Ancient Greece in an exhibition, as conceived by 19th and 20th century French architects

Drawings of Greek monuments by French architects belonging to ENSBA the French school of fine arts in the years 1845-1937 were recently exhibited in Athens. The “First Grand Prize” (Prix de Rome), led the most qualified students of the French school to the Prix de Rome expeditions. Scholars who qualified for these expeditions stayed at the Medici villa for four years and studied one Italian monument each year drawing up plans and reconstructing the monuments on paper, making detailed blueprints of each monument. The only obstacle that stood in the way of the Greek expedition was the spirit of Romanticism leading the young men East as in the case of Delacroix. The expedition was finally approved on the 15th January of 1845.The young architects stayed at the French School of Archaeology in Athens which was founded on the 11th of September 1846.