How Much Would It Cost to Build a New Parthenon Today? Spoiler: A Mind-Boggling Amount

How Much Would It Cost to Build a New Parthenon Today? Spoiler: A Mind-Boggling Amount

Imagine this: rebuilding the Parthenon from scratch, using the same materials and techniques as the ancient Athenians. What would it take—financially and logistically—to recreate one of the greatest architectural feats of classical antiquity? The answer might surprise you.The original Parthenon was constructed between 447 and 438 BC, at a time when Athens was a flourishing center of art, philosophy, and democracy. The project was a massive under…

Pieces of the Parthenon

I made my last road trip out of Washington DC today, a couple of hours into Pennsylvania, to Dickinson College, a venerable liberal arts college. With friends from the National Gallery, I went on the hunt for documents referring to Jesse Elliott, the commander of the USS Constitution in the early nineteenth century. I have become interested in Elliott because he bought two Roman sarcophagi in Lebanon, one of which he tried to persuade President …