One of the most contested historical artefacts is the Parthenon Marbles of Greece, also called the Elgin Marbles.
Half of these artefacts are housed in the British Museum in London and the other half is in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Today, the dispute over the repatriation of the marbles from the British Museum to their indigenous setting is considered as one of the most contentious cases in the field of Museum and Heritage Studies.
This is how the story goes.
In 1801, Lord Bruce Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Greece at the time, acquired permission from Ottoman authorities to make casts and remove some of the sculptures in the Parthenon, an ancient Greek temple built in the fifth century BCE, located on the Acropolis in the Greek city of Athens. Over the next 11 years, Elgin removed around half of the Parthenon’s best sculptures and transported them to England. In 1816, he sold the Parthenon Marbles to the British Museum. When Greece gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832, it sought the return of the sculptures. The British Museum denied this request, and the Parthenon Marbles have remained in the British Museum for the past two centuries. Greece has repeatedly demanded the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles, and talks between Greek and British authorities have been going on for years eliciting the question that acts as a stand-in for wider issues pertaining to the return of heritage artefacts to their original cultures.
The central question is: should Great Britain and the British Museum return these ancient sculptures to Greece? Let’s debate both sides of the argument.
Pro return
The Parthenon marbles were built to celebrate Greek life and people with culture-specific scenes at the center of its narratives. Understanding and appreciating the sculptures can only be fully achieved within their original setting. Relevantly, Greek identity, both historical and contemporary, is inextricability linked to the reunification of all the Parthenon sculptures particularly as many regard the Elgin acquisition as unethical, and possibly illegal, as it robbed the Greek people from the right to enjoy their own heritage. Returning the relics to their native culture would work towards healing historical wounds and reunite the Elgin Marbles with the rest of the sculptures in the Acropolis Museum. Further, researchers, visitors, and educators would be able to study all the marbles in one context and in their original site.
Against return
As Lord Elgin acquired the sculptures through official permission from the Ottomans, the official rules of Greece at the time, the marbles legally belong in Britain which has integrated the marbles into its cultural identity. The housing of the sculptures in the British Museum, a universal museum, allows for millions of visitors to appreciate them in context of other world civilisations; the number of visitors of the British Museum far surpasses those of the Acropolis Museum thus the status quo serves the great good in terms of public access, audience numbers, and educational mission. Further, the material vulnerability of the marbles cast shadows on the possibility of dismembering the artefacts for transportation to Athens without posing substantial damage to its structure.
What is the status today?
Today, in a post-brexit Europe where Britain’s relation with countries of the European Union of which Greece partakes is strained, the public in Greece is passionately advocating the return of the marbles so they can be united with the remaining sculptures in the Acropolis Museum. The return of the artefact is tied to a strong sense of Greek nationalism. At the Athens airport, the government has placed an interactive voting machine where departing travellers can choose whether or not the marbles should be returned to Greece. This signals the importance of the topic and the role of the government in raising national and international awareness of its importance for Greek contemporary identity.
In Britain, matters are more complicated as public opinion is divided on the case. In the 1990s, Prime Minister Tony Blair has ruled out the return of the marbles to Greece. In 2021, Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister said that the return of the marbles was an issue to be settled by the trustees of the British Museum. In 2023, current UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, relayed that the British Museum has cared for the Parthenon collection for centuries and will continue to do so. Informal polls conducted in recent years show that the British public is divided on the matter, with more than half the voters in favor of the repatriation of the relics to their original country.
British citizens who support the marbles’ remaining in the British Museum, consider them an essential part of the country’s cultural heritage. They argue that the marbles have been in the museum for more than 200 years and have become significant pieces in the nation’s history; they argue that the marbles have become part of the broader cultural heritage and identity of London and the United Kingdom. Some believe that the museum provides a suitable environment for their preservation, study, and accessibility to the public. Supporters of retention argue that the marbles were legally acquired by Lord Elgin at the time and have been cared for and displayed in a world-class institution.
