Francesco Morosini - Destruction of The Parthenon

Destruction of The Parthenon

During the siege of Athens in 1687, his artillery turned the Parthenon from a functioning building to a simple ruin, and he personally oversaw the looting of some of the surviving sculptures. The Parthenon was used as a powder magazine by the Ottomans when on September 26, 1687 Morosini's cannons scored a direct hit on the edifice. An attache of the Swedish field commander General Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck wrote later: "How it dismayed His Excellency to destroy the beautiful temple which had existed three thousand years!". By contrast Morosini, who was the commander in chief of the operation, described it in his report to the Venetian government as a "fortunate shot". Not satisfied with the destruction he had wrought so far, Morosini tried to loot Athena's horses but the attempt resulted in the works being smashed to bits on the rock below. The Ottoman Empire regained possession of the monument in the following year and having noticed the demand began to sell souvenirs to Westerners.