The so-called, ‘Elgin’ Marbles, now known as The Parthenon Marbles, is a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures removed by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, from the Parthenon and other buildings located at the Acropolis.

Lord Elgin served as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and during his tenure claimed to have obtained authority from the Ottoman Empire which subjugated Greece to remove several of the choicest pieces that were later sold to the British Government and housed and displayed at the British Museum since 1816. The movement to repatriate The Marbles back to their home in Greece is growing thanks to the efforts of a host of advocates joining the chorus for England to do the right thing.

Two iconic memorials synonymous with democracy are The Parthenon and Washington Monument in Washington, DC. Unknown to many is the fact that a marble block from the Parthenon has been part of the Washington Monument since 1858! The Washington Monument was designed in the 1830s by renowned South Carolina architect and cartographer Robert Mills.

Robert Mills studied architecture under the tutelage of Irish architect James Hoban and later collaborated with him on the design of the White House and other neoclassical and Greek Revival masterpieces. These include the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Patent Office Building, the National Portrait Gallery, and the General Post Office Building, all of which incorporated Mills’ unique federal style.

Mills’ original design for the monument honoring America’s first president, George Washington, was quite different from the final structure. He envisioned a large 500-foot Egyptian-style obelisk mounted atop a 100-foot-high Greek temple with a diameter of 250 feet, designated as the National Pantheon. Above the temple entrance, a 30-foot sculpture of Washington clad in a Roman toga, sitting on an ancient Greek chariot, would welcome visitors.

However, the simpler obelisk design was selected six years after the original cornerstone was laid in 1848. Political quarrels and the looming Civil War interrupted the construction for 25 years, resuming only in 1879.

Massachusetts clergyman, missionary, and United States Consular Agent Rev. Jonas King, along with his Greek-born wife Anna Aspasia Mengous, helped coordinate a response to the Washington National Monument Society’s invitation to foreign sovereigns that admired George Washington’s character and the principles President Washington stood for. They were given the opportunity to contribute stone blocks engraved with their respective sentiments. Greek Minister of Internal and Foreign Affairs Pericles Argyropoulos, under then-King Otto, relayed Greece’s willingness to send a suitable stone for the monument. Minister Argyropoulos stated: “As a proof of the gratitude of the nation towards the United States, we order that this stone, with the advice of the Superintendent of Antiquities, be taken from the ancient ruins of the Parthenon.”

In 1855, a Pentelic marble slab, believed to have been part of the Marbles dislodged by Lord Elgin’s minions from a high position in the Parthenon, was eventually added to the Washington Monument at the 190-foot mark. The marble slab, measuring 30 by 45 inches, reads: “TO GEORGE WASHINGTON THE HERO, GENERAL, CITIZEN, FOUNDER OF A NEW AND ILLUSTRIOUS LIBERTY: THE LAND OF SOLON, THEMISTOCLES, AND PERICLES, THE MOTHER OF ANCIENT LIBERTY, SENDS THIS ANCIENT STONE, AS A TESTIMONY OF HONOR AND ADMIRATION FROM THE PARTHENON.”

The Governor and Commune of the Islands of Paros and Naxos also sent along their sentiments and tribute to George Washington with a commemorative marble plaque in 1855 which was later installed in 1858. Paros and Naxos assimilated into the newly independent Kingdom of Greece under the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832. Parian marble was exported since the 6th century BC and used by renown sculptors which included Praxiteles.

Visitors to Washington, DC, can view this testimonial symbol from the Greek people paying homage to a man and nation espousing ancient Greece’s ideals and values which stand as guiding universal principles for us today. This contrasting tribute of the American Marbles accentuates the nexus and bond that ties Greece, the United States and freedom loving people everywhere.

Arthur Dimopoulos serves as the Executive Director of the National Hellenic Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, disseminating, and celebrating Hellenic heritage in America. The National Hellenic Society is co-sponsoring the upcoming documentary film ‘The Marbles’ by filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson, which advocates for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.