In the Acropolis Museum, the Turkish firman to Lord Byron that refutes the Elgin arguments about the Sculptures

A symbolic exhibition that talks about the grabbing of the Parthenon sculptures by Elgin is presented from Friday at the Acropolis Museum.

To mark the 200th anniversary of Lord Byron’s death, the Acropolis Museum is commemorating him with a small, symbolic exhibition relating to Lord Elgin’s seizure of the Parthenon’s architectural sculptures.

Lord Byron’s last words before he died are said to have been about Greece: “…I gave her time (time) my health, my presence and now I give her my life. What more could I do??”.

And yet, as the small presentation in the ground floor foyer of the Acropolis Museum reveals, Byron left behind something unexpected, which contributes eloquently and powerfully to the argument for the return and reunification of the Parthenon’s architectural sculptures.

Byron’s firman-passport in the Acropolis museum

This is Byron’s passport, a real sultan’s firman, which allowed him to travel to the territories of the Ottoman Empire.

Byron’s firman-passport offers yet another opportunity to discuss and refute the argument of the alleged existence of Elgin’s “firman”, which supposedly allowed him to remove the Parthenon sculptures.

In addition to the firman, visitors to the Museum will have the opportunity to see the Exodus of Messolonghi (1827) which inspired many painters, such as the signer Louis Joseph Toussaint Rossignon.

The short report and accompanying publication comprise three sections:

a) a selection of memorialized images of travelers from the Acropolis and the Parthenon (Carrey, Dodwell, Fauvel, Pars, etc.), before Lord Byron and the looting of the monument by Elgin to the establishment of the Neo-Hellenic state and the establishment of archaeological site of the Acropolis in 1834, as can be seen in the video of the exhibition,

b) brief biographical note and excerpts from Byron’s poems ‘The Curse of Athena’ and ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’, which refer to Elgin’s barbarous detachment and destruction of the Parthenon’s architectural sculptures and their treacherous seizure and removal then and

c) Byron’s original passport, a surprising real official sultanic document exhibited for the first time in the Museum, on the occasion of which the argument for the return and reunification of the Parthenon sculptures is being discussed anew.

The exhibition “Parthenon and Byron. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Byron” will be opened for the visitors of the Acropolis Museum on Friday, April 26. No ticket is required to enter the ground floor foyer of the Museum. The bilingual edition (Greek-English) will be available at the Museum Shop from Monday, April 29, 2024.