The belief that the Parthenon is the most important building in the world, the most perfect structure ever to have been erected, is deeply rooted in contemporary thought. Yet as an ideological, artistic and architectural model, the Parthenon is a relatively recent discovery. Before detailed depictions of it were published in the late eighteenth century, and even more so before the removal of the Elgin Marbles to London, the monument was effectively unknown. Its simultaneous elevation to the status of the ultimate monument of antiquity and the supreme model for the contemporary world had a profound effect on artistic and architectural creative activity in recent times and, in conjunction with the liberation of Greece, turned out to be the starting-point for a long series of restoration projects and studies. (. . .)

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