Parthenon Marbles Or Elgin Marbles? New Museum Sparks Debate

The opening of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens has to think about issues artifact museum property. This debate focuses on the Parthenon Sculptures (Elgin Marbles), an impressive facade or wall-reliefs, which are transported from Greece to the British Museum of Natural History from 1801 to 1805 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Lord of Elgin. So was his disgraceful act, the act of shifting the most valuable artifacts from their natural or national context is now known as elginism and is specifically defined as "an act of cultural vandalism."

The story is ripe with instances of elginism and few countries are free of the practice when it clear that the richer the nation, the common practice. Museums in Britain, the United States and Germany, a large tapestry of ancient history, relations with the colonization and war born. At least these artifacts illegally purchased on the display are from the masses, even if these masses are rarely any direction line on the history they represent. Often, elginism is villainous and criminal matters. A large part of the natural history, has been stolen from poor countries is in private collections, the individual owners and no one else.

Much has been done in the last 60 years for the conservation of the natural history of vulnerable nations. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has an international law in force at the artifact of trafficking and protection of monuments, statues and sculptures in the home. The primary protocol in 1954, defines specific rules about the protection of cultural property in the event of war. A second protocol was signed in 1999, the intent of the law, not only prevent the treatment of cultural artifacts as "war booty", but also to prevent their destruction in armed conflicts. An international fund was also to facilitate the return of cultural property to its rightful nation.

Despite these international laws, the recovery of stolen items is often a lengthy process, even if nations show a degree of cooperation. In 1990, antiquities restorer Jonathan Tokeley-Parry, a shady holder of the British art collector scene, smuggled a bust of Amenhotep III by the liquid plastic coating and painting is black and gold. The face of the artifact has the appearance of a sticky reminder fooled that they eyes of customs officials. Tokeley-Parry was four years later in Britain for another attempt to sell illegal archaeological find. Police return to the bust of Amenhotep III, five years later, but it would be nearly twenty years of legal wrangling from Egypt before the Pharaoh's bust was returned to its rightful home.

The fate of the Parthenon sculptures are still undecided. The Greek government and people call for their return and state with pride that the Acropolis museum was a worthy and rightful home. Some voices in the British government the same choir sing, the legislation before Parliament to return the "Elgin Marbles" in Greece. Others fear that the return of the marbles is a worrying precedent is that a wave of demand for the return of artifacts. They argue that if this flood gate is opened, some of the world's most popular museums soon infertile.

The questions around the cultural property are complex. It is the truth that the management of cultural goods from other nations actually received many cultural artifacts, which have fallen into disrepair or have been destroyed had they remained in their cultural context. Some argue that if artifacts are from the conquest of conflict or its ownership is part of the history of the nation to conquer. Ultimately, the solution is not an all-or-nothing affair, but lies somewhere in the middle of the common property.

One wonders what Indiana Jones has visibility to this issue. If this fictitious collector of rare antiquities have an opinion about where the Ark of the Covenant really belongs? Certainly not with the Nazis. The U.S. government, is unlikely. If Dr. Jones had it all to do again, he could be in Tanis satisfied to know that the Nazis were digging in the wrong place.

 

Rob Mabry is a former military journalist living in San Antonio. He writes about travel, technology, film and the video game industry. Rob operates http://www.yourmuseumstore.com along with his wife Sherry.

Looking for ancient Egyptian, Aztec, Mayan, Greek, Roman, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian statues, sculptures and wall reliefs to add a touch of culture to any room? Check out the hand-crafted, museum quality reproductions at http://www.yourmuseumstore.com

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