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Elgin Marbles

Coordinates: 51°31′09″N 0°07′42″W / 51.5192°N 0.1283°W / 51.5192; -0.1283
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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lt1896 (talk | contribs) at 22:46, 11 January 2023 (minor correction as not all other remaining sculptures come from the frieze). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the sculptures housed at the British Museum. For the 2006 book, see The Elgin Marbles (book). For other remaining sculptures from the same series, see Parthenon Frieze.

Elgin Marbles
Parthenon Marbles
ArtistPhidias
Yearc. 447–438 BCE
TypeMarble
Dimensions75 m (246 ft)
LocationBritish Museum, London

The Elgin Marbles (/ˈɛlɡɪn/)[1] are a collection of sculptures and other parts of the Parthenon (and other sacred and ceremonial structures built on the Acropolis of Athens) removed by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, while Greece was under Ottoman rule, and sent to Britain. The term Parthenon Marbles or Parthenon Sculptures (Template:Lang-el, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon") refers specifically to the sculptures from the Parthenon which are now held in various collections around the world, principally in the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens.[2] The marbles were made under the supervision of the architect and sculptor Phidias and his assistants in the 5th century BCE, with marble from Mount Pentelikon. The collection on display in the British Museum is in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery. The presence of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum has been the subject of a longstanding international controversy.

From 1801 to 1812, Elgin's agents removed about half of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia and had them transported by sea to Britain in order to establish a private museum. Elgin stated that he removed the marbles with the permission of the Ottoman officials who exercised authority in Athens at the time.[3] However, the veracity of the documents he used to support his case has been disputed.[4]

In Britain, the acquisition of the collection was supported by some,[5] while others, such as Lord Byron, likened Elgin's actions to vandalism or looting.[6] A UK parliamentary inquiry in 1816 concluded that Elgin had acquired the marbles legally.[7] Elgin sold them to the British government in that year, and they were then passed into the trusteeship of the British Museum.

In 1983 the Greek government formally asked the UK government to return the marbles to Greece, and subsequently listed the dispute with UNESCO. The UK government and British Museum, however, declined UNESCOs offer of mediation. In 2021, UNESCO called upon the UK government to resolve the issue at the intergovernmental level.[8]

The Greek government and supporters of the return of the marbles to Greece have argued that the marbles were obtained illegally or unethically, that they are of exceptional cultural importance to Greece, and that their cultural value would be best appreciated in a unified public display with the other major Parthenon marbles and Greek antiquities in the Acropolis Museum. The UK government and British Museum have variously argued that the marbles were obtained legally, that their return would set a precedent which could undermine the collections of the major museums of world culture, and that the British Museum collection allows the marbles to be better viewed in the context of other major ancient cultures and thus complements the perspective provided by the Acropolis Museum collection. There are continuing discussions between UK and Greek officials about the future of the marbles.[9][10]

Name

The Elgin Marbles are named after Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, who between and 1801 and 1812 oversaw the removal of the marbles from the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia and their shipment to England.[11] In 1816, by an act of parliament, the collection was transferred to the British Museum on the condition that it be kept together and named "the Elgin Marbles".[12] The term "Parthenon Marbles" or "Parthenon Sculptures" refers to the sculptures and architectural features removed specifically from the Parthenon.[13] These are currently held in nine museums around the world, principally the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum.[14] The term "Parthenon Sculptures" is used in this sense by the British Museum and the Greek government.[11]

Background

Built in the ancient era, the Parthenon was extensively damaged by earthquakes. Also, during the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War (1684–1699) against the Ottoman Empire, the defending Turks fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as a castle and gunpowder store. On 26 September 1687, a Venetian artillery round, fired from the Hill of Philopappus, ignited the gunpowder, and the resulting explosion blew up the Parthenon, and the building was partly destroyed.[15] The explosion blew out the building's central portion and caused the cella's walls to crumble into rubble.[16] Three of the four walls collapsed, or nearly so, and about three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell.[17] About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over a significant area.[18] For the next century and a half, portions of the remaining structure were scavenged for building material and looted of any remaining objects of value.[19]

Acquisition

Parthenon Selene Horse
Metope from the Elgin marbles depicting a Centaur and a Lapith fighting
Statuary from the east pediment
Western frieze, II, 2

In November 1798, the Earl of Elgin was appointed as "Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty to the Sublime Porte of Selim III, Sultan of Turkey" (Greece was then part of the Ottoman Empire). Before his departure to take up the post he had approached officials of the British government to inquire if they would be interested in employing artists to take casts and drawings of the sculptured portions of the Parthenon. According to Lord Elgin, "the answer of the Government ... was entirely negative."[20]

