The exciting spread in The Sunday Times Culture magazine (TIME TO RELEASE OUR GRIP ON THE ELGIN MARBLES Why the British Museum is ready to Bargain with Greece, July 31st) written by Sarah Baxter says it all.
Cast your eye over the breathtaking pictures from the ancient world and be filled with wonder at what we might get to see one day at The British Museum. But down below you’ll see two men smiling at their own cleverness: George Osborne and Boris Johnson embracing while clutching a glass of white, two men not known for their veracity in public life.
On their sense of fair play rests the fate of the Parthenon Marbles. George says ’There’s a deal to be done’ because he’s an unreconstructed wheeler-dealer; Boris says: ’They belong in the landscape of Achilles’ because in 1986 as a classics scholar he knew they did. That sense of justice has gone now. So, handy-dandy, who do you believe?
Until the British Museum Act of 1983 is amended there will be nothing to talk about. Both these men could do it, but remain relics of the Imperial age just like the British Museum. But public opinion embraces a new respect for all cultures, so one day the BM will find the courage to look reality in the eye, and make an honest arrangement with Greece to return the Parthenon’s Marbles.
Janet Suzman DBE (Chair: British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles) and Prof Paul Cartledge (vice-Chair BCRPM & IARPS)
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