The so-called ‘Rampin Horseman’ is a marble male head from a fragmentary statuary group dating to the Archaic Period found in the Acropolis of Athens. The group is thought to have been formed by a pair of horsemen. The fragments were discovered in a ditch containing statues made into pieces during the Persian sack of Athens in 480 BC.
The identity of the ‘Rampin Horseman’ is uncertain: it could represent a hero, an Athenian aristocrat or, if he had won his crown of leaves during one of the Pan-Hellenic Games, a glorious athlete. Parts of the equestrian group are in the New Acropolis Museum of Athens, while the male head is the the Louvre Museum of Paris.
A Caryatid (‘maiden of Karyai’, an ancient town in Peloponnese) is an architectural element in form of female statue whose function is to support on its head an entablature (superstructure of mouldings and bands).
On the Acropolis of Athens, 6 marble Caryatids formed the southern porch of the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erechthonios. None of the Caryatids went destroyed or lost; today 5 of them are in the New Acropolis Museum of Athens and 1, which stood second from the left on the front of the porch, is in the British Museum of London.
A frieze ran all along the four side of temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis. It was 25.94 metres long and formed by 14 marble blocks. The frieze depicts on the eastern side an assembly of Olympian Gods and on the other three sides idealised scenes from historic battles, such as the Battle of Plataea (the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in 479 BC).
A whole block and parts of others were lost, so the reconstruction of some parts of the frieze is uncertain.
Four blocks, two from the southern side and two from the western, are in the British Museum of London.
The metopes are individual sculptures in high relief. The Parthenon was decorated by 92 metopes, 32 on each long side and 14 on each short. Each metope was separated from the next one by a small grooved slab called trygliph.
The metopes, placed above the external row of columns, represented several mythical battles: episodes of the Trojan War on the north side, the Struggle between Lapiths and Centaurs (half-men, half-horses) on the south, the Gigantomachy (fight between gods and giants) on the east and the Amazonomachy (battle between Greeks and Amazons) on the west.
Of the 64 metopes preserved 48 are in the New Acropolis Museum of Athens, 15 in the British Museum of London and 1 with fragments of others in the Louvre Museum of Paris. Further fragments of Metopes are also in the Vatican Museums of Rome and 1 (a head) is at the University of Würzburg.
A pediment (triangular gable) formed by all-round marble statues crowned each of the two short sides of the Parthenon. The eastern pediment represents the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, while the western depicts the contest between Athena and Poseidon over the patronage of Attica, Athens region.
Of the 28 statues preserved, 9 are in the New Acropolis Museum of Athens and 19 in the British Museum of London. A head from the pediments is in the Louvre Museum in Paris; some other fragments are in the Vatican Museums of Rome.
Submitted by Brian Dolan on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 17:16
Thirty years in the making, the €130 million euro New Acropolis Museum is a stunning, if controversial, addition to Athen's famous architectural landscape and at the same time a provocative statement of intent by the Greek people. In a fascinating talk in Dublin last night, Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of the new museum took an enthralled audience on a tour of the history, architecture and intentions of the spectacular building.
Prof. Dimitrios Pandermalis is a Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and the President of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens. He is also the supervisor of the Archaeological site of Dion, Pieria.
Pandermalis has led research at Dion - an important site at the foot of Mount Olympus where Zeus was honoured by the ancient Greeks - since 1973, and overseen its extensive excavation and transformation into a large archaeological museum and environmental park. Since becoming a professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1979, he has additionally served as President of the History and Archaeology Department and as Dean of the Philosophical School.
He has lectured and given presentations on classical archaeology all over the world. From September 1996 to March 2000 Pandermalis served as a National Member of the Greek Parliament. After leaving the Greek Parliament in May 2000, he was appointed President of the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum, and oversaw the building project between 2003 and the official opening of the museum in June 2009. Pandermalis then became the New Acropolis Museum's first President.
Tonight at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Director of the New Acropolis Museum Dimitrios Pandermalis will hold a what promises to be a fascinating lecture. 'Collections present and absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens' will no doubt touch on the 'missing marbles', the Parthenon Friezes currently held in the British Museum. Will Pandermalis launch another call for their return? Brian Dolan will be there to find out for Heritage Key. (update: the lecture) The lecture is organised by the IMA - Irish Museums Association - and will start at 18h30.
The New Acropolis Museum is arguably the most high-profile building to go up this decade (since we in New York are still peering into a big hole in the ground that is supposed to produce a new World Trade Centre). Essentially a smack in the face of the British Museum's argument that Athens has no suitable venue in which to house the Elgin Marbles, it's also the most controversial. I spoke to Bernard Tschumi, the outspoken architect who designed this extraordinary building.
Highlighted Quote:
“I am absolutely convinced the marbles are going to come back, but don’t ask me when, because it maybe needs a rethinking of what is a museum in the twenty-first century."
Tonight at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Director of the New Acropolis Museum 
