Foreshortened, telephoto view of horsemen of the Parthenon Marbles made between 447BC and 432BC. The 'Elgin Marbles' are a collection of stone sculptures and inscriptions more properly known as the Parthenon Sculptures, acquired by Lord Elgin in Athens, Greece between 1801 and 1805 and today lives in London's British Museum. Greece has disputed the British Museum's ownership of the sculptures, maintaining that Lord Elgin removed them illegally while the country was under Turkish occupation as part of the Ottoman Empire. Lord Elgin was ambassador to the Ottoman court of the Sultan in Istanbul in the early 19th century. British Museum.