Over two centuries ago, more than half of what had originally been a 160-metre-long sculpted relief was removed from the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Today, the Greeks want their sculptures back.
The so-called “Elgin Marbles” are a collection of 5th-century BCE sculpted panels and statues that depict a variety of ancient Greek myths. Originally, they decorated the walls and pediments of the ancient Athenian Parthenon before their controversial move to the British Museum.
Removed by the order of Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1801, the Elgin Marbles were originally a part of the vast collection of art created for the now-famous temple devoted to the Greek goddess Athena. While Greece has dedicated an entire museum to these marbles and other art from the Acropolis site, the country has very little to do with their own ancient works.
A good deal of this early art was taken during the Ottoman occupation of Greece by a variety of other countries for display in their own museums. Just recently, the Vatican returned three fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures which depict two male heads and a horse. According to CNN, Greece’s cultural minister Lina Mendoni said, “initiatives like these show the road that we could follow… in order for the unity of the Parthenon to be restored.”
In an attempt to see the return of other pieces, Greece has started a campaign to have all the remaining pieces of the Parthenon Marbles returned along with a variety of other artwork that has been removed from its country of origin. Stating that this artwork is a huge part of their heritage and should never have been removed in the first place, Greece considers the pieces of the Parthenon Marbles possessed by the British Museum to be stolen artifacts. While some believe that the global repatriation of art could negatively impact the cultural diversity created by the vast collections of many national museums, an argument can be made that countries should have access to their ancestral works.
To prove that they could provide a safe home for the Parthenon Marbles, Greece built the Acropolis Museum. Sitting at the base of the eponymous ancient site, the Acropolis Museum holds plaster copies of all the Parthenon Marbles as they would have appeared on the Parthenon walls. These plaster copies are only placeholders and will be removed should the original pieces return.
Currently, the British Museum has 15 metopes, 17 pedimental figures and 75 metres of the Parthenon Marbles that initially stood at a whopping 160 metres long. Citing the UK’s generations-long care of the marbles as a huge asset to the country, Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of England, has sworn that the Parthenon marbles will not be returned to Greece. Sunak says that the British “share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change [that].”
While a good deal of the original artwork has simply been lost to time, Greece still strongly feels that the entirety of what remains should be returned home. This is something they are willing to keep fighting for even in the face of Sunak and the UK’s repatriation policies.