The Elgin Marbles

 The visit to this country - in fact a return to its place of construction - of the Bayeux Tapestry has somehow sparked a conversation about returning the Elgin Marbles, purchased from the Ottoman Empire in (I believe) 1816, by the Earl of Elgin.  That debate, if it can be called that, crops up every 5 years or so.  "I  want my marbles back," said the then  Greek Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri, on a visit to  London.   The present Prime Minister wrote a piece years ago recommending their return; so did Boris Johnson, who later changed what passed for his mind.

And now, Sir Simon Jenkins, the Guardian's last remaining  centre-right columnist, has called for their return, in a Guardian article today.

Well we're all  entitled to an opinion (an arguable proposition, given the opinions some people have, but we'll let that stand): so  here's mine.  Were it not for Lord Elgin's purchase, it's perfectly possible, and likely, that the Marbles  would no longer exist.  The Turkish Ottomans didn't want them, appreciate them, or care for them.  Nonetheless, the Ottomans weren't Greek - modern Greece has long wanted to reunite the Marbles with the remains of the Parthenon, from which they were taken.    There's no  doubt that they would care for them at least as well as the British Museum, which presently houses them. 

I last saw the Marbles at least 60 years ago; my attachment to them is not, therefore, strong.  I'd return them - I see all the arguments against: they're safe where they are, probably more people see them than would if they were returned to Greece; once you start examing the provenance of articles held in museums, and not only in  Britain, you're on a vertiginously slippery slope.  All of that is true - at  least, the second part is arguable - there is a dedicated museum next to the Parthenon site which is visited by many people, and would probably attract many more if the marbles were present.  

But they really aren't ours - and they'd mean so much more in situ, and not only to the Greeks. Frankly, I doubt that many people in the UK would give a damn'; whereas, or so it seems, the Greeks really want them back.  So sending them where they'd be truly valued, not only by museum managers and historians, but by a large swathe of the population, just seems like the right thing to do; it might even  help Greece's fragile economy, without harming ours.  It would also bring an end to the endless round of speculation, campaigning, spilled ink - it would help our relationship with Greece (which, granted, is not a major partner of ours in economic terms) and, trumping all of that, it'd be the right thing to do.

So - let's do it?