Alexandros Mantis, a Greek expert on the ancient Acropolis temples, also points out that the frieze, which ran around the exterior of the Parthenon, is arranged in London around the interior of a gallery, which is architecturally and aesthetically wrong.

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"We want to engage people who come by when the gallery is closed, who are on the wrong side of the glass, " Mr. Olivier said.

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And even sophisticated collectors get it wrong, as the clients of Salander-O'Reilly, a New York art gallery, discovered.

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