The Case for Returning The Parthenon Marbles to Athens

The arguments include:

• Reuniting the Parthenon sculptures from all over the world would restore organic elements which currently remain without cohesion, homogeneity and historicity of the monument to which they belong and allow visitors to better appreciate them as a whole;
• Presenting all the Parthenon Marbles in their original historical and cultural environment would permit their “fuller understanding and interpretation”;
• Precedents have been set with the return of fragments of the monument by Sweden, the University of Heidelberg, Germany, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Vatican;
• The marbles may have been obtained illegally and hence should be returned to their rightful owner as Lord Elgin did not have permission to cut sculptures from the Parthenon;
• Returning the Elgin Marbles would not set a precedent for other restitution claims because of the distinctively “universal value” of the Parthenon.
• Safekeeping of the Marbles would be ensured at the New Acropolis Museum, situated to the south of the Acropolis hill. It was built to hold the Parthenon sculptures arranged in the same way as they would have been on the Parthenon. The museum’s facilities have been equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the protection and preservation of exhibits;
• The marbles are well-lit in the top floor of the New Acropolis Museum exhibited under the natural sunlight that characterises the Athenian climate, in the way that the Ancient Greeks intended them to be seen. On the contrary, the Elgin marbles in the British Museum are located in a rather “gloomy” room, not having a single window or source of natural light.

The Case Used to Retain the Parthenon Marbles in London

The arguments and responses to those arguments include:

• the maintenance of a single worldwide-oriented cultural collection, all viewable in one location, thereby serving as a world heritage centre.
• the assertion that fulfilling all restitution claims would empty most of the world’s great museums. (However the Greek government has declared that it has no claim on any of the thousands of other artefacts from Ancient Greece held in museums abroad. The Parthenon marbles are a unique case due to them being an integral part of the structure and should be displayed alongside the other marbles in the New Acropolis Museum which enables visitors to view the Parthenon itself from the gallery.)
• The marbles were saved from what would have been severe damage from pollution and other factors, which could have perhaps destroyed the marbles, if they had been located in Athens the past few hundred years; (However the Marbles suffered far more damage during their removal and transportation to Britain as well as from their lengthy stay in the heavily polluted atmosphere of London. In fact even Lord Elgin admitted that London’s dampness had caused decay to the sensitive Pentelic marble. In addition the “cleaning” methods employed by the staff at the British Museum has left the marbles irreparably damaged.)
• Experts agree that Greece could mount no court case because Elgin was granted permission by what was then Greece’s ruling government and a legal principle of limitation would apply. (However no such “firman” has ever been produced and supporting documents indicate that sawing and removing the marbles was illegal, making their “ownership” by the British Government invalid)
• The notion that the Parthenon sculptures are an item of global rather than solely modern Greek significance strengthens the argument that they should remain in a museum which is both free to visit, and located in Europe’s most visited city. (However the Parthenon Sculptures are not freestanding works of art but integral architectural members of one of the most magnificent and best-known monuments in the world: the Parthenon.)
• More than half the original marbles are lost and therefore the return of the Marbles could never complete the collection in Greece; (However having all the remaining marbles overlooking the Parthenon, in their historical and cultural environment, will allow them to be understood as a whole in greater context.)