Lord Elgin decided to carry out the work himself, and employed artists to take casts and drawings under the supervision of the Neapolitan court painter, Giovanni Lusieri.[20] According to a Turkish local, marble sculptures that fell were being burned to obtain lime for building.[20] Although his original intention was only to document the sculptures, in 1801 Lord Elgin began to remove material from the Parthenon and its surrounding structures[21] under the supervision of Lusieri. Pieces were also removed from the Erechtheion, the Propylaia, and the Temple of Athena Nike, all inside the Acropolis.[11]

The marbles were taken from Greece to Malta, then a British protectorate, where they remained for a number of years until they were transported to Britain.[22] The excavation and removal was completed in 1812 at a personal cost to Elgin of £74,240[20][23] (equivalent to £5,670,000 in 2023 pounds). Elgin intended to use the marbles for a private museum to enhance the art of the nation[24], but a costly divorce suit forced him to sell them to settle his debts.[25] Elgin sold the Parthenon Marbles to the British government for £35,000,[20] less than half of what it cost him to procure them, declining higher offers from other potential buyers, including Napoleon.[21]

Description

Main articles: Parthenon Frieze and Metopes of the Parthenon

The Parthenon Marbles acquired by Elgin include some 21 figures from the statuary from the east and west pediments, 15 of an original 92 metope panels depicting battles between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, as well as 75 metres of the Parthenon Frieze which decorated the horizontal course set above the interior architrave of the temple. As such, they represent more than half of what now remains of the surviving sculptural decoration of the Parthenon.[26]

Elgin's acquisitions also included objects from other buildings on the Athenian Acropolis: a Caryatid from Erechtheum; four slabs from the parapet frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike; and a number of other architectural fragments of the Parthenon, Propylaia, Erechtheum, the Temple of Athene Nike, and the Treasury of Atreus.[26]

The British Museum also holds additional fragments from the Acropolis acquired from various collections that have no connection with Lord Elgin.[citation needed]

Legality of the removal from Athens

The Acropolis was at that time an Ottoman military fort, so Elgin required special permission to enter the site, the Parthenon, and the surrounding buildings. He stated that he had obtained a firman from the Sultan which allowed his artists to access the site, but he was unable to produce the original documentation. However, Elgin presented a document claimed to be an English translation of an Italian copy made at the time. This document is now kept in the British Museum.[27] Its authenticity has been questioned, as it lacked the formalities characterising edicts from the Sultan. Vassilis Demetriades, Professor of Turkish Studies at the University of Crete, has argued that "any expert in Ottoman diplomatic language can easily ascertain that the original of the document which has survived was not a firman".[28] The document was recorded in an appendix of an 1816 parliamentary committee report. 'The committee permission' had convened to examine a request by Elgin asking the British government to purchase the Marbles. The report said that the document[29] in the appendix was an accurate translation, in English, of an Ottoman firman dated July 1801. In Elgin's view it amounted to an Ottoman authorisation to remove the marbles. The committee was told that the original document was given to Ottoman officials in Athens in 1801. Researchers have so far failed to locate it despite the fact that firmans, being official decrees by the Sultan, were meticulously recorded as a matter of procedure, and that the Ottoman archives in Istanbul still hold a number of similar documents dating from the same period.[30]

The parliamentary record shows that the Italian copy of the firman was not presented to the committee by Elgin himself but by one of his associates, the clergyman Rev. Philip Hunt. Hunt, who at the time resided in Bedford, was the last witness to appear before the committee and stated that he had in his possession an Italian translation of the Ottoman original. He went on to explain that he had not brought the document, because, upon leaving Bedford, he was not aware that he was to testify as a witness. The English document in the parliamentary report was filed by Hunt, but the committee was not presented with the Italian translation in Hunt's possession. William St. Clair, a contemporary biographer of Lord Elgin, said he possessed Hunt's Italian document and "vouches for the accuracy of the English translation". The committee report states on page 69 "(Signed with a signet.) Seged Abdullah Kaimacan" – however, the document presented to the committee was "an English translation of this purported translation into Italian of the original firman",[31] and had neither signet nor signature on it, a fact corroborated by St. Clair.[32] The 1967 study by British historian William St. Clair, Lord Elgin and the Marbles, stated the Sultan did not allow the removal of statues and reliefs from the Parthenon. The study judged a clause authorising the British to take stones "with old inscriptions and figures" probably meant items in the excavations of the site, not the art decorating the temples.[33]

