Clare Flynn, "Pondering about the Parthenon"

Clare Flynn, sister of a blogging brother has a blog post of her own which is worth a look: "Pondering about the Parthenon" (25th January 2013):

I also felt ambivalent about everything else I saw in today’s brief visit. It all felt a bit too vainglorious. Maybe I find the concept of the universal museum a difficult one to swallow. It feels too diluted, diverse, unfocused, worthy and reminiscent of school trips and the days of the unchallenged hegemony of Pax Britannica. I've never been to the New Acropolis Museum – it was not yet open last time I was in Athens so I can't make a comparison. I did however spend a very happy afternoon wandering awe-struck around the National Archeological Museum there, gaping at the beauty of the sculptures. It's completely dedicated to Greek classical civilization and just makes so much more contextual sense. I am not sure that looking at the Rosetta Stone a few minutes before examining the Greek marbles does anything to increase my enlightenment or understanding of either. But then I'm just a punter not a scholar.

But then is it not the aim of the men in Bloomsbury to interact with those punters?