Greece Wants Elgin Marbles Back

The Olympics are over and the Greeks are sorry about one particular absence: the Elgin Marbles. Removed from the Acropolis at the beginning of the 19th century, the are priceless examples of ancient Greek religious art and the British Museum doesn't want to give them back.

According to The State:

It has been 200 years since the 90 pieces were ripped away from the marble structure sitting atop the sacred rock, or Acropolis, in the center of Athens. And in that time the fight has remained very simple: Greece wants the marble statues back. The British Museum doesn't want to return them.

"The British argument stands on nothing," Greek archaeologist Vasso Pliatisika says angrily. "They say they are right to keep our most important cultural symbols? There is nothing more important to Greeks than getting them back." She points out that the museum collection also includes a one-of-a-kind panel for a nearby monument, the lack of which totally changes the experience for visitors, and they have not even attempted to recover it. "Do we have Stonehenge?" she said. "Of course not. Antiquities must stay in their homes. I do not understand their thinking."

I’ve been both to Athens and the British Museum and while I am inclined to agree that Lord Elgin didn’t have actual permission to remove what he did, one thing is undeniable: the pieces in the British Museum are in far better shape than what was left behind. That’s partly because of more favorable conditions in Britain and partly because they were in a museum were people took care of them. In Athens, what was left behind remained on the Acropolis where the pollution has ravaged them - and the pollution there has been very, very bad.

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