Send them back: The Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Athens

The main feature in our Autumn 2012 issue asks whether the Parthenon Sculptures on display at the British Museum in London should be returned to Greece. We reported on the Intelligence Squared debate about the Sculptures and looked at the reasons for and against returning them to Greece. You can watch the debate NOW here on the YAC website!!

Ομιλητές υπέρ της επιστροφής:

Andrew George Chair of Marbles Reunite, Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives

Stephen Fry Actor, writer, comedian, and broadcaster

Ομιλητές κατά της επιστροφής:

Felipe Fernández - Armesto William P Reynolds Professor of History, the University of Notre Dame

Tristram Hunt Broadcaster, historian and newspaper columnist; Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central.

Συντονίστρια:

Zeinab Badawi BBC World News presenter

Οι θέσεις του ακροατηρίου πριν την διεξαγωγή της συζήτησης ήταν:

• Υπέρ της επιστροφής: 196
• Κατά της επιστροφής: 202
• Αναποφάσιστοι: 158

Οι θέσεις του ακροατηρίου μετά την διεξαγωγή της συζήτησης διαμορφώθηκαν:

• Υπέρ της επιστροφής: 384 (+188)
• Κατά της επιστροφής: 125 (-77)
• Αναποφάσιστοι: 24 (-134)

ψηφίστε ΕΔΩ: NOW vote in our online poll by clicking here!!

What's all this nonsense about sending the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece? If Lord Elgin hadn't rescued them from the Parthenon in Athens and presented them to the British Museum almost 200 years ago, these exquisite sculptures -- the finest embodiment of the classical ideal of beauty and harmony -- would have been lost to the ravages of pollution and time. So we have every right to keep them: indeed, returning them would set a dangerous precedent, setting off a clamour for every Egyptian mummy and Grecian urn to be wrenched from the world's museums and sent back to its country of origin. It is great institutions like the British Museum that have established such artefacts as items of world significance: more people see the Marbles in the BM than visit Athens every year. Why send them back to relative obscurity?

But aren't such arguments a little too imperialistic? All this talk of visitor numbers and dangerous precedents -- doesn't it just sound like an excuse for Britain to hold on to dubiously acquired treasures that were removed without the consent of the Greek people to whom they culturally and historically belong? That's what Lord Byron thought, and now Stephen Fry is taking up the cause. We should return the Marbles as a gesture of solidarity with Greece in its financial distress, says Fry, and as a mark of respect for the cradle of democracy and the birthplace of rational thought.

What are the Parthenon Sculptures?

The Parthenon Sculptures are sometimes called the Elgin Marbles because they were brought to Britain by Lord Elgin. The sculptures come from the famous Parthenon temple, which is part of the Acropolis in Athens. The Ancient Greeks began building the temple in 447BC.
Around half of the sculptures were destroyed in ancient times, before Lord Elgin arrived at the Parthenon. Of the remaining sculptures, about 50% are now in the British Museum, where they have been on display since 1817. Most of the rest are in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Some people want all of the remaining sculptures to be together in Athens - others believe that the British Museum collection should stay in London.
We want to know what you think! So please do vote in our online poll above.
We’d love to know why you think what you think! Email us your comments about the Parthenon Sculptures
To find out more about the Parthenon Sculptures and the arguments for and against returning the British Museum collection to Greece, check out pages 4 and 5 in Issue 153 of Young Archaeologist magazine.
You can also see a debate about the sculptures, and read more about them by clicking here
Young Archaeologist magazine is the exclusive magazine for YAC members. Find out how to join YAC UK by clicking here!