The "Elgin"marbles.
Discussion
Should we give them back ?
Wiki for those who don't know what I am on about :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles
Wiki for those who don't know what I am on about :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles
Whenever someone asks me that (ancient history graduate, when people hear that I get asked about the marbles XD) I tend to think of what my Dad used to say when me and my brother refused to share our toys.
"If you two don't share, I'll chuck them in the bloody bin and you'll have nothing to play with".
I don't think that something that beautiful and that well-known should be chained to one particular museum in one particular city. They should be shared on a 10-year basis between museums around the world. 10 years in the British Museum, 10 years in Athens, 10 years in an American museum (or two, one west coast one east coast) and possibly 10 years in somewhere like Japan.
It's not just the marbles, it's something that should be done with all artefacts. Otherwise you're basically saying that the only people who can see these beautiful and fascinating things are those who can afford a flight to Britain. Or a flight to Egypt in the case of many Egyptian antiquities (some things, such as mummified remains, shouldn't be removed because they need to be climate controlled).
Yes I know that they could get damaged or broken in the process or moving them but they're already in lots of pieces. Sticking them back in Athens is going to add f
k-all to the context of them because they can't be cemented back on to the Parthenon, and most of the context has been lost anyway when they A) lost their colour (they were originally painted) and B) blown to bits. If they get damaged while they're being moved then just glue them back together and move on, and be more careful next time.
"If you two don't share, I'll chuck them in the bloody bin and you'll have nothing to play with".
I don't think that something that beautiful and that well-known should be chained to one particular museum in one particular city. They should be shared on a 10-year basis between museums around the world. 10 years in the British Museum, 10 years in Athens, 10 years in an American museum (or two, one west coast one east coast) and possibly 10 years in somewhere like Japan.
It's not just the marbles, it's something that should be done with all artefacts. Otherwise you're basically saying that the only people who can see these beautiful and fascinating things are those who can afford a flight to Britain. Or a flight to Egypt in the case of many Egyptian antiquities (some things, such as mummified remains, shouldn't be removed because they need to be climate controlled).
Yes I know that they could get damaged or broken in the process or moving them but they're already in lots of pieces. Sticking them back in Athens is going to add f
k-all to the context of them because they can't be cemented back on to the Parthenon, and most of the context has been lost anyway when they A) lost their colour (they were originally painted) and B) blown to bits. If they get damaged while they're being moved then just glue them back together and move on, and be more careful next time.Cock Womble 7 said:
Blue Meanie said:
So if we bought them from the Greek originally, then surely it is only rightnif they give us the appropriate fee for them, inflation, and expenses taken into account. How much would that equate to I wonder?
Probably more than they could afford right now.
I've often pondered about not only the Elgin Marbles, but other museum treasures too... the bust of Nefertiti by Thutmose in Berlin, the Rosetta Stone in London and many others.
I think that if the objects were obtained legitimately then they should stay in their current location, but maybe I'm saying that because it's only Egypt and Greece that have such a vast quantity of ancient artefacts spread around the world. If it was British stuff, maybe I might feel differently.
Tough question to answer.
Personally, I think the notion of just having historical artifact only in their countries of origin sounds absurd. The fascination with museums and the contents therein is because of the stuff from all over the world, not despite it. If we start with the Elgin marbles, then where do we end up?
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