Should the Elgin Marbles Be Returned to Greece?

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of ancient Greek marble sculptures that originally decorated some of the ancient monuments on the Akropolis in Athens, particularly the Parthenon, but were removed in the early nineteenth century by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and are currently held in the British Museum in London. There have been many calls for the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Greece so they can be put on display in the Akropolis Museum in Athens along with most of the rest of the sculptures from the Parthenon. In this article, I will make the case for why I think they should.

Historical background

For those of you who are not already aware, the Elgin Marbles are a collection of ancient Greek marble sculptures that originally decorated buildings on the Akropolis in the city of Athens, Greece. Most of them were originally parts of the Parthenon, but some of them were parts of the nearby Erechtheion and Propylaia.

The Parthenon was constructed between 447 and 432 BC as a temple to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of the city of Athens. It was built as part of a massive building project initiated as part of the vision of the great Athenian statesman Perikles. It was designed by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates. The sculptures for the Parthenon were created by the great Athenian sculptor Pheidias, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest sculptors of all time, and his students. It was built to replace an older, unfinished temple to Athena that had been destroyed by the Persians under the leadership of Xerxes during the Second Persian Invasion of Greece in 480 BC.

From 1801 until 1812, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Athens at the time, hired workmen to remove about half the sculptures from the Parthenon, along with some sculptures from the nearby Erechtheion and Propylaia. These sculptures were shipped overseas to London. Lord Elgin was planning to use the sculptures to decorate Broomhall House, his personal mansion in Scotland.

ABOVE: The Parthenon, the building from which most of the Elgin Marbles were removed, as it appeared in 1978 when this photograph was taken

ABOVE: Photograph of the Erechtheion, taken in 2015

ABOVE: Photograph of the western façade of the Propylaia taken in 2009

In 1816, Lord Elgin, who was heavily in debt as a result of an expensive divorce lawsuit, sold the Elgin Marbles to the British government in order to settle his debts. Lord Elgin actually lost money in the sale because the British government paid significantly less for the sculptures than it had cost Lord Elgin to have them removed and shipped to London.

The marbles were subsequently moved to the British Museum, where a temporary display room was set up for them. They have remained in the possession of the British Museum ever since and are currently still on permanent display at the British Museum in London, England. Meanwhile, the sculptures from the Parthenon that Lord Elgin left behind in Athens are now on display in the Akropolis Museum in Athens, Greece.

The Greek government has repeatedly demanded that the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles to Greece so that they may be put on permanent display in Athens at the Akropolis Museum alongside the other sculptures. The British Museum has repeatedly refused to comply with all such demands for repatriation.

ABOVE: Painting from 1819 by Archibald Archer showing the Elgin Marbles on display in a temporary room at the British Museum

Because the question over whether the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece is a complicated question, I will address it from several different standpoints:

From a legal standpoint

The circumstances under which Lord Elgin removed the Parthenon Marbles from the Akropolis and brought them back to London with him were extremely sketchy. Lord Elgin claimed that, in the middle of summer 1801, the government of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Athens at the time, had issued an official firman granting him permission to remove “any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon” from the Akropolis, but he was never able to produce the actual document. All he was ever able to produce was a document that he claimed was an English translation of an Italian copy of the original Turkish decree.

Furthermore, although extensive Ottoman legal records have survived, no copy of the firman has ever turned up in the surviving Turkish records. This has led many to believe that Lord Elgin was, in fact, never granted a firman to remove the sculptures at all, but rather stole the marbles and made up the firman as an excuse after the fact. If this is the case, that would mean that the Parthenon Marbles were stolen and that they should rightfully still belong to Greece.

ABOVE: Photograph of the document claimed by Lord Elgin to be an English translation of an Italian copy of the firman that the Ottoman government supposedly issued in 1801 granting him permission to remove sculptures from the Akropolis of Athens

The British Museum has countered these arguments by stating that the statute of limitations for any lawsuit over the removal of the Elgin Marbles is long past and that, regardless of whether Lord Elgin stole the marbles or not, the marbles now belong to the British Museum and Greece has no legal right to sue the British Museum to return the marbles. This argument obviously sends up red flags. If your best argument for why something should be yours is “Even if it was stolen, it was so long ago that the rightful owners can’t sue us,” then you may want to rethink whether it should really be yours.

The British Museum has also argued that, if all the ancient artifacts in the world that have ever been stolen were returned to their countries of origin, it would leave nearly every museum on earth almost completely empty because nearly all ancient artifacts have reached their present owners through theft of some kind. Again, this argument sends up red flags. It basically amounts to “Well, everyone else stole stuff too, so why can’t we keep the stuff we stole?” It also ignores that the Parthenon Marbles are a special case because they are part of a building that is still standing in Athens; whereas most other ancient artifacts are single objects that are not part of still-existing monuments.

ABOVE: Painting of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin from around 1788. Although Lord Elgin claimed that he had permission from the Ottoman government to remove the Elgin Marbles from the Akropolis, he was never able to produce the actual documentation to prove this.

From a convenience standpoint

From the standpoint of convenience, the best possible location for the Parthenon Marbles to be kept is obviously Athens, because the Parthenon and the marbles associated with it were supposed to be one piece of art. The Parthenon Marbles are part of the Parthenon, a building that is still standing in Athens, and most of the other sculptures from the Parthenon that are not in the British Museum are already currently on display in the Akropolis Museum in Athens. It makes sense that the Parthenon and its sculptures should all be kept in the same place where people can appreciate them all together.

Under the present circumstances, if you want to see the whole Parthenon and all the sculptures from it, then you have to travel the British Museum in London to see about half the sculptures and then you have to travel over a thousand miles to Athens to see the building itself and the other sculptures from it. If all the sculptures from the Parthenon were simply displayed in the Akropolis Museum, all in one place, it would be so much more convenient.

