Greece to Request the Return of ‘Unlawfully Removed Cultural Objects’ from British Art Collections

By Jodie Costello

Dunn, Andrew, Elgin Marbles, British Museum, 2005, http://www.andrewdunnphoto.com/.

Dunn, Andrew, Elgin Marbles, British Museum, 2005, http://www.andrewdunnphoto.com/.

The EU’s draft negotiating mandate has ordered for ‘unlawfully removed cultural objects’ to return to their country of origin if Britain seeks a Brexit trade deal.

Reuters states that this stipulation was added by Greece with support from Italy, though no object was mentioned specifically. However, it seems as if the country may be seeking the return of the Elgin marbles, a collection of Parthenon sculptures that have been housed illegally in the British Museum for 2 centuries. 

In Trophies for the Empire, lawyer David Rudenstine has expressed that England committed grave fraud in acquiring the collection of marbles, stating that no prior authorization was given by Ottoman officials in 1801 or 1805.

Originally, it was claimed that Lord Elgin received a firman from the sultan of the Ottoman empire, but on closer inspection of the documents, it seems unlikely that permission was granted. Not only is a signature missing on the Italian version of the document, but translational alterations were exploited to allude that there was prior authorization for their removal. Instead, the Ottomans were said to have demanded large daily payments to enter into the Acropolis and did not let Giovanni Battista Lusieri, Elgin’s commissioned artist, to set up any scaffolding to study the marbles up close. Instead, according to the English document, Elgin was granted permission to ‘measure, draw, and make moulds since no harm will come to the famous Greek sculptures.’

Just like one is unable to smell their own home, Britain seems unable to smell the imprint of colonisation that permeates throughout their cultural institutions.  Number 10 has stated that the removal of the marbles is out of the picture, however did not comment on the thousands of other objects looted from other nations that are still being held within the museum. Those who argue for the objects to remain within the UK have highlighted the British Museum’s role as a ‘global institution.’ American lawyer, David Carden has asked for the marbles, and the plethora of other items, to be part of a series of ‘travelling exhibits…organised by time period’ in an attempt to perceive the cultural theft as nothing more than a tiff that can easily be resolved by hand-holding and agreeing-to-disagree. On the other hand, Sarah Baxter has asked her readers to think about how they would be if ‘Big Ben were permanently transplanted to Athens’ in a slightly ludicrous attempt to stir up emotion from readers to sympathise with Greece.

It is uncertain what would happen to British museums if one were to remove all stolen items from their collections. Geoffrey Robertson QC has claimed that ‘the trustees of the British museum have become the world’s largest receivers of stolen property’ relying on trivialisation to pertain that the objects were saved from their original home. Considering the expanse of Britain’s imperial history, Brexit could impose the return of millions of objects to their country of origin, permanently altering the face of British institutions.

Bibliography

Alberage, Dalya ‘British Museum is world’s largest receiver of stolen goods, says QC,’ The Guardian, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/04/british-museum-is-worlds-largest-receiver-of-stolen-goods-says-qc.

Baczynska, Gabriela; Chalmers, John, ‘Britain’s row with Greece over treasures spills into Brexit tensions,’ Reuters, 2020. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-marbles/britains-row-with-greece-over-treasures-spills-into-brexit-tensions-idUKKBN20C2CK?il=0

Payne, Adam ‘The EU will tell Brtian to give back the ancient Parthenon Marbles, taken from Greece over 200 years ago, if it wants a post-Brexit trade deal,’ Business Insider, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/brexit-eu-to-ask-uk-to-return-elgin-marbles-to-greece-in-trade-talks-2020-2?r=US&IR=T

Carden, David, ‘My solution to the Parthenon marbles row: a museum for the 21st century,’ The Guardian, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/feb/21/my-solution-to-the-parthenon-marbles-row-a-museum-for-the-21st-century

 

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