ATHENS, GREECE—ArtNet News reports that the pediment on top of the Parthenon’s western facade has been restored, and the scaffolding removed, after eight years of work. “Today we are talking about the completion of an extremely demanding restoration intervention, thanks to which the west pediment of the Parthenon is being presented in its fullest form in some 220 years,” said Lina Mendoni, Greece’s Culture Minister. “The sight is truly breathtaking,” she added. Dedicated to Athena in the fifth century B.C., the Parthenon was used as a treasury, a Christian church, a mosque, and was damaged by a bomb in the seventeenth century. Many of its sculptures were removed from Greece in the nineteenth century. Restoration efforts in the twentieth century have focused on repairing past damage, including that caused by previous restoration work. One slab added to the western pediment is made up of two ancient stone fragments mended with marble recently quarried from Mount Pentelicus. A second large slab of Pentelic marble was used to complete the pediment. For more on the Parthenon, go to "The Acropolis of Athens."
