‘’When you go to a museum you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.’’
Banksy
In class about “Transnational Histories”, we were taught the “Elgin Marbles” controversy. It was the first time I was confronted to the problem and I wasn’t informed at all . My curiosity pushed me to look further into the issue and I went to see the famous marbles at the British museum.
First: the object of the controversy : The marbles + a bit of history.
The “Elgin Marbles”, or as the British Museum Trustees prefer to call them, the “Parthenon sculptures” are composed of the decorative element of the Parthenon, the temple of Athena at Athens. This includes the metopes, the pediments sculpture and the frieze. The Temple was finished in 430 BC in Athens and symbolises the greatest achievement of human kind at the time. As time went by, the temple served multiple function (such as a church, or a mosque). Though, in1687, the temple was tuned into a gunpowder reserve during a war against the Venetians. An explosion destroyed the roof of the temple and it was left in ruins. During the late 17th century, the archaeologist Lord Elgin brought to England most pieces of the temple in order to protect them as fast as he could. Once in England, the marble where subject to a few scandals (cleaning methods revealing to be harmful to the marbles, etc.) and were considered as imperial spoils.
The controversy concerns the return of the sculptures to Greece. In 1983, Greece formally asked for the marbles to be returned, but the British Museum refused. At first the English government was involved but it detached itself, leaving the responsibilities of the marbles to the museum trustees. The UNESCO couldn’t intervene because the marbles are not propriety of the government. An agreement has to be found between the museums. The British Museum would agree on a change of location instead of ownership. Though, the ownership of the marbles is contested due to how they were acquired by Lord Elgin (he smuggled them to England with the help the Turkish administration at the time). The museum trustees denies this fact and claims that they should stay in England for better visibility.
This controversy asks a lot of questions about art. To who does it belong ? To a nation ? To mankind ? Where should it be ? Is the misplacement of art objects part of History of the world ? Or part of a nation’s pride ? Is it moral now to keep stolen goods ? At the time it felt justify to protect the marbles, but now that time had change, would it still be a good thing to keep them ? Would it be moral now ?
I went to see the marbles in the British Museum. They look drowned into an empty room. Now one was there to look at them. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy next to then. It was clear they did not belong here. There was pamphlet justifying their choice to keep the marbles, as if they had to and it was their duty to keep them. But the moral choice would be to bring them back, wouldn’t it ? It feels like an decadent memory of a past empire that can’t accept it’s grandeur has faded. The British museum has tons of other Greek statues, why do they want to keep these ones ? It seems absurd to me.
In a perfect world, all wonders would be returned, and we would all be able to see them. But this is not a perfect world.
References:
– saving banksy
– Pamphlet From the British Museum
– Briefing House of Commons
websites:
– https://www.parthenonuk.com/
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Spoils
– https://web.archive.org/web/20090420232511/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/what_are_the_elgin_marbles.aspx
– https://web.archive.org/web/20090513053304/http://ww2.jhu.edu/foundations/?p=8
www.parthenon.newmentor.net/illegal.htm
– https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-greece-marbles-idUSKBN1JM2T6
– https://www.dw.com/en/greece-could-use-brexit-to-recover-stolen-parthenon-art/a-40038439