Elgin Marbles

Or, to give them their less contentious name, the Parthenon Sculptures.

After the fantastic night as guests of the YCN and Marriott Hotels last night it was another packed day in London today. We were up early for breakfast then out by 9-ish as Emils, one of the students designed an identity and packaging for Goji as his YCN brief and, along with another student from elsewhere in the country it was chosen to be put into production and has gone on sale country wide at branches of Currys and PC World. Goji asked him and his fellow student to be at the Currys on Tottenham Court Road this morning for a photo-shoot by the point of sale, which is not only set up to fit in with both students designs but includes photos and bios of them. Alex and I headed up with him for the start then left him to it.

From there we headed down to the V&A to catch the Memory Palace exhibition. It really was very good, I’ll not say too much about it but if you’re in London it’s well worth a look. Plus, there’s a bit at the end with screens and styli to draw and write on, Anything you save goes straight up onto a digital screen and is printed at a later point and put on the wall, so we can both lay claim to having work on display in the V&A now…..

After that we had just enough time to nip into Ottolenghi for a quick salad box to eat in the square before Alex had to go back to the hotel and grab his stuff and meet the majority of the students to head back for the 2pm train. Due to a bit of miscommunication about times Emils was booked on the 7pm train and I opted to get that one with him.

That meant I was able to go and get some decent coffee then have a couple of hours in the British Museum before grabbing a bit more food and heading for the train.

I haven’t been in the British Museum since I was very young. What an amazing place. I love the roof on the main courtyard. I chose this photo though as the Parthenon section was probably the one I spent most time in.

I have mixed feelings about it though. On the one hand it was great to get a chance to see it up close, but on the other I do kind of think it’s being there is the epitome of imperialism and it should probably go back to Greece. I know when Elgin plundered rescued it much of it was damaged and more was getting destroyed all the time so he probably saved it for posterity, however it would be one thing if the Greek government had given him permission instead of the occupying Ottoman empire.