The Akropolis Museum is located right next to the Parthenon itself, within view of it. In fact, it is so close to the actual Parthenon that a tourist could visit the Parthenon on the Akropolis and then literally walk to the Akropolis Museum to see the sculptures from it.

ABOVE: Aerial photograph showing the Akropolis Museum’s close proximity to the Parthenon

For everyone on earth who does not live in Britain, it would be vastly more convenient for the Parthenon Marbles to be in Athens where the Parthenon is and where the rest of the sculptures from it are, so that, if you want to see the Parthenon and all the sculptures from it, you only have to visit one city and you do not have to make two separate trips to visit two different cities located over a thousand miles apart.

The Akropolis Museum also already has an exhibit set up to display the complete Parthenon Marbles, including the ones currently in the British Museum, so there would be no difficulty at all finding a place to put the Elgin Marbles should they be returned.

The exhibit in the Akropolis Museum is set up to display all the sculptures in the same arrangement they would have originally been in when they were still attached to the Parthenon. The sculptures are even set up to be facing in the same directions, with windows on all sides to allow the sunlight to shine on them, so that viewers can see them exactly as they would look if they were outside mounted on the Parthenon.

ABOVE: Display of sculptures from the West Pediment of the Parthenon on display in the Akropolis Museum in Athens, mounted in the positions they would have been in originally, with gaps for the missing sculptures

From a cultural heritage standpoint

Ancient Greece is still an important part of the modern Greek cultural identity. To many Greek people, the Parthenon and its sculptures represent the legacy of their ancestors. I think it is safe to say that the Parthenon Marbles probably mean a lot more to most Greek people than they ever will to most British people.

A common counterargument that is often posed against the cultural heritage argument by supporters of keeping the Elgin Marbles in London is that the modern Greek people have almost nothing culturally in common with the ancient Greeks, so there is no reason why they should be allowed to claim the Elgin Marbles as part of their “cultural heritage.” This is usually followed up by a claim that the British Museum is sharing the glories of ancient Greek sculpture with the world.

The assertion that modern Greek people have almost nothing in common with the ancient Greeks is not entirely true, but, even if it were true, this still would not refute the fact that most modern Greek people perceive the ancient Greeks as being part of their cultural identity and feel a sense of their culture being directly descended from the culture of the ancient Greeks. This sense of cultural identity matters more than how much modern Greeks actually have in common with the ancient Greeks.

Furthermore, no matter how you look at it, modern Greeks still have a lot more in common with the ancient Greeks than modern British people. I mean, at the very least, they at least speak a language that is derived from Ancient Greek. Finally, as far as the point about sharing the Elgin Marbles with the world is concerned, the Elgin Marbles can be shared with the world no matter where they are located. They can be shared with the world just as well in the Akropolis Museum as in the British Museum.

ABOVE: Photograph of the exterior of the British Museum. The Elgin Marbles do not need to be in London to share them with the world.

From a public opinion standpoint

A poll conducted in October 2014 by the British polling agency YouGov found that more British people believe that the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece than believe they should be kept in Britain. The poll found that 37% of people wanted the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Greece, while only 23% thought the marbles should remain in Britain. Thirty-two percent said they did not care either way and 7% said they did not know which perspective they supported.

There is also strong support in the international community for the Elgin Marbles to be returned. UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) and the European Union both support the Parthenon Marbles being repatriated to Greece.

ABOVE: Chart from YouGov showing that the percentage of British people who support returning the Elgin Marbles is higher than the percentage who support any other position

From a safety standpoint

The one perspective from which I think that the supporters of keeping the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum may have a bit of a real point on is safety. The British Museum is one of the safest museums in the world and, despite the ongoing crisis over Brexit, Britain is still, overall, a very politically stable country. The level of safety in the Akropolis Museum, which was built only a decade ago, remains to a large extent untested. Furthermore, Greece is still suffering the pangs of its financial crisis and the city of Athens is notorious for its violent protests and politically unstable climate.

So far, however, the artifacts that are already in the Akropolis Museum have remained safe and, so far, there have been no positive indications that the museum is unsafe. Although it has not yet made a full recovery by any means, Greece as a country is no longer in quite as dire straits as it was in a decade ago.

One of the few things that almost all political factions in Greece agree on is the importance of protecting Greece’s ancient cultural heritage, especially the ancient sculptures and monuments. We can be certain that, if the Elgin Marbles are returned to Greece, then Greece will definitely make their protection and preservation a priority. The only question at this point is whether that is enough to assure us that they will be safe.

ABOVE: Photograph of a street riot in Athens

From an international politics perspective

Britain is leaving the European Union and currently most of the remaining countries of the European Union have a very negative impression of this decision. Greece is still a member of the European Union, but it is still struggling to emerge from its financial crisis. If the British Museum were to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece now, that could perhaps help improve Britain’s image with the remaining countries of the European Union. It could also help Greece, because the return of the Parthenon Marbles would improve Greek morale, which could help improve the economy, and could potentially help encourage more tourism, which could benefit the Greek economy even further.

Conclusion

When it is all said and done, I think that, under the assumption that Greece can keep the Elgin Marbles safe and secure, the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece. I think that the benefits of them being returned far outweigh the potential dangers.

Ultimately, though, I recognize that it does not really matter what I think because it is the British Museum that gets to decide whether to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece or not and, right now, the British Museum is adamantly opposed to returning the Elgin Marbles.

Indeed, the chances of the Elgin Marbles being returned to Greece anytime in the immediate future are extremely low to say the least. The Elgin Marbles are one of the most popular exhibits at the British Museum and the British Museum is obviously not just going to give them up, no matter how compelling the reasons for doing so may be.