Removal of the Elgin Marbles and Greece’s Effort to Get Them Back

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GREECE’S EFFORT TO GET THE ELGIN MARBLES BACK


Thomas Bruce, the 7th Lord of Elgin

The Parthenon Sculptures, also called the Elgin Marbles, were crafted by ancient Greeks 2,500 years ago to decorate the outside of the Parthenon temple in Athens. Now housed at the British Museum in London, they are perhaps the most striking and well known piece of classical Greek statuary. They are sections of the pediments and metopes (marble carvings set into the frieze) from the 160-meter (525-foot) frieze that looped around the Parthenon in Athens. They are considered by many to be the best examples of ancient Greek art. Many other pieces of ancient Greek sculpture were made during the Hellenistic period.

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney — wife of the actor Goerge Clooney — has advised Greece to sue Britain to get the Elgin Marbles back. In November 2023, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was expected to raise the issue of the Parthenon Marbles during his visit to the U.K. At that time London’s British Museum and Greece’s Acropolis Museum were trying to hammer out an agreement that would see the artifacts sent to Athens as part of a long-term exchange that, according to Bloomberg, “would send some of the marbles to Greece on rotation in exchange for other historical objects that would be loaned to the UK in return, or a multi-year “partnership” that could be easily renewed. The British Museum was hoping to find an arrangement that could get around a UK law prohibiting museums from “disposing” of objects abroad, at the same time as satisfying Greek demands to reunify the artifacts with those on display in Athens. [Source: Alex Wickham and Sotiris Nikas, Bloomberg, November 24, 2023]

Removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon

The Elgin Marbles (pronounced with a hard "g") are perhaps the most striking and well known piece of classical Greek statuary. They are sections of the pediments and metopes (marble carvings set into the frieze) from the 160-meter (525-foot) frieze that looped around the Parthenon in Athens. They are considered by many to be the best examples of ancient Greek art.

More than 100 pieces of the Parthenon frieze, later called the Elgin Marbles, were removed from the Parthenon between 1801 and 1805. They are named after Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, a Scottish aristocrat who used his position as British Ambassador to the Ottoman empire, which controlled Greece at the time he was there, to get approval to hack the friezes off the Parthenon in 1801.

In 1802 Lord Elgin allegedly secured permission from Ottoman sultan to make castes of Parthenon frieze images (the authenticity of the permit, however, has been questioned). At first he was denied permission by the Turkish military governor, who thought Elgin could use his perch on the Parthenon to look at women in nearby houses. Permission was eventually granted partly because Turkey was fighting with Napoleon at the time and wanted to curry favor with France's main enemy, Britain. The permit allowed Elgin to remove "some pieces of stone with inscriptions of figures” from ''the temple of idols." It also said that "No person should...prevent [Elgin] from removing any stone bearing inscriptions or figures."

Elgin showed up with cutting tools and oxcarts and hundreds of laborers. Turkish officials looked on as Elgin oversaw the removal of the Parthenon’s best friezes Describing the removal of the marbles in September 1802, the travel writer Edward Daniel Clarke wrote: A workman informed the supervisor of the removal project "that they were going to lower one of the metopes. We saw this piece of sculpture raised from its station between the triglyphs; but...part of the adjoining masonry was loosened by the machinery; and down came the fine masses of Pentelic marble, scattering their white fragments with a thundering noise among the ruins."

Greece in the Early 1800s

Mary Beard of the University of Cambridge wrote: “The Acropolis hill today is a bare rock, on which are perched the famous monuments of the fifth century B.C. - including the Parthenon. There is the tiny temple of Victory, which stands by the propylaia, or main gateway, to the hilltop, and also the so-called Erechtheum, another shrine of Athena, with its famous line-up of caryatids (columns in the form of female figures). One of the caryatids is now, thanks to Elgin, in the British Museum. [Source: Mary Beard, BBC, February 17, 2011 |::|]

“In Elgin's day it was quite different. The Parthenon stood in the middle of the small village-cum-garrison base that then occupied the hill. It was encroached upon by houses and gardens, and by all kinds of Byzantine, medieval and Renaissance remains. It is quite wrong to imagine Elgin removing works of art from the equivalent of a modern archaeological site - it was more of a seedy shanty town. |::|

“This changed dramatically in the 1830s, after the Greek War of Independence which ended Turkish rule in Greece. The young Bavarian prince, Otto, who was put on the throne of the new Greek nation, was confronted with terrible problems - not least of which was how to find the patriotic symbols for a new country that had just experienced a dreadfully brutal war. |::|

“It is clear that Otto's classically-educated advisers saw the culture of ancient Athens as a valuable card here. Athens was chosen as the capital city and (once the plan to build the royal palace on the Acropolis had been rejected) a systematic programme of excavations began. In the course of this, everything that did not belong to the 'great' period of the fifth century B.C. was removed. The hill was stripped to bedrock, with just the classical monuments preserved or reconstructed, to serve as a symbol of the new nation's heroic past. |::|

“There is no doubt that today the status of the Parthenon as a Greek national monument is an important factor in the campaign to restore the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The complicating paradox is that the Parthenon was not a national monument when those same sculptures were removed.” |::|

Elgin Marbles Leave Greece While Elgin Suffers


Temporary Elgin Room at the British Museum in 1819

Lord Elgin believed he had done a noble thing by removing the marbles. He shipped 60 friezes and sculptures to Britain (the others mainly ended up in France the supervisor who oversaw the removal was French). It took 22 ships to carry the load. One ship sunk in storm. The marbles were retrieved.

