Time to return the marbles ASAP 😠

[Gaballout]

The British museum director has just said they aren't legally owned by Greece and won't be giving them back.

It's a national embracement that they are still there, Greece has a beautiful Musium with space jusy waiting to have them returned

I don’t know the specific law but basically I think museums can’t give away anything in their collection unless it’s allowed by the government? So the British Museum can’t just hand it all over without a lot of other fuss happening first.

Just to add there are already copies of many of the ones from the British museum in the Greek Musium. Just swap them over

They were not being protected at the time they were taken. Removing them preserved them.

@caroldanvers I thought exactly that until I googled them 30 seconds ago...

Rubbish, they were purchased from the Ottoman empire which at the time and many years later was the ruler of Greece.

A guide ot the Parthenon ranting about them quite seriously said that the rest had been subsequently ruined by the Turks! Irony wasn't her strong suit.

I reralise the depth of home-grown anti-British feeling on here, it seems to be endemic among a certain type, but other countries also have many Greek artefacts, not all legitimately purchased, are they seeking those too? Start with the Pergaman Museum on Berlin maybe.

Here is an article from the Guardian, just so those who hate the DT will actually read it, about this very subject. It's an interesting read
www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/21/highereducation.parthenon]]

They were legally obtained. The end.

When I was a bit younger I used to think the marbles were actually, you know, big round marbles like we used to play with at school? Anyone else?

Yes, that would be me. I was a while ago, but I still have a brief flash of a 1,5 mètre round marble when someone mentions them.

I agree they should be returned, just after anything in any Greek museum is returned to its country of origin

Just out of interest, OP, do you feel similarly passionate about the Venus de Milo (should the French return it and drop it in the sea near Milos as it was found there - in the interests of returning artefacts to place of origin?). I think that if the Greeks were going to restore the marbles to their place on The Parthenon, it might be worth it but they intend to keep them in the Acropolis museum (I think) so they might just as well stay in London where more are likely to have a chance to see them.

I think the Crown Jewels sold by Cromwell should also be returned to us!

Apparently the Greeks also want the winged victory of Samothrace back (currently in the Louvre, and very beautiful it is, too).