First of all, a very Happy Birthday to you, beautiful Acropolis Museum. I visit you each time I am in Athens and, every time, you take my breath away with your beauty - and your patience.
Why am I sure that your patience will be rewarded?
Because millions of British people feel as I do that the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum should be reunited with those that you were built to accommodate.
Because most in Britain do not share the British Museum’s attitude that this museum is doing everyone a favour by having the Marbles in London to be admired.
Because, however many times the lie is repeated, the truth is that there was no officially stamped “firman” giving Lord Elgin permission to hack the Marbles off the Parthenon. There was merely a letter signed by an official in the Sultan’s court, that allowed him to have sketches and moulds taken so that copies could be made. Far from being purchased, the Marbles were obtained by bribing guards to turn a blind eye to their violent and destructive extraction from the Parthenon building.
Lord Elgin (readers in Greece no doubt understand that his title was inherited not earned) is known for nothing except the theft of the Marbles. His was a life of entitlement – and when he was short of money he sold his stolen goods to the British Museum.
And the British Museum did not “preserve them” as they so smugly claim. They allowed them to be scrubbed to make them gleaming white. Hardly conservation.
There is a strong and growing belief that many cultural artefacts and treasures should be repatriated to their country of origin. I think it is only a matter of time before all the arguments presented by the Conservative government (itself tottering on the brink) and the British Museum itself turn to dust, and the Greek light shines on the Marbles once again.
Victoria
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