But that wasn’t all of Elgin’s bad luck. Removing, transporting and taking care of the marbles cost him his fortunes... and his beautiful and rich wife. In the years it took him to chisel the marbles off the Parthenon and bring them to Britain, Elgin lost his wife to his best friend and large portion of his nose to either a ghastly infection he picked up in Constantinople or perhaps medicinal mercury he used to treat the infection. In 1816, Elgin was forced to sell the marble for £35,000 (about $10 million in today’s money) to the British government to pay off his debts after his divorce. After the purchase of the marbles, which was approved by an act of parliament, the friezes were placed the in British Museum, where they have been one of the museum's main draws ever since.

Elgin estimated that he spent £62,444 ($18 million in today’s money) securing the marbles. He had originally hoped to display the pieces in a palatial mansion but ended up selling them at a loss. He was jailed for several years in a French prison, from which he could have been released if he turned the marbles over to France. It was while he prison that his wife left him.

Elgin Marbles in Britain

Mary Beard of the University of Cambridge wrote: “In London, the Elgin Marbles started a new chapter of their history — as museum objects. Acquiring the sculptures had bankrupted Elgin, and he was keen to sell them to the government. In 1816 a Parliamentary Select Committee looked into the whole affair (examining everything from the quality of the sculpture as works of art to the legality of their acquisition) and recommended purchase, though for much less money than Elgin had hoped. From that point on the sculptures have been lodged in the British Museum. [Source: Mary Beard, BBC, February 17, 2011 |::|]

“Over the last 200 years they have come to 'belong' in the British Museum and are now historically rooted there as well as in Athens. Not only were they an important part of British 19th-century culture (inspiring Keats and others, and prompting replicas of themselves across the country), but they are also integral to the whole idea of the Universal Museum and the way museums over the last two centuries have come to display and interpret human culture. |::|

“The museum movement depended on collection, on moving objects from their original location, and on allowing them to be understood in relation to different traditions of art and cultural forms. In the British Museum, the Elgin Marbles gain from being seen next to Assyrian or Egyptian sculpture, at the same time as they lose from not being 'at home in Greece'. |This is what causes the irresolvable conflict - it has turned out that there is more than one place that can legitimately call itself 'home' to the Elgin Marbles.” |::|

Greece’s Never-Ending Struggle to Get the Elgin Marbles Returned


Elgin Marbles at the British Museum today

Ever since it became independent in 1821, Greece has been trying to get the Elgin Marble back. One of Greece's most influential cultural ministers, the late actress Melina Mercouri, made it her goal to get the Elgin Marbles back. She pleaded in 1986, "They are our pride. They are our sacrifice. They are our nobelist symbol of excellence. They are our tribute to the democratic philosophy. Greece has gone to the World Court on the issue and won support from 56 nations on a United Nations resolution to promise their return.

Mary Beard of the University of Cambridge wrote: “There has been a never-ending international debate about Elgin's removal of the sculptures, and whether they should be returned to Athens. Sometimes this can give the impression of an unseemly scrap over a favourite toy, with petulant cries of 'we want' being balanced by an equally unappealing refusal to let go. There certainly have been bad, as well as good, arguments on all sides. But the real reason that the dispute has lasted so long is that it raises important and difficult issues, and it is not easy to see what a fair resolution is. [Source: Mary Beard, BBC, February 17, 2011 |::|]

“There are many factors behind this. We do not know if Elgin's actions were legal at the time. He had obtained from the Turkish authorities then in control of Athens permission to work on the Acropolis, but only an Italian translation of this firman(or permit) survives and its terms are disputed. |Nor is it possible to reconstruct Elgin's motives. Some evidence suggests that he was a self-serving aristocrat, seeking sculpture to decorate his ancestral pile. Some say that he was genuinely concerned to rescue these works of art. But the main difficulty lies in the much bigger issue of 'cultural property' in general. Who owns great works of art? Do monuments such as the Parthenon belong to the whole world? And what does that mean in practice?” |::|

In June 2009, the new Acropolis Museum was opened about 300 meters from the Parthenon in Athens. Designed by Swiss-born, New-York-based architect Bernard Tschumi, the three-level, steel-glass and stone structure arguable has been built specifically the house the Elgin Marbles. The unique building has a glass floor on its bottom level so visitors can watch the archaeological excavations below the building. On the third floor are sculptures originally kept in the Parthenon and a huge glass case with plaster copies of the Elgin Marbles along with expectations for the return of the originals.