The document allowed Elgin and his team to erect scaffolding so as to make drawings and mouldings in chalk or gypsum, as well as to measure the remains of the ruined buildings and excavate the foundations which may have become covered in the [ghiaja (meaning gravel, debris)]; and "...that when they wish to take away [qualche (meaning 'some' or 'a few')] pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon, that no opposition be made thereto". The interpretation of these lines has been questioned even by non-restitutionalists,[34][35] particularly the word qualche, which in modern language should be translated as a few but can also mean any. According to non-restitutionalists, further evidence that the removal of the sculptures by Elgin was approved by the Ottoman authorities is shown by a second firman which was required for the shipping of the marbles from Piraeus.[36]

Many have questioned the legality of Elgin's actions, including the legitimacy of the documentation purportedly authorising them. A study by Professor David Rudenstine of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law concluded that the premise that Elgin obtained legal title to the marbles, which he then transferred to the British government, "is certainly not established and may well be false".[37] Rudenstine's argumentation is partly based on a translation discrepancy he noticed between the surviving Italian document and the English text submitted by Hunt to the parliamentary committee. The text from the committee report reads "We therefore have written this Letter to you, and

Sculpture of Dionysus from the Parthenon's East Pediment[38]

expedited it by Mr. Philip Hunt, an English Gentleman, Secretary of the aforesaid Ambassador" but according to the St. Clair Italian document the actual wording is "We therefore have written this letter to you and expedited it by N.N.". In Rudenstine's view, this substitution of "Mr. Philip Hunt" with the initials "N.N." can hardly be a simple mistake. He further argues that the document was presented after the committee's insistence that some form of Ottoman written authorisation for the removal of the marbles be provided, a fact known to Hunt by the time he testified. Thus, according to Rudenstine, "Hunt put himself in a position in which he could simultaneously vouch for the authenticity of the document and explain why he alone had a copy of it fifteen years after he surrendered the original to Ottoman officials in Athens". On two earlier occasions, Elgin stated that the Ottomans gave him written permissions more than once, but that he had "retained none of them." Hunt testified on 13 March, and one of the questions asked was "Did you ever see any of the written permissions which were granted [to Lord Elgin] for removing the Marbles from the Temple of Minerva?" to which Hunt answered "yes", adding that he possessed an Italian translation of the original firman. Nonetheless, he did not explain why he had retained the translation for 15 years, whereas Elgin, who had testified two weeks earlier, knew nothing about the existence of any such document.[32]

English travel writer Edward Daniel Clarke, an eyewitness, wrote that the Dizdar, the Ottoman fortress commander on the scene, attempted to stop the removal of the metopes but was bribed to allow it to continue.[39] In contrast, John Merryman, Sweitzer Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and also Professor of Art at Stanford University, putting aside the discrepancy presented by Rudenstine, argues that since the Ottomans had controlled Athens since 1460, their claims to the artefacts were legal and recognisable. Sultan Selim III was grateful to the British for repelling Napoleonic expansion, and unlike his Hellenophile ancestor Mehmet II, the Parthenon marbles had no sentimental value to him.[21] Further, that written permission exists in the form of the firman, which is the most formal kind of permission available from that government, and that Elgin had further permission to export the marbles, legalises his (and therefore the British Museum's) claim to the Marbles.[36] He does note, though, that the clause concerning the extent of Ottoman authorisation to remove the marbles "is at best ambiguous", adding that the document "provides slender authority for the massive removals from the Parthenon ... The reference to 'taking away any pieces of stone' seems incidental, intended to apply to objects found while excavating. That was certainly the interpretation privately placed on the firman by several of the Elgin party, including Lady Elgin. Publicly, however, a different attitude was taken, and the work of dismantling the sculptures on the Parthenon and packing them for shipment to England began in earnest. In the process, Elgin's party damaged the structure, leaving the Parthenon not only denuded of its sculptures but further ruined by the process of removal. It is certainly arguable that Elgin exceeded the authority granted in the firman in both respects".[40]

