A robot-made perfect replica of the Selene stallion from the Parthenon Sculptures housed in the British Museum has gone on display on Tuesday in the Freud Museum in London, reports The National News making even more obvious the case for the return of the originals to Greece.
Freud Museum Director Roger Michel told The National the replicas were made to “support” ongoing discussions around the objects’ repatriation and added he felt “confident” a deal would be concluded soon.
“The British Museum is an educating institution and has always said it wanted to show the art of antiquity in context. What we can offer them is a better reflection of the reality of the history, meanwhile Greeks will get their precious objects that are a part of their national patrimony back.”
Mr Michel said he expected a deal on the return of the 2,500-year-old friezes to be implemented before the next Greek elections in 2023.
“I can’t reveal all the details, but a very sensible deal has been worked out and there is a fast and furious timetable for their conclusion,” said Roger Michel of the reported negotiations between the chairman of the British Museum, George Osborne, and the Greek ambassador to the UK, Ioannis Raptakis.
As previously reported by Greek City Times, a £250,000 robotic sculptor armed with metal chisels has reportedly recreated one of the Parthenon Sculptures in the Robotor workshop in Carrara, Tuscany, Italy.
Researchers from the Oxford-based Institute of Digital Archaeology have incorporated technology into the latest iPads to scan the original statues in the British Museum for the robot to copy.
The team behind the technology sculptured a horse’s head, known as Selene’s Stallion, which, 2,500 years ago, adorned the facade of the Parthenon in Athens.
