
Greece has said that there was no authorisation to export the sculptures and is seeking the return of the illegally exported works of art. The UK has stated that the sculptures were legally acquired by Lord Elgin and that the British Museum is now their rightful owner.
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