The issue of firmans of this nature, along with universally required bribes, was not unusual at this time: In 1801 for example, Edward Clarke and his assistant John Marten Cripps, obtained an authorisation from the governor of Athens for the removal of a statue of the goddess Demeter which was at Eleusis, with the intervention of Italian artist Giovanni Battista Lusieri who was Lord Elgin's assistant at the time.[41] Prior to Clarke, the statue had been discovered in 1676 by the traveller George Wheler, and since then several ambassadors had submitted unsuccessful applications for its removal,[42][43] but Clarke had been the one to remove the statue by force,[44] after bribing the waiwode of Athens and obtaining a firman,[42] despite the objections and a riot,[44][45] of the local population who unofficially, and against the traditions of the iconoclastic Church, worshipped the statue as the uncanonised Saint Demetra (Greek: Αγία Δήμητρα).[44] The people would adorn the statue with garlands,[44] and believed that the goddess was able to bring fertility to their fields and that the removal of the statue would cause that benefit to disappear.[42][44][46][47] Clarke also removed other marbles from Greece such as a statue of Pan, a figure of Eros, a comic mask, various reliefs and funerary steles, amongst others. Clarke donated these to the University of Cambridge and in 1803 the statue of Demeter was displayed at the university library. The collection was later moved to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge where it formed one of the two main collections of the institution.[42]

Contemporary reaction

The contemporary museum director in the Louvre had no doubt around the legality of the acquisition of Lord Elgin. During the art restitutions of post-Napoleonic France to other European States, Vivant Denon, then director of former Musee Napoleon then Louvre, wrote in a private letter to the French ambassador Talleyrand who was then engaged in the Congress of Vienna: "If we yield to the claims (for art restitution) of Holland and Belgium, we deprive the Museum of one of its greatest assets, that of having a series of excellent colorists... Russia is not hostile, Austria has had everything returned, Prussia has a restoration more complete.... There remains only England, who has in truth nothing to claim, but who, since she has just bought the bas-reliefs of which Lord Elgin plundered the Temple at Athens, now thinks she can become a rival of the Museum [Louvre], and wants to deplete this Museum in order to collect the remains for her" (Denon to Talleyrand, quoted in Saunier, p. 114; Muintz, in Nouvelle Rev., CVII, 2OI). Vivant Denon uses clearly the verb "plunder" in French.[citation needed]

A portrait depicting the Elgin Marbles in a temporary Elgin Room at the British Museum surrounded by museum staff, a trustee and visitors, 1819

When the marbles were shipped to England, they were "an instant success among many"[20] who admired the sculptures and supported their arrival, but both the sculptures and Elgin also received criticism from detractors. Lord Elgin began negotiations for the sale of the collection to the British Museum in 1811, but negotiations failed despite the support of British artists[20] after the government showed little interest. Many Britons opposed purchase of the statues because they were in bad condition and therefore did not display the "ideal beauty" found in other sculpture collections.[20] The following years marked an increased interest in classical Greece, and in June 1816, after parliamentary hearings, the House of Commons offered £35,000 (equivalent to £3,300,000 in 2023 pounds) in exchange for the sculptures. Even at the time the acquisition inspired much debate, although it was supported by "many persuasive calls" for the purchase.[20]

Lord Byron strongly objected to the removal of the marbles from Greece, denouncing Elgin as a vandal.[48] His point of view about the removal of the Marbles from Athens is also mentioned in his narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, published in 1812, which itself was largely inspired by Byron's travels around the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea between 1809 and 1811:[49]

Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne'er to be restored.
Curst be the hour when from their isle they roved,
And once again thy hapless bosom gored,
And snatch'd thy shrinking gods to northern climes abhorred!

Byron was not the only one to protest against the removal at the time. Sir John Newport said:[50]

The Honourable Lord has taken advantage of the most unjustifiable means and has committed the most flagrant pillages. It was, it seems, fatal that a representative of our country loot those objects that the Turks and other barbarians had considered sacred.

Edward Daniel Clarke witnessed the removal of the metopes and called the action a "spoliation", writing that "thus the form of the temple has sustained a greater injury than it had already experienced from the Venetian artillery," and that "neither was there a workman employed in the undertaking ... who did not express his concern that such havoc should be deemed necessary, after moulds and casts had been already made of all the sculpture which it was designed to remove."[39] When Sir Francis Ronalds visited Athens and Giovanni Battista Lusieri in 1820, he wrote that "If Lord Elgin had possessed real taste in lieu of a covetous spirit he would have done just the reverse of what he has, he would have removed the rubbish and left the antiquities."[51][52]

A parliamentary committee investigating the situation concluded that the monuments were best given "asylum" under a "free government" such as the British one.[20] In 1810, Elgin published a defence of his actions,[53] but the subject remained controversial. A public debate in Parliament followed Elgin's publication, and Parliament again exonerated Elgin's actions, eventually deciding to purchase the marbles for the "British nation" in 1816 by a vote of 82–30.[48] Among the supporters of Elgin was the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon.[20] He was followed by Felicia Hemans in her Modern Greece: A Poem (1817), who there took direct issue with Byron, defying him with the question

