Greek Museum has Home for Elgin Marbles
Saturday May 16, 2009
A new £115 million museum in Athens is causing controversy because it has a space for the Elgin Marbles, which are currently, some might say stubbornly, being held by the British Museum. The marbles in question resided at the Parthenon in Greece until 1801, when a 160 metre strip of marble was removed by British Lord Elgin. He sold them to the British Museum in 1816, and there they have been kept ever since, despite requests from Greece for their national heritage to be returned. The new Acropolis Museum is very close to the Parthenon, and is apparently a marvellously designed structure complete with a glass floor to see an archaeological dig going on beneath.
The ‘space’ is part of an upper gallery which reproduces the dimensions of the Parthenon and which currently houses the 36 Parthenon panels Greece does have alongside replicas in a different colour. The Elgin marbles would simply be added into the corresponding spots. The official British Museum position is that their constitution bars them from handing back any treasures; doing so would, in practice, open the museum up to a host of claims. The Telegraph has a picture and quotes from some of the people involved.
Comments
They should be returned to Greece. The Britons believe they still reign on the British Empire, maybe … But Greece was never part of it – correct?
THE PARTHENON MARBLES ARE A TRUE AND VERY IMPORTANT PART OF OUR HISTORY…! SO,THEY MUST THE SOONER BE RETURNED HOME… TO GREECE!!! GOOD FOR YOU SYLVAIN… GREEKS LOVE YOU!
The museum bought the marbles from Lord Elgin, who in turn had paid the then legal rulers of Greece (even if they were Turks) for them. I suggest the Greeks ask the Turks to refund the purchase price, as a starting point…
ANSWERING TO ANNI`S COMMENT I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT BRITISH PEOPLE AS COLONIALISTS THEY HAVE A LOT TO PAY AND IN MANY WAYS TO THE NATIONS THEY HAVE HAD ESTABLISHED THEIR COLONIES… AND… GREEK PEOPLE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH THIEVES AND BARBARIANS…!!!