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The Parthenon Marbles |
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These are the Greek
treasures that were violently torn from the temple's frieze by employees of
Lord Elgin the year 1802 when Greece was under Turkish occupation. The
history of how these marbles finally were placed in the British Museum is
long and painful. Suffice to say here briefly how they got there. Lord Elgin was the
first ever British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. He was more than
welcomed. Turkey had declared war on Napoleon's France and Great Britain was
therefore a useful ally. His influence at the sublime Porte was beyond
question. He also endeared himself to Turkish authorities in Athens by often
making them costly gifts. At that time Lord
Elgin was planning the decoration of his stately home in Scotland. He was
advised that there were nothing more beautiful than the sculptures of the
Greek Parthenon. He engaged a crew to make copies and moldings of these
sculptures to make his house beautiful. But once in Constantinople his
appetite became voracious. Why only copies and moldings? Why not the original
sculptures? How to obtain them? There was no concern
for what the Greek under Turkish domination felt about the plundering of it's
most precious creations. Elgin had influence enough "and promises of
solid proofs of friendship" to obtain from the Turkish vizier, limited
and conditioned as it was, a permit, called a firman. This is what it said;
"That the artists meet no opposition in walking, viewing, contemplating
the pictures and buildings they may wish to copy; or in modeling with chalk
of gypsum the said ornaments and visible figures; or in excavating when they
find it necessary in search of inscriptions among the rubbish; or when they
wish to take away some pieces of stone with o1d inscriptions or figures there
on, that no opposition be made to them to particularly as there is no harm in
the said buildings being thus viewed, contemplated and drawn". The imperative
question is, can this document, by any measure of veracity be interpreted as
permission to use giant saws to tear from the temple (and causing terrible
damage to the edifice) half of the sculptures from the temple frieze. Greeks
say no. Archaeologists and historians. British among them, say no. By an
overwhelming vote UNESCO says no. 269 members of the European Parliament sent
a petition saying no. The British Labor party says no and astonishingly Lord
Elgin said no. This from Elgin
letters; "It was no part of my original plan to bring away anything but
models" and this from another Elgin letter; "The Turkish government
denied that the persons who had sold these marbles to me had any right to
dispose of them". Today more and more of the English people galvanized
by the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles are
urging the return. The British Labor Party is on record, now newly confirmed,
that should they be voted to power they will promote the return. There is
reason for great optimism. Melina Mercouri Foundation are effectively
seeking support for the realization of the New Acropolis Museum in which
space wil1 be reserved for the great day when the Parthenon marbles come back
home. Melina said; "I
hope that I will see the Marbles back in Athens before I die; but if they
come back later I shall be reborn".
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