The story of the Parthenon of Athens is a very tragic one! It was built over 2500 years ago as a temple dedicated to the Greek Goddess Athena. When Greece came under the occupation of Britishers this beautiful temple was converted to the Church of the Virgin Mary of the Athens. After that when Muslims invaded Greece this temple was again converted to a Mosque!
The first major loss to this temple was when it was converted to a church. Then when it was converted to a mosque. Finally, when the city was under siege by the Venetians in 1687, the Parthenon itself was used as a gunpowder store! During that time a huge explosion blew the roof off and destroyed a large portion of the remaining sculptures. By 1800 only about half of the original sculptural decoration remained! The building has been a ruin ever since.
Even after that the Britishers did not want to leave this temple in peace! Between 1801 and 1805 Lord Elgin was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Under the pretext of taking casts and making drawings of the Parthenon marbles Elgin removed them from the temple and transported them all to England! Almost 25% of the remaining 50% were taken by Elgin. That is how Parthenon marbles reached the shores of England. Eventually Elgin sold these marbles to the British Government and finally they all ended up in the British Museum.
