Last week, I got into the story surrounding Thomas Bruce and the Parthenon Marbles. Now, let me tell you about the controversial past (and present) of these artifacts.
As I mentioned, Bruce had to get a firman from the Ottoman authorities in order for his workers, including Giovanni Battista Lusieri and William Richard Hamilton, to continue sketching the Acropolis in Athens. He eventually got this letter of permission in early 1801, and the document was deemed official by July 1. However, due to transnational tensions that culminated into the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815), government paperwork and rules at the turn of the century were a little murky. This led to a disagreement on the true owners of the Parthenon Marbles. People who want the Marbles to stay in London say that Bruce obtained the firman with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Greece at the time, so his actions were completely legal. But people who want the Marbles returned to Greece say that the Marbles should be replaced to their homeland, stating that Bruce illegally stole the Marbles during Greece's Turkish occupation.
Bruce removed the Marbles between 1800 -1811, but then sold them to the British Museum in 1816 because he was facing debt. Controversy about the Marbles was reintroduced in 1925 when a newspaper argued that Greece should be able to reclaim the Marbles. Today, why do people care about the movement of the Marbles if it happened almost 200 years ago? In October 2014, the London-based lawyer/activist/author Amal Clooney said that Greece had "just cause" for the return of the Parthenon Marbles. So even today, the plot thickens.
Why does this even matter? Well, the controversy about the Parthenon Marbles is important for a couple of reasons. Pro-London supporters say that the Marbles are "an important representation of ancient Athenian civilization in the context of world history" and they give "maximum public benefit" to the people of England, so it is more important that they should stay in London than go back to Athens. To these supporters, the Marbles represent a moment in antiquity and continue to emphasize the ancient Athenian culture to the modern public. Pro-Athens supporters say that the Marbles are an important symbol of the whole nation's heritage - in the present, not just in antiquity - and they should be returned for the sake of national pride.
The significance of the Parthenon Marbles is completely defined by society, meaning that people assign importance to these ancient sculptures. These artifacts are symbolic of an all-but-lost ancient culture, and if Greece ever gets the Marbles back, the nation will have to reevaluate their cultural significance in a modern context.
In late March, Greece requested the return of the Parthenon Marbles for the second time. The British Museum turned down the request, and it is unlikely that the Marbles will be returning to Athenian soil anytime soon.
Check out these sources if you're interested in learning more about the controversy about the Parthenon Marbles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11274713/Why-are-the-Elgin-marble...
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/03/27/double-rejection-for-partheno...
Photo courtesy of http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/14/amal-alamuddin-advis...