And who may grieve that, rescued from their hands,
Spoilers of excellence and foes of art,
Thy relics, Athens! borne to other lands
Claim homage still to thee from every heart?

and quoting Haydon and other defenders of their accessibility in her notes.[54] John Keats visited the British Museum in 1817 and recording his feelings in the sonnet titled "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles". William Wordsworth also viewed the marbles and commented favourably on their aesthetics in a letter to Haydon.[55]

Following the exhibition of the marbles in the British Museum, they were later displayed in the specially constructed Elgin Saloon (1832) until the Duveen Gallery was completed in 1939. The gallery is named after Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen. The crowds packing in to view them set attendance records for the museum.[20]

Damage

Morosini

Statuary from the East Pediment

Prior damage to the marbles was sustained during successive wars, and it was during such conflicts that the Parthenon and its artwork sustained, by far, the most extensive damage. In particular, an explosion ignited by Venetian gun and cannon-fire bombardment in 1687, whilst the Parthenon was used as a munitions store during the Ottoman rule, destroyed or damaged many pieces of Parthenon art, including some of that later removed by Lord Elgin.[56] It was this explosion that sent the marble roof, most of the cella walls, 14 columns from the north and south peristyles, and carved metopes and frieze blocks flying and crashing to the ground, destroying much of the artwork. Further damage to the Parthenon's artwork occurred when the Venetian general Francesco Morosini looted the site of its larger sculptures. The tackle he was using to remove the sculptures proved to be faulty and snapped, dropping an over-life-sized sculpture of Poseidon and the horses of Athena's chariot from the west pediment on to the rock of the Acropolis 40 feet (12 m) below.[57]

War of Independence

The Erechtheion was used as a munitions store by the Ottomans during the Greek War of Independence[58] (1821–1833) which ended the 355-year Ottoman rule of Athens. The Acropolis was besieged twice during the war, first by the Greeks in 1821–22 and then by the Ottoman forces in 1826–27. During the first siege the besieged Ottoman forces attempted to melt the lead in the columns to cast bullets, even prompting the Greeks to offer their own bullets to the Ottomans in order to minimize damage.[59]

Elgin

Elgin consulted with Italian sculptor Antonio Canova in 1803 about how best to restore the marbles. Canova was considered by some to be the world's best sculptural restorer of the time; Elgin wrote that Canova declined to work on the marbles for fear of damaging them further.[20]

To facilitate transport by Elgin, the columns' capitals and many metopes and frieze slabs were either hacked off the main structure or sawn and sliced into smaller sections, causing irreparable damage to the Parthenon itself.[60][61] One shipload of marbles on board the British brig Mentor[62] was caught in a storm off Cape Matapan in southern Greece and sank near Kythera, but was salvaged at the Earl's personal expense;[63] it took two years to bring them to the surface.

British Museum

Tools used to clean the marbles in 1937–38[64]

The artefacts held in London suffered from 19th-century pollution which persisted until the mid-20th century and have suffered irreparable damage by previous cleaning methods employed by British Museum staff.[65]

As early as 1838, scientist Michael Faraday was asked to provide a solution to the problem of the deteriorating surface of the marbles. The outcome is described in the following excerpt from the letter he sent to Henry Milman, a commissioner for the National Gallery.[66][67]

The marbles generally were very dirty ... from a deposit of dust and soot. ... I found the body of the marble beneath the surface white. ... The application of water, applied by a sponge or soft cloth, removed the coarsest dirt. ... The use of fine, gritty powder, with the water and rubbing, though it more quickly removed the upper dirt, left much embedded in the cellular surface of the marble. I then applied alkalies, both carbonated and caustic; these quickened the loosening of the surface dirt ... but they fell far short of restoring the marble surface to its proper hue and state of cleanliness. I finally used dilute nitric acid, and even this failed. ... The examination has made me despair of the possibility of presenting the marbles in the British Museum in that state of purity and whiteness which they originally possessed.

A further effort to clean the marbles ensued in 1858. Richard Westmacott, who was appointed superintendent of the "moving and cleaning the sculptures" in 1857, in a letter approved by the British Museum Standing Committee on 13 March 1858 concluded[68]

I think it my duty to say that some of the works are much damaged by ignorant or careless moulding – with oil and lard – and by restorations in wax and resin. These mistakes have caused discolouration. I shall endeavour to remedy this without, however, having recourse to any composition that can injure the surface of the marble.

