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Should the 'Elgin Marbles' Be Returned to Greece?

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Should the 'Elgin Marbles' Be Returned to Greece? Illinois Wesleyan University From the SelectedWorks of Nancy Sultan 2005 Should the ‘Elgin Marbles’ be Returned to Greece? Nancy Sultan, Illinois Wesleyan University Available at: https://works.bepress.com/nancy_sultan/3/ GREECE: ELGI N MARBLES Should the Elgin Marbles be returned to Greece? Viewpoint: Yes. The Elgin Ma rbles should be returned to Greece because their illegitimate removal from the Parthenon compromised the integrity of the temple. Moreover, the Greeks have begun to implement the conditions set by the British government for the return of the marbles, most notably the restora­ tion of the Acropolis and the building of a new museum. Viewpoint: No . The marbles should remain in the British Mu seum because Lord Elgin's le gal removal saved them from destruction. They are available to a wider public than they would be in Athens, and their return to Greece would set a precedent that would empty many great museums of their collections. The Greek temple to the goddess Athena, Parthenos (Maiden) -the Parthenon-is one of the most revered historic monuments in the world. It was built between 447-432 B.C.E. on the rock of the Acropolis in Athens, where it still stands, a holy ruin. For nearly 2,500 years the Parthenon has embodied the ancient Greek ideas of justice, freedom, and intellectual and artistic excellence that marked the height of the political power of Athens in the fifth century. It has endured centuries of earthquakes, military opera­ tions, weather, pollution, and looting. Fragments of monumental sculpture from the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis can be found in museums around the world, but the largest collection outside Greece-and the most hotly debated-are the so-called Elgin Ma rbles, housed in the British Mu seum in London. In 1801, Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Greece, obtained a permit from the occupying Turkish government in Athens that he used to remove and carry away half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon. In 1816 the sculptures were acquired by the British government and presented to the British Museum, where they remain to this day, housed in the Duveen Gallery. The Elgin Ma rbles properly include architectural sculpture from four mon­ uments on the Acropolis in Athens, but the objects of greatest dispute in the collection are the fifty-six blocks of the frieze, fifteen metopes, and seventeen pedimental figures that belong to the Parthenon proper. For two hundred years, from the moment that Lord Elgin's Italian overseer Giovanni Battista Lusieri removed the sculptures from the building using saws, ropes, and pulleys, the Greeks and their friends in Britain have been lobbying for their return. The British government has consistently rejected requests for restitution. Both the Greeks and the British agree that the Parthenon marbles must remain in a museum, for their safety, preservation, and for the enrichment and education of the widest possible audience. The current retentionists argue their case on several points, most strongly on precedent: that Elgin's legal removal saved the marbles from probable destruction at the hands of the Turks or their successors, and that the artifacts were, and are, much beUer off in the British Mu seum than they would have been, or would be, in 97 Athens. Further, the retentionists argue, returning the marbles to Greece would open an alarming "floodgate" of return that would divest museums of their collections. The restitutionists reject these arguments; they argue most emphatically that the Parthenon metopes and frieze are not freestanding sculptures that can be appreciated on their own, but are structurally part of a building, and can only be understood in that context. For this reason, they argue exclusively for restitution of the Parthenon marbles and are willing to give up thei r right to clai m any other pieces in the museum. Moreover, Greece has accepted and implemented all of the conditions that the British people have set for the return of the marbles. Supporters of restitution believe that the ethics of the case, and the global goodwill that the return would foster, should be the final motiva­ tion for making Greece a "gift of their marbles." The issue of who owns cultural property is complex; all passion and politics aside, the most important issue is how to best preserve archaeological context and cultural heritage for present and future generations. -Nancy Sultan power of Athens in the fifth century."M ighty indeed are the signs of our power which we have left. Futurecgeswill wonder at us, �the present Viewpoint: cge wonders at us now," Peridesboait a::l oome Yes. The Elgin Marbles should be time after