Blowing up the Parthenon: the power of a symbol

The Parthenon is one of the most famous and recognisable buildings in the world.

• Bronwen Neil
• The Conversation

Designed as a testimony to Athenian greatness, visible miles from the Acropolis (the citadel) on which it stands, the Parthenon still stands proudly among the remains of a massive complex of buildings that celebrated Athens’s deities.

It is a witness to the lasting legacy of the ancient Greeks and their architectural ingenuity.

But it is also a very good reminder of the fragility of Western power.

It has been seen as central to the history of Western civilisation, a…

• Blowing up the…