News Year 10 Classics students visit the British Museum 04.03.2024

Last week our Year 10 Classical Civilisation students visited the British Museum to see the Parthenon sculptures and the frieze from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae. The students have studied these as part of their GCSE prescribed material, so it was a fantastic opportunity to appreciate the finer details in the actual marble.

They started in the Parthenon Galleries, where students worked in small groups to create short presentations on different elements of the sculptures. They enjoyed the realism of the centaurs’ bodies and the composition of the metopes, they appreciated the challenges of reconstructing the pediments from fragmentary remains, and they spent a long time considering the contrast created between the high and low relief in the Panathenaic procession on the frieze. Students then paid a visit to the Temple of Apollo in order to admire the frieze of the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons. This intimate gallery really helps to bring to life the experience that the Ancients would have originally had of viewing the sculptures in the gloom of oil lamps.

An enjoyable and educational afternoon was had by everyone, and we are looking forward to sharing the students’ presentations with each other in class this week.