Yet another effort to clean the marbles occurred in 1937–38. This time the incentive was provided by the construction of a new Gallery to house the collection. The Pentelic marble mined from Mount Pentelicus north of Athens, from which the sculptures are made, naturally acquires a tan colour similar to honey when exposed to air; this colouring is often known as the marble's "patina"[69] but Lord Duveen, who financed the whole undertaking, acting under the misconception that the marbles were originally white[70] probably arranged for the team of masons working in the project to remove discolouration from some of the sculptures. The tools used were seven scrapers, one chisel and a piece of carborundum stone. They are now deposited in the British Museum's Department of Preservation.[70][71] The cleaning process scraped away some of the detailed tone of many carvings.[72] According to Harold Plenderleith, the surface removed in some places may have been as much as one-tenth of an inch (2.5 mm).[70]

The British Museum has responded with the statement that "mistakes were made at that time."[73] On another occasion it was said that "the damage had been exaggerated for political reasons" and that "the Greeks were guilty of excessive cleaning of the marbles before they were brought to Britain."[71] During the international symposium on the cleaning of the marbles, organised by the British Museum in 1999, curator Ian Jenkins, deputy keeper of Greek and Roman antiquities, remarked that "The British Museum is not infallible, it is not the Pope. Its history has been a series of good intentions marred by the occasional cock-up, and the 1930s cleaning was such a cock-up". Nonetheless, he claimed that the prime cause for the damage inflicted upon the marbles was the 2000-year-long weathering on the Acropolis.[74]

American archeologist Dorothy King, in a newspaper article, wrote that techniques similar to the ones used in 1937–38 were applied by Greeks as well in more recent decades than the British, and maintained that Italians still find them acceptable.[21] The British Museum said that a similar cleaning of the Temple of Hephaestus in the Athenian Agora was carried out by the conservation team of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens[75] in 1953 using steel chisels and brass wire.[63] According to the Greek ministry of Culture, the cleaning was carefully limited to surface salt crusts.[74] The 1953 American report concluded that the techniques applied were aimed at removing the black deposit formed by rain-water and "brought out the high technical quality of the carving" revealing at the same time "a few surviving particles of colour".[75]

Section of a frieze from the Elgin (Parthenon) Marbles

Documents released by the British Museum under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that a series of minor accidents, thefts and acts of vandalism by visitors have inflicted further damage to the sculptures.[76] This includes an incident in 1961 when two schoolboys knocked off a part of a centaur's leg. In June 1981, a west pediment figure was slightly chipped by a falling glass skylight, and in 1966 four shallow lines were scratched on the back of one of the figures by vandals. In 1970 letters were scratched on to the upper right thigh of another figure. Four years later, the dowel hole in a centaur's hoof was damaged by thieves trying to extract pieces of lead.[76]

Athens

Air pollution and acid rain have damaged the marble and stonework.[77] The last remaining slabs from the western section of the Parthenon frieze were removed from the monument in 1993 for fear of further damage.[78] They have now been transported to the New Acropolis Museum.[77]

Until cleaning of the remaining marbles was completed in 2005,[79] black crusts and coatings were present on the marble surface.[80] The laser technique applied on the 14 slabs that Elgin did not remove revealed a surprising array of original details, such as the original chisel marks and the veins on the horses' bellies. Similar features in the British Museum collection have been scraped and scrubbed with chisels to make the marbles look white.[81][82] Between 20 January and the end of March 2008, 4200 items (sculptures, inscriptions small terracotta objects), including some 80 artefacts dismantled from the monuments in recent years, were removed from the old museum on the Acropolis to the new Acropolis Museum.[83][84] Natural disasters have also affected the Parthenon. In 1981, an earthquake caused damage to the east façade.[85]

Return controversy

Greek requests for return

In 1835, the government of the newly independent Greece asked the British Museum to return the Elgin marbles, and in 1890 the Greek minister in London asked for the return of the architectural fragments.[86] In 1983 the Greek government formally asked the UK government to return the marbles to Greece[87] and, in 1984, listed the dispute with UNESCO.[88] The Greek government is only requesting the return of the sculptures Elgin took from the Parthenon.[89] In 2000, a select committee of the UK parliament held an inquiry into the illegal trade in cultural property which considered the dispute over the marbles. The committee heard evidence from the then Greek foreign minister, George Papandreou, who argued that the question of legal ownership was secondary to the ethical and cultural arguments for returning the sculptures. The committee, however, made no recommendations on the future of the marbles.[90]

