On 26 September 1687
the Parthenon was bombarded.
The damage to the previously perfectly preserved
monument and its sculptural decoration
was incalculable. In the late 18th
century, Thomas Hope portrayed the
sacred rock as it had been before the
demolition of the Frankish
fortifications, and before it was
virtually drowned by the rising tide of
the modern city. In the West, the heritage
of ancient Greece survived and flourished.
In the 18th century and early 19th century,
 the European engagement
with Greek antiquity led to a new
appreciation of ancient Greek art and
architecture, as is evident from the
countless works with Greek subjects
created by foreign painters and
travellers touring the Greek lands.
This was also the time of the first
archaeological recordings of authentic
Greek monuments. Unfortunately, the interest
in ancient Greek aesthetics generated in
the European public rapidly resulted in
the spoliation of ancient monuments by
treasure hunters seeking the riches
hidden in the Greek soil.
At the same time, the spiritual landscape of Greece
moved the Romantic artists to immortalize
and recreate it in images of melancholy reverie.
This rediscovery of Greece by
European travellers not only left a
priceless legacy in their records of the
Greek landscape but was also largely
responsible for the growing currents of
Philhellenism.