The debate has also attracted global attention from various figures in the arts, entertainment, and cultural sectors, with individuals expressing diverse perspectives on the matter. Celebrities like George Clooney and his barrister wife Amal Clooney have urged Britain to return the artifacts to Greece. The Clooneys and a number of human rights activists have called for the Greek government to sue the British government for stealing their heritage. Bill Murray, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, and Matt Damon have also publicly supported the return of the marbles to Greece.
The question of restoration of the marbles to Greece is plagued with a number of other peripheral yet compelling questions: would these marbles have survived if they had not been brought to London?; will England make any effort to restore its relations with Europe, offering the marbles as a good will gesture?; if Britain returns the marbles to Greece, will it return other colonial artefacts to Egypt, Nigeria, and India?
Restitution now, in the twenty-first century, is based on more than legal factors as the moral obligation of nations to amend for their colonial legacy becomes a central factor in repatriation cases. As such, when judging matters of artefact restitution and repatriation, contemporary citizens need to consider factors such museum governance, international laws, historical justice, public benefit, object preservation, national identity, and cultural diplomacy among many others.
On Lord Bruce Elgin
As the instigator of this whole affair, Lord Elgin has been exalted by some and denigrated by others.
At the heart of the Parthenon Marbles controversy is a live debate on the culpability of Lord Elgin and whether he may have actually saved this cultural artifact from erosion or whether this act was purely self-motivated. While Lord Elgin obtained the right to remove and expatriate the marbles through the official permission of the legitimate leaders of the time, many asserted that the marbles were effectively looted from Greece without the consent of the Greek people. The interpretation of Lord Elgin’s legacy continues to be a topic of discussion among historians, scholars, and advocates for repatriation. Thus, the character of Lord Elgin as well as the morality and legality of his actions constitute a large part of the debate of restitution. There are two contrasting historical images of Lord Elgin. One, widely popularized by Lord Byron’s poems, depicts Elgin as an immoral destroyer of Greek heritage and a symbol of cultural appropriation. The other portrays him as an art connoisseur, a national hero, and the savior of Greek heritage.
Supporters of Lord Elgin argue that he, as a great admirer of Hellenic culture and heritage, played a vital role in preserving and safeguarding the Parthenon Marbles. Some believe that Elgin is cultural savior as he ‘wisely’ saved the relics from the pilfering of tourists and vandals who were pulling them apart; the increasing demand for these pieces, sold in local markets, threatening the aesthetics and integrity of the structure. The acquisition of the marbles whether for personal or altruistic reasons served as an act of preservation when the Greek state, under Ottoman rule, was lax in heritage protection. Further, Elgin’s actions and the subsequent placement of the marbles in the British Museum, where they were studied at length, elevated the aesthetic and social value of Greek art and Hellenic heritage. Scholars were better placed to compare Greek and Roman art, ultimately furthering the study of antiquities.
Critics who regard Lord Elgin as a cultural plunderer argue that Lord Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon Marbles destroyed the integrity of one of the best remaining structures of Greek art. In removing metopes, pediments, and friezes, substantial portions of the adjoining structures were damaged. Elgin denuded the Parthenon of many of its sculptures but also caused structural damage in the process of removal. Detractors claim that Lord Elgin’s actions were motivated by a desire to acquire valuable artifacts for a personal gain or to enhance the cultural prestige of Britain. They maintain that the removal of the marbles was a violation of Greece’s cultural heritage and an example of vandalism and imperialistic exploitation. Even granting the legality of this act, Elgin compromised the artifacts, removed them from their original context, robbing the Greek people of direct access to their cultural patrimony.
Elgin died in 1841 and is buried in the family estate in Scotland. Despite the historical and contemporary controversy surrounding his deeds, he is remembered in Britain for his contributions to the arts and for his role in bringing ancient Greek culture to a wider audience.