So much more to be gained than lost, what is needed is a moral compass and a vision of 21st century cultural cooperation for museums that embraces truthful storytelling and cultural mobility.
I've long thought,since I was a child that these marbles belong in Athens. They were built for the Parthenon and there they should return. Elgin's act was theft pure and simple. Don't expect Osborne to make the right decision the case to do so is way beyond his limited intelligence.
Christopher Hitchens compact analysis of the Elgin Marbles 'story', lays waste the value of the firman upon which Elgin's despoliation of the Parthenon was 'secured'. There is no cogent argument for the retention of these fine stones. Greece has built a magnificent museum for their display and they should be returned sooner rather than later.
indeed, plus in the case of Greece the BM has lots more Greek artefacts and Greece ( for over 24 years) has been saying that they would be happy to offer other artefacts not seen outside of Greece to be sent to the BM on a rolling stock - the benefits of cultural co-operation, a bonus for all museums in the 21st century.
The question evoked by Philip Stephens is :until where? What criterion should be retained if Western museums should not be stripped of all their belongings?
They will never be stripped. Did you know that there are 108,184 Greek artefacts in the British Museum, of which only 6,493 are even on display. Greece has not asked for anything else. First request was made after independence, and this request has never altered or faltered. This is about global respect for the Parthenon, which still stands and in the the Acropolis Museum's top floor, glass walled gallery, the surviving sculptures are displayed the right way round with direct views to the Parthenon. Time to do what's right and prove our collective respect for the Parthenon and its sculptures.
We (Italy) sent back the Axum obelisk to Ethiopia. We had to hire an Ukrainian transport plane (now destroyed by Russian bombs...) but we eventually did it. Case closed.
Absolutely right; the last vestige of any excuse for retention vanished when the marvellous Parthenon Museum opened in Athens, where the extent of the criminal theft is also laid bare by the replicas on display. Back in Athens, bathed in natural mediterranean light, they will be filled with new life after 2 centuries of 'refrigeration' in cold northern light. Paradoxically, the young Boris Johnson was right as President of the Oxford Union in approving Melina Mercouri's then campaign for their return. He obviously hadn't at that point got the full weight of Tory England's insistence that they were now the legal property of Britannia, and the Greeks ought to thank the English for looking after them.....
The additional problem is that the Marbles now look ridiculous, despite the Curator's best intentions, in the British Museum. The curatorial rationale for placing them in physical adjacency to the Parthenon itself is overwhelming. Quite apart from nationalism ,or the Ottoman "permission " to Elgin,( rightly dismissed by Stephens), we now look simply foolish.
Important and prescient piece. With the appropriate IP agreements and revenue sharing, the use of ultra high fidelity laser scanning and 3d printing techniques, remarkably good facsimiles could be retained in the British Museum (and even a new cottage industry created for reproduction of such pieces).
Mind you Marlen, it took some time and pressures from Ethiopia. But we did it and (I guess) felt better forte..
So much more to be gained than lost, what is needed is a moral compass and a vision of 21st century cultural cooperation for museums that embraces truthful storytelling and cultural mobility.
I've long thought,since I was a child that these marbles belong in Athens. They were built for the Parthenon and there they should return. Elgin's act was theft pure and simple. Don't expect Osborne to make the right decision the case to do so is way beyond his limited intelligence.
Christopher Hitchens compact analysis of the Elgin Marbles 'story', lays waste the value of the firman upon which Elgin's despoliation of the Parthenon was 'secured'. There is no cogent argument for the retention of these fine stones. Greece has built a magnificent museum for their display and they should be returned sooner rather than later.
thank you!
Italy setting a good example....
If you add up all the requests made by the original owners they amount to a tiny fraction of the collections held in western museums...
indeed, plus in the case of Greece the BM has lots more Greek artefacts and Greece ( for over 24 years) has been saying that they would be happy to offer other artefacts not seen outside of Greece to be sent to the BM on a rolling stock - the benefits of cultural co-operation, a bonus for all museums in the 21st century.
The question evoked by Philip Stephens is :until where? What criterion should be retained if Western museums should not be stripped of all their belongings?
They will never be stripped. Did you know that there are 108,184 Greek artefacts in the British Museum, of which only 6,493 are even on display. Greece has not asked for anything else. First request was made after independence, and this request has never altered or faltered. This is about global respect for the Parthenon, which still stands and in the the Acropolis Museum's top floor, glass walled gallery, the surviving sculptures are displayed the right way round with direct views to the Parthenon. Time to do what's right and prove our collective respect for the Parthenon and its sculptures.
We (Italy) sent back the Axum obelisk to Ethiopia. We had to hire an Ukrainian transport plane (now destroyed by Russian bombs...) but we eventually did it. Case closed.
wonderful gesture and it meant so much to Ethiopians.
Absolutely right; the last vestige of any excuse for retention vanished when the marvellous Parthenon Museum opened in Athens, where the extent of the criminal theft is also laid bare by the replicas on display. Back in Athens, bathed in natural mediterranean light, they will be filled with new life after 2 centuries of 'refrigeration' in cold northern light. Paradoxically, the young Boris Johnson was right as President of the Oxford Union in approving Melina Mercouri's then campaign for their return. He obviously hadn't at that point got the full weight of Tory England's insistence that they were now the legal property of Britannia, and the Greeks ought to thank the English for looking after them.....
The additional problem is that the Marbles now look ridiculous, despite the Curator's best intentions, in the British Museum. The curatorial rationale for placing them in physical adjacency to the Parthenon itself is overwhelming. Quite apart from nationalism ,or the Ottoman "permission " to Elgin,( rightly dismissed by Stephens), we now look simply foolish.
Important and prescient piece. With the appropriate IP agreements and revenue sharing, the use of ultra high fidelity laser scanning and 3d printing techniques, remarkably good facsimiles could be retained in the British Museum (and even a new cottage industry created for reproduction of such pieces).
Interesting the rotation model is in place for the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Lane
Will these modernist paintings eventually 'come home' too?!