In 2000, the Greek government commissioned the construction of a new Acropolis Museum which opened in 2009.[91] The museum was, in part, designed to arrange the surviving Parthenon sculptures (including those in the Elgin collection) as they originally stood on the Parthenon itself, and to counter arguments that the Elgin marbles would be better preserved and displayed in the British Museum.[92] The Acropolis Museum displays a portion of the remaining frieze (about 20% has been lost or destroyed), aligned in orientation and within sight of the Parthenon, with the position of the elements held in London clearly marked and space left should they be returned to Athens.[93]

In 2013, the Greek government asked UNESCO to mediate between the Greek and UK authorities on the return of the marbles, but the UK government and the British Museum declined UNESCO's offer to mediate. In 2021, UNESCO concluded that the UK government had an obligation to return the marbles and called upon the UK government to open negotiations with Greece.[88]

In late 2022, British and Greek authorities resumed negotiations on the future of the marbles.[94][95]Asked about the possible return of the Marbles, the current British Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan replied: "I can sympathise with some of the arguments but I do think that is a very dangerous and slippy road to embark down,"[96] expressing the worry that other cultural items now held in Britain might also have to be returned to the places they were acquired from.

Rationale for returning to Athens

Those arguing for the marbles' return cite legal, moral, cultural, conservation and artistic grounds. Their arguments include:

  • The marbles were obtained illegally, or at least unethically, and hence should be returned to their rightful owner.[97]
  • While the marbles are of universal cultural value, they are also part of the unique cultural heritage of Greece, and this is the most fitting location for them to be displayed.[98]
  • The Parthenon sculptures around the world should be reunited in order to restore "organic elements" which "at present remain without cohesion, homogeneity and historicity of the monument to which they belong" and allow visitors to better appreciate them as a whole.[99][100][101]
  • Presenting all the extant Parthenon Marbles near their original historical and cultural environment, and in the context of other Greek antiquities, would permit their "fuller understanding and interpretation";[100][102]
  • Safekeeping of the marbles would be ensured at the Acropolis Museum, as it is equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the protection and preservation of exhibits.[103]
  • The Elgin marbles have suffered significant damage from poor conservation and accidents in London and it cannot be assumed they will be better preserved there.[104]
  • Returning the Parthenon sculptures would not set a precedent for other restitution claims because of the distinctively "universal value" of the Parthenon.[105]

Rationale for remaining in London

A range of different arguments has been presented by scholars, British political leaders and the British Museum for the retention of the Elgin Marbles in London.[106] Their arguments include:

  • Elgin acquired the marbles legally and no court of law would find in favour of a Greek complainant.[107]
  • Elgin rescued the marbles from destruction and those in the British museum are in better condition than those left behind. The British Museum has a right to retain and publicly display what it preserved from destruction.[108]
  • Bringing the Parthenon sculptures together as a unified whole is impossible as half had been lost or destroyed by 1800.[109]
  • The British Museum display allows the marbles to be better viewed in the context of other major ancient cultures and thus complements the perspective provided by the Acropolis Museum collection.[110]
  • Fulfilling all restitution claims would empty most of the world's great museums—this has also caused concerns among other European and American museums, with one potential target being the Nefertiti Bust in Berlin's Neues Museum; in addition, portions of Parthenon marbles are kept by many other European museums.[108]
  • The British Museum receive about 6 million visitors per year as opposed to 1.5 million visitors to the Acropolis Museum. The removal of the marbles to Greece would significantly reduce the number of people who have the opportunity to visit the marbles.[111]
  • The Elgin Marbles have been on public display in England since 1807[112] and in that time have become a part of the British cultural heritage.[113]

Public campaigns for return

Outside Greece, a campaign for the return of the marbles began in 1981 with the formation of the International Organising Committee – Australia – for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles[114], and in 1983, with the formation of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.[115] Campaign organisations also exist in Greece and around the world.[116]

A number of British and international celebrities such as comedian Stephen Fry[117] and actor George Clooney[118] have expressed their support for the return of the marbles.

Opinion polls

An Ipsos MORI poll of British voters in 1998, founds 39% in favour of returning the marbles to Greece and 15% in favour of keeping them in Britain. 45% had no opinion or would not vote if the question were put to a referendum.[119] Another Mori poll in 2002 showed similar results.[120] A Yougov poll in 2021 found that 59% of British respondents thought the Parthenon marbles belonged in Greece, 18% that they belonged in Britain, and 18% didn't know.[121]

British press

The Guardian published an editorial in 2020 reiterating its support for the return of the Parthenon marbles.[122] In January 2022, The Times of London reversed its long-standing support for retaining the marbles, publishing an editorial calling for their return to Greece.[123] The Daily Telegraph published an editorial in January 2023 arguing that any decision on the return of the Elgin marbles to Greece should be made by the UK parliament.[124]

