Imagine the Sphinx without his head or the pyramids with half its blocks sent far away to another country. Great buildings impress as a whole. Their beauty lie in their completeness. The Parthenon is one of these great buildings that was and is still considered extraordinary. Two years ago, the Greek minister of culture virtually combined the Parthenon with the statues, frieze and external metope panels that lord Elgin removed 200 years ago. The Parthenon could be seen for the first time in 200 years complete(Ascherson).
The slogan of the British museum, as mentioned on their webpage, is "illuminating the cultures"( British Museum). But this slogan seldom represents keeping the Parthenon marbles torn apart in a far away museum. They are positioned out of context in front of a gloomy grey wall under artificial spot lights when they can be shown back in Athens in a specially built museum at the foot of the Acropolis in the nearest possible place to their natural position. They will be displayed in front of a glass wall that allows the statutes to be seen in their natural surrounding lightened by natural sunlight. The viewer will be able to juxtapose the marbles physically positioned in the Acropolis museum in the Parthenon as if they were situated there (Ascherson). A real sense for the cultural, historical and artistic context can only then be acquired.
The UNESCO web page provides us with an accurate description of what is happening "Headless statues. Niches without the figures which once adorned them. Children who grow up without ever having seen the highest cultural achievements of their own culture...These are, among others, some of the sad results of the illicit traffic in cultural objects."(UNESCO). The Parthenon with no statues can be added to the long list of missing cultural objects. UNESCO, which is the only body equipped with legal instruments in cultural issues, elaborated three multilateral treaties to address the general issue of cultural ownership. One of them, which applies to the Parthenon case, is the (1970). The United Kingdom is among the countries that lately signed on the convention.
Those who oppose the return of the Marbles argue that returning them back to Greece will start a long endless row of requests to return other artifacts and soon the British museum as well as the other museums in the world which now have multicultural collections will be emptied (Howarth). This is a serious claim, but fortunately it is not completely accurate. The Parthenon marbles are not like any other separate isolated antiquities. They are a part of a great building which still exists. Therefore, the arguments that apply to the marbles cannot apply to every other piece of antiquity they have in museums.
Besides, The British museum role as the protector for the marbles has been already undermined by a catastrophic cleaning which caused irreparable damage.
In 1930, unauthorized chemicals were used to literally rub the statues using the harshest element found at that time. The British museum thought the statues to be brilliant white rather than their natural honey color. St Clair, a former under secretary at the Treasury, points out that, "If you look at pictorial and photographic evidence you can see that around 80 per cent of the marbles' original patina was literally rubbed away."
Several polls conducted by accredited parties have made the British public opinion clear. Not only are the Greeks in favor of returning the marbles but also most of the Britons. A Mori Poll conducted in 25 September 1998 and another recent one in 2003 revealed that, most of the Britons support the return of the marbles. Most of the world also shares this hope. According to a vote by BBC on 22nd of August 2001, most viewers think that the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece. Another vote on a CNN website showed the 82% are in favor of the return. Furthermore, Three Hundred and Forty Seven Members of the European Parliament signed a declaration on 3rd of November 1998 that calls on the UK Government to give positive consideration to Greece's request for the return of the Elgin Marbles to their natural site.
The issue of ownership is not why the marbles should be returned to Greece. It is because the world culture must be restored. The British museum should help nations in celebrating and awakening their classical past. Children in Athens should be able to see what once celebrated their victory and was made by their greatest sculptor. It is not only about restoring the culture, but also restoring the beauty of something very magnificent. The marbles' beauty will only be completed back in Athens. It is not only for the Greeks but also for the whole world that a new beauty can be made available. The British museum should listen to the wishes of the British people and the whole world and return the marbles. If the marbles remain in Britain, a room for them will be left empty in the new built museum in Athens to remind millions of visitors each year that the Parthenon is stripped of its most beautiful objects.
Works Cited
Aaronovitch, David. "No Going Back." The Observer 18 Jan 2004. 23 Nov
2004 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/parthenon/article/0,12119,11258
55,00.html>
Ascherson, Neal. "End the Exile." The Observer 20 June 2004. 23 Nov 2004 <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,
1242758,00.html>
Bregman, James. "The Real Story of the Elgin Marbles." BBC News . 23
Nov 2004 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3841179.stm>
Howarth, Alan. "The Elgin Marbles Should Stay." The Guardian 5 Feb 2002. 23 Nov 2004 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/parthenon/article/
0, 12119,645128,00.html>
UNESCO. 23 Nov. 2004 <http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=2633&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html>.
