Elgin Marbles talks ‘collapse’ after Greece refuses to accept statues belong to UK in exchange for loan
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/elgin-marbles-talks-collapse-after-greece-refuses-to-accept-statues-belong-to-uk-5Hjdht8_2/
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
25 Comments
Well colour me surprised the Greeks were never going to agree the Marbles belong to the UK and if they had gone on loan they were never coming back. We might as well write it all off as a bad job and never bother talking to them again about it.
They should have agreed to this and then said “what marbles?” when we asked for them back
Put Theresa may in charge of it and she would have them accidentally repatriated
It’s 2026. We can make 3D scans of the Elgin Marbles to create moulds. Then we can make stone casts of them – essentially creating a replica for us to repatriate the originals.
They’re a trivial matter to us but one of pride to the Greeks.
The last time I checked when you buy something you own it but I’m not emotionally attached and Greece obviously is so I’d sell them back for £40M
Back off Stavros – those rocks are ours. Simple as.
Dippy, beloved of the Natural History Museum for decades, was only a replica. I say we give the marbles back in exchange for having exclusive rights to the highest possible quality replicas, in perpetuity.
Honestly just seems like a weird hill to die on. Just give them back as a gesture of good will between nations. Something something in honour of the King’s Greek heritage etcetera. For half the country it’d be cheaper to fly to Athens and see them than to take a train to London anyway.
They were never stolen, they were bought off the ottoman sultan. But I do think we should sell them back to them if they want them.
I don’t see what the big deal is. [It’s not like we went in and massacred half the government and shitload of civilians, burned the city to the ground, stole everything of value and then auctioned it off on the smoking remains of the city or anything.](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/nigeria-stolen-benin-bronzes-london-museum)
And a reminder that the law barring the British Museum from returning looted artifacts has been changed recently after the embarrassment of refusing to return art and artifacts looted by Germans during the holocaust. No law like that is set in stone, it’s just a convenient prop for the British Museum to hide behind.
When working for Accenture we had our Christmas party in the British museum around the time the Elgin marbles last got in the news.
Accenture had to sign a legal agreement that they would ensure no employee would try and steal them for the Greeks. Plus a million quid insurance deposit against breaking anything in there.
It was pretty mental giving thousands of people access to easy alcohol in a party around priceless artefacts
all they had to do was lie once to get them back forever
I mean, says great things about the national character; but doesn’t get them the statues
Wasn’t expecting to see these on reddit after seeing them in person just yesterday during my visit the the British Museum
Yesterday I read about [The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese](https://www.reddit.com/r/AbsoluteUnits/s/GDeAcDKMJc) which was looted from Venice and is now shown opposite the Mona Lisa
100% chance the UK will send back the bayeux tapestry
0% chance Greece would have sent back the marbles
If they have to be returned they should be returned to Turkey
For the sake of goodwill to a friendly country, I think they should be returned to Greece, and the U.K. public in poll after poll supports this; however, it must be done delicately because it would open the floodgates to claims from all over the world not just to the British Museum, but to the Metropolitan, the Louvre, the Vatican, the Museo de America (Madrid)…..it is endless. I haven’t read any comments from any of the above museums to support repatriation, as I suspect they know what the consequences may be for them if not done diplomatically and with some reciprocal benefit.
Good. They were acquired legitimately and their whining won’t change that.
More Daily Telegraph nonsense. Listen to what the museum is saying and ignore the telegraph.
I really find the official British position on this a little odd. I mean I’m sure they’re very nice, but they’re not massively important to the country. They are massively important to Greece being part of the structure that dominates the Athenian skyline.
The British public don’t seem to be particularly attached to them. In polls the majority of people would be happy to return them.
The acquisition by Elgin really seems pretty suspect. It doesn’t look good.
The rationale presented for hanging onto them always seems a little spurious.
Good. These were purchased by the British legitimately and Greece have zero intention of handing them back.
Wildly badly played by the Greeks. All they had to do was say that the marbles were legitimately obtained by Elgin and they could have them back in Athens on an indefinite loan. The museum would have washed its hands of a big headache, Burnham could look statesmanlike and everyone would have been happy.
We have plenty of British rocks. I really don’t understand why we are so obsessed with these ones.
It is still like if the Normans had sold Celtic artifacts and we made a giant fuss about it. It shouldn’t be a political issue.
I’m afraid it’s time we just gave them back as a gesture of goodwill. There is no need for us to keep them in this age of technology.