One of the points of the new museum’s seems to be make the statement that a comfortable home is waiting for the marbles that aim to debunk the assertion that they are better off in Britain away from the pollution in Athens. The British Museum has said it would consider lending the friezes to the Acropolis Museum but is reluctant to because the pieces are too fragile to travel.


Parthenon frieze


Britons and Return of the Elgin Marbles

Even in the early 19th century when the Elgin Marbles were displayed in Britain with much fanfare many Britons, including the poet Lord Byron felt the Elgin Marble had been stolen and should be returned to Greece. In “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” Byron wrote:
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
The walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed
By British hands, which is had best behov’d
To guard those relics n’er to be restored.”

The sentiment remains today. According to an April 1996 television poll with 99,340 of British respondents 92.5 percent of those asked said they were in favor of returning the marbles.

Neil Kinnock, head of the British labor party during the late 1980s and early 1990s, said that if his party returned to power, the marbles would be sent back to Greece. After Tony Blair was elected as the new British Minister in 1997, the Greek Minister of Culture wrote a letter to the new Labor government asking it to live up to a promise to return the Elgin Marbles. The answer was no. The Party decided that the return of the marbles was neither feasible or sensible and that they were "wonderfully displayed" at the British Museum where they were "integral part" of the collection.

British Museum and Elgin Marbles

The British Museum has been unwavering it its position that the Elgin marbles belong to it. Officials at museum have repeatedly turned down requests to return the Elgin Marbles on the grounds that the museum is better prepared to take good care of the friezes and the museum has helped preserve the friezes by removing them from Athens’ notorious pollution, which has kept the treasures in much better condition than they would have been in if they had stayed in Greece.

Officials at the British Museum also argue that if they return the Elgin marbles then other museums should returned their pieces too. The Louvre for example should be required to return the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samonthrace. When a Greek official asked to see the statues, an official at the British Museum responded, "burglars" were not usually allowed "to case the joint.”


Parthenon frieze


The British Museum's position was tarnished in 1998, when it was revealed that the marbles were severely damaged between 1936 and 1939 when they were cleaned with powerful chemicals and sand in a futile effort to remove the marble's honey-brown color before it was realized that brown was its natural color. A report made at the time concluded "the damage can not be exaggerated" but decided "a public statement need not be made."

No court can make a decision on the matter as the marble were taken from Greece too long ago for modern laws to apply. Neil McGregor, director of the British Museum insisted that Greece must first formally recognize that the marbles are the museum’s property. “The conversation cannot even begin until that has happened.” Computer and laser technology now makes it possible to make perfect replicas of the Elgin Marbles and other famous statuary.

Debate Over Who “Owns” the Elgin Marbles

Mary Beard of the University of Cambridge wrote: “The battle of the Marbles has been fought on many fronts. The weaker arguments do neither side much credit. Both the Greeks and the British have accused each other of not caring properly for their precious charges. And there have been outbreaks of vulgar nationalism (reaching a low point when one Director of the British Museum claimed that the campaign for the return of the Marbles was a form of 'cultural fascism' - 'it's like burning books'). [Source: Mary Beard, BBC, February 17, 2011 |::|]

“The stronger arguments tend to reveal just how complicated the dilemmas are. There is a powerful case for suggesting that the Parthenon could be better appreciated if it could be seen close to the sculptures that once adorned it. (Though environmental conditions in Athens mean that the original sculptures can never go back on the building itself.) On the other hand, it is undeniable that part of the fame and significance of the Parthenon rests on its wide diaspora throughout the western world. |::|

“Ultimately it comes down to matters of ownership, and how the world's great cultural icons are to be shared. In the performing arts that problem is relatively easy to solve. Shakespeare might have a special connection with Stratford, and Mozart with Vienna - but we can all 'own' their works in performance anywhere in the world. |::|

“That is not the case with these blocks of marble. Where do they belong? Is it better or worse to have them scattered through the world? Are they the possession of those who live in the place where they were first made? Or are they the possession of everyone? The likelihood is that we will be debating these issues for many years to come.” |::|


Elgin Marbles, East pediment


On a similar sad tale related to “Greek” statuary, Mary Beard wrote in the New York Review of Books, “My own favorite story is the “Parthenon metope” brought back to Cambridge from Athens by Edward Daniel Clarke, who went on to become the professor of mineralogy. He bought it from the Turkish garrison commander at about the same time as Lord Elgin’s men were removing their “marbles.” And Clarke was very smug that his own piece of the famous temple had been acquired completely legitimately. The only problem, as you can now read in the gallery, is that it was not a piece of the Parthenon at all, but a piece of Roman sculpture probably from a nearby theater. Smugness is always dangerous in archaeology. [Source: Mary Beard, New York Review of Books, March 3, 2010]

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons and the British Museum

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" by Daniel Boorstin. "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2024


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