the completion of the temple.Clearly, returned to Greece because their he envisiona::l the monument � the embodi­ illegitimate removal from the ment of the confidenceand pride of democratic Parthenon compromised the Athens, whosepoople paid for its construction. integrity of the temple. Moreover, The Parthenon held panhellenic importance the Greeks have begun to in antiquity, and later bocame the visible5)'mbol implement the conditions set by the of Grea::e's legcq to Western European culture, British government for the return of ideas, and values. Designa::l by architoctsI ktinus the marbles, most notably the and Kallikratesunder the watchful fftJe of Phid­ restoration of the Acropolis and the ias, the oculptor whoa:::ta::l �generaldiroctor for building of a new museum. PerideS building program on the Acropolis, the I n a 1986 spea::h to the Oxford Union, templerepresents a culmination of Greek artistic MelinaM ercouri, former Greek minister of cul­ expression.. A model for future cges, the Par­ ture, plea:la::l for the return of the" Elgin Mar­ thenon is unique, both in conception and con­ bles" to Grea::e, declaring: "There is a struction. The building and its oculptureswere Michelangelo 'David'. There is a da Vind conceiva::l and executa::l part� of a plan to con­ 'Venus'.There is aPraxiteles'H ermeS.There is a struct a larger temple than the norm, which Turner 'Fishermen at Sea'. Thue are no Elgin calla::I not only for a Doric style peripteral temple Marfjffi" Who h� the right to the oculptures mearuring 69.51 x 30.86 meters with 46 col­ from the Parthenon-Gr ea::e or Britain?H ow do umns on the exterior (with others inside) and we define "ownership" of archcrological arti­ two pa::limentson the gctlle endswith freestand­ fa:::ts?Thisquestion is a complexone that affocts ing oculpturesdepicting the birth of Athena and all objocts in museums and at excavation sites her contest with Poseidon for supremcq in around the globe. H ow havemuseums a:::quira::l Attica,but aloo, uniquely, for 92 metopesin high the best examples of andent at, and h� the relief narrating Greek myths of spocial interest to a:::quisition of antiquitiesover the centuriesbeen Athens, and a low relief frieze of 111 panels legal and ethical ? depicting the Panathenaia-the great dvic festival I The Parthenon temple w� commissiona::l honoring Athena nside the temple stood a colossal gold and ivory statueof the goddessher­ by the Greek general Perides after Grea::e self, designa::l and executa::l by Phidias.The tem­ defeata::l the Persians in 480 B.C.E. The temple, pie w� executa::l in nine years (although work da::licata::l to Athena, patron deity of Athens, continua::l on the pa::limental oculptures until repla::ed the old temple to the goddess on the 432 B.C.E.) and da::licata::l at the Panathenaicfes­ Acropolis, which ha:lbeen destroya::l by the Per­ 438 sians. Conceiva::l by Perides� a 5)'mbol of "the tival in B.C.E. a:lventurous spirit" of Athens that ha:l"f orced TheParthenon stood almost inta:::t for more an entry into every seaand into every land," the than two thousand years. During the Byzantine Parthenon embodiesthe andent Greek id� of period, it w� transforma::l into a church, and justice, freedom, and intelloctual and artistic between 1208 and 1458 it serva::l the� church excellence that marka::l the height of the political of the Frankish dukes; later it bocame a Turkish 98 HISTORY IN DISPUTE, VOLUME 20: CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY AND CLASSICAL STUDIES mosque, oomplete with minaret. Despite a good of I talian painter Giovanni Battista LUsieri, Visitors viewing some deal of remodeling and transformation of pur­ merle oopiesand drawingsof the ruins. Then, in of the Elgin Marbles on display at the British pose, the building remaina::l holy, revera::l, and the middle of 1801, Elgin changa::l his plan. Museum well preserva::l. The first great destruction of the Why settle for drawings and cess, when he (@Reuters/CORBIS) temple occurra::l on 26 September 1687, when oould obtain the real thing? At this time Greece the Franksatt a::ka::l the Turks and bombarda::l w� part of the Ottoman Empire, rula::l from the Parthenon, exploding a powder magazine Constantinople, and Elgin took erlvantage of that herl been stora::l inside. Fourteen oolumns his political position to obtain a firman, or per­ of the peristyle were destroya::l and nearly all of mit, from the Turkish government that he used the interior building. The building stood in this to remove the SXIlpturesfrom the building and general oondition throughout the Turkish occu­ ship them to England. pation of Athens, until the arrival in 1799 of the Elgin later explaina::l to the British House new British ambassa::lor to Ottoman Turkey­ of Commons that he took down the SXIlptures Thom�Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin.
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