A psychological view

Christopher Wingfield states that controversies over former objects of worship such as the Elgin Marbles, the Benin Bronzes and the Sultanganj Buddha attract strong emotional responses either of devotion or of rejection, the latter sometimes taking the form of wishing to be rid of their presence by sending them back to where they came from. The controversy they elicit arises as a psychological response, an "iconoclash", transcending questions of right or wrong.[125]

Loan to the Hermitage Museum

The British Museum lent the figure of a river-god, possibly the river Ilisus, to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg to celebrate its 250th anniversary.[126] It was on display there from 6 December 2014 until 18 January 2015. This was the first time the British Museum had lent part of its Parthenon Marbles collection and it caused some controversy.[127]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  2. ^ Jenkins, Tiffany (2016). Keeping their Marbles, how the treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should they there. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 325 note 1. ISBN 9780199657599.
  3. ^ Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the Earl of Elgin's Collection of Sculptured Marbles. (1816). Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Earl of Elgin's collection of sculptured marbles. London: Printed for J. Murray, by W. Bulmer and Co.
  4. ^ Professor Vassilis Demetriades. "Was the removal of the marbles illegal?". newmentor.net.
  5. ^ Casey, Christopher (30 October 2008). ""Grecian Grandeurs and the Rude Wasting of Old Time": Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and Post-Revolutionary Hellenism". Foundations. Volume III, Number 1. Archived from the original on 13 May 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  6. ^ Beard, Mary (2002). The Parthenon. London: Profile Books. pp. 11–15. ISBN 186197292X.
  7. ^ "Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the Earl of Elgin's Collection of Sculptured Marbles, Printed for J. Murray, by W. Bulmer and Co., 1816". Google ebook. 1816.
  8. ^ "Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation Twenty-Second SessionParis, UNESCO Headquarters, Room XI27-29 September 2021DECISIONS". UNESCO. September 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Greece in 'preliminary' talks with British Museum about Parthenon marbles". The Guardian. 3 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via www.theguardian.com.
  10. ^ "British museum says constructive discussions over Parthenon Marbles".
  11. ^ a b c "The Parthenon Sculptures". The British Museum. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  12. ^ Jenkins (2016). pp 109-10
  13. ^ Jenkins, Tiffany (2016). Keeping their Marbles, how the treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should they there. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 325 note 1. ISBN 9780199657599.
  14. ^ Beard (2002) pp. 11-12
  15. ^ Theodor E. Mommsen, The Venetians in Athens and the Destruction of the Parthenon in 1687, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 45, No. 4 (October – December 1941), pp. 544–556
  16. ^ Fichner-Rathus, Lois (2012). Understanding Art (10 ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 305. ISBN 978-1-111-83695-5.
  17. ^ Chatziaslani, Kornilia. "Morosini in Athens". Archaeology of the City of Athens. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  18. ^ Tomkinson, John L. "Venetian Athens: Venetian Interlude (1684–1689)". Anagnosis Books. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  19. ^ Grafton, Anthony; Glenn W. Most; Salvatore Settis (2010). The Classical Tradition. Harvard University Press. p. 693. ISBN 978-0-674-03572-0.
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  21. ^ a b c d King, Dorothy (21 July 2004). "Elgin Marbles: fact or fiction?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  22. ^ Busuttil, Cynthia (26 July 2009). "Dock 1 made from ancient ruins?". The Times. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  23. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online"Elgin Marbles". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  24. ^ Jenkins (2016). pp. 96, 102
  25. ^ As reported by John E. Simmons in: Museums: A History, chapter 7, Rowman & Littlefield, 7 July 2016 – 326 pages
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  29. ^ "firman". newmentor.net.
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  42. ^ a b c d Wroth, Warwick William (1887). "Clarke, Edward Daniel" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 10. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 422. His chief prize was obtained at Eleusis, whence he succeeded in carrying off the colossal Greek statue (of the fourth or third ...) supposed by Clarke to be ' Ceres ' (Demeter) herself, but now generally called a ' Kistophoros '... statue and with Clarke's other Greek marbles, was wrecked near Beachy Head, not far from the home of Mr. Cripps, whose ...
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  45. ^ Patrick Leigh Fermor (1984). Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese. Penguin Books. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-14-011511-6. uncanonical 'St. Demetra', was Eleusis, the former home of her most sacred rites in the Eleusinian mysteries. ... for prosperous harvests until two Englishmen called Clark and Cripps, armed with a document from the local pasha, carried her off from the heart of the outraged and rioting peasantry, in 1801. ...
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Sources

Further reading

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