The Cultural Committee of the Greek Orthodox Community of St George, Brisbane

Invite you to attend an illustrated lecture

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

Presented by

Kevin O’Toole

(B.Ec. Dip.Ed. B.Sc. LL.B. Barrister and Solicitor High Court of Australia and Supreme Courts of Victoria and Western Australia)

When: Monday 31st July 2006

Where: The Greek Club and Convention Centre, Edmondstone Street, South Brisbane

Time: 7.30 pm

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 process 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 will be revealed not only as an iconic building but also as a living monument in its capacity from ongoing studies of its sculptural art and its architecture to generate new insights and in its capacity to excite international interest.

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 and that the new Acropolis Museum presents a valid opportunity to revisit the many decades old controversy of where the marbles held in Britain, France and elsewhere out of Athens, truly belong.

For further details please ring

Mr John Bellas (0422 90 23 48) or
Mr Tom Drakopoulos (0407 75 87 30)