Greeks want the Elgin Marbles back..
Today the marbles, tomorrow the Koh i Noor diamond.. Should we allow it ?????
Workmen were putting the finishing touches yesterday to Ancient Greece’s newest and most extravagant showcase, the New Acropolis Museum, due for a fanfare-filled inauguration today. But conspicuously absent are the very relics which the €130m futurist building was expressly designed for: the Elgin Marbles.
The airy top floor of the 25,000 square metre museum, offering an unparallelled view of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis a couple of hundred yards away, has been reserved for when the Marbles — as many Greeks devoutly hope — return.
Yet as dozens of dignitaries arrived for the opening that Antonis Samaras, the Greek Minister for Culture, promised would be “a magical atmosphere with musical surprises” (and drain some €3m out of the Greek taxpayer’s pocket), it seemed likely that the Parthenon Hall, as the glass-domed top floor is called, would remain empty for a considerable time to come.
Last week Mr Samaras contemptuously dismissed an offer by the British Museum, which claims ownership of the Elgin Marbles, to lend them to Greece for three months. According to British diplomats, Gordon Brown politely turned down an invitation to attend the opening. No British government figure, in fact, will be there.
The glass-and-concrete museum, which from the Acropolis parapet looks like a gargantuan shoe box with its lid askew, was designed by Bernard Tschumi, a Swiss architect, to be tough enought to withstand earthquakes — not a bad idea in what is the shakiest country in Europe, geologically speaking. It has been a quarter of a century in the planning.
The original idea behind it was to answer the British Museum’s claim that Greece had nowhere to adequately house the Elgin Marbles. “The British said we don’t deserve the Parthenon sculptures because we’ve nowhere to put them,” Mr Samaras said in a recent interview. “Now, though, we have one of the best museums in the world.”
The vacant Parthenon Hall, some hope, could itself be a silent argument for the Marbles’ return. “The strangeness of the missing parts becomes all the more visible,” said Dimitris Pantermalis, an archaeologist appointed as the museum’s director.
The Times
We'll just go back to where we came from and demand our rights and citizenship.
I will have dual nationality and enjoy the summer weather in Scotland, but go to Germany for my health care :-)
I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM
And Americans will be homeless LOL
Good Fortune always comes knocking at your door...when you are sh*tting in the toilet!! :)
_[]~SMoKE~[]_
popcorngirl you will have to be careful... that would mean the arabs would have to give land back to the jews....
give them marbles back; give it all back as long as they give back everything they stole or the money they have taken over the years.
Why not create an amnesty that all countries give back everything that was 'stolen' or 'loaned' and then give back all the money that was given to them over the years.
Australia would start with giving back land and rights to the Aborigines and sending all the convos back to the UK. Granted we would go back to fuck all, but hey lets give it a go.
What would your country have to give back?
Would it art/money/culture/education or land?
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Man makes plans...............God smiles ;-)
and the British Museum should lend those sculptures for a period of 1-2 years in my opinion. I think certain museums that have greatly benefited from Colonialism or ruthless acquisition policies should do what they can to cooperate in loaning works of art to the countries they originated in, as long as they can be properly cared for.
BTW, the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia actually returned some works to the Egyptian government that had been acquired under a cloud. There are some museum professionals who are interested in developing reasonable policies to deal with these issues.
I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM
Thanks ... I agree. the issue is much wider.
I personaly beleive that the past should be put aside and exhibits loaned back to countries for display.
hmmm sounds good Brit..
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- Listen to Many...Speak to a Few -
and actually is part of a much larger issue about the ethics of museum acquisition.
They are in the hands of the British Museum because the Turks sold them to Lord Elgin when they were in control of Greece. Thus, they were not really stolen and that is why they will probably never be returned. It is a much bigger picture than just these sculptures that goes to the provenance of every object in a museum or private collection. To repatriate them would be in essence admitting that art belongs with the people who have descended from its cultural originators. That would result in empty museums all over the world -- including the Islamic Museum of Qatar.
I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM
The Brits will return the marbles just as soon as the French return Normandy to its rightful owner, the English.
Gorden Brown should be careful about snubbing the Greeks, we never, ever forget! My granny when 103 could tell me exactly how many days she had been not speaking to her younger sister and would recount the cause of the fight with great relish. They hadn't spoken for over 80 years over a disagreement over whose hen had laid the eggs they were having for lunch.
They belong to Greece and I think they should be returned. The days of Empire and explorers nicking things they like the look ofis long past. Funnily enough, my father is Greek but he believes they should stay where they are because they may not be properly looked after if they are returned. He is clearly a much nicer person then me.
I vote that we lend some of them back to teh Greek musueum to display for a period..
finders keepers, losers weepers!
well give everything back. thats better for England. Else they will have to start facing litigations from everyone.
IT jsut shows that the sun is truly getting buried for the English
Soon the time will come when you have to pay every thing back
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom
I lost my marbles years ago. Maybe the British Museum has those too ;o)