Loosing your marbles

How did the Prime Minister react to the letter from 30 MEP's requesting that the British Museum return the Egain Marbles to Athens? We do not know, but it would be interesting if they were to become part of the UK-Europe trade talks. Council for the defence points to the historical probablity that Lord Elgin saved these scuptures from almost certain distruction. It can be argued that the million visitors to the British Museum are able to apprciate the saved sculptures in a fitting setting. History is history- there is no going back. On the other hand, the Greeks are our friends. We know that the meaning of the scuptures will be greatly increased by being situated in sight of the Parthanon. We now live in a small world where the average Brit can vist Athens with easy (unlike the 1800's). The Greek government has also promised to fill the empty hall in the museum with twice as many ancient sculptures. For me, as an internationalist, there is no question here. The marbles will be more meaningful close to the building they were carved for. The problem is the Brits have nothing to compare this with, to get a sense of what it means to have had cultrual artifacts damaged and removed from the land. I guess there has been nothing anyone has really wanted to take. But can the 'Elgin Argument' be used for everything else on display in British Museums? Egyptian Mummies, and sacred relics? Perhaps so. The Pitt Rivers museum recently removed from its collection hundreds of human remains including its famous collection of shrunken heads. Museums and society are waking up to the offense caused in the course of our checkered history. Again, it is hard for us to understand because the closest we get to a sense of what its like on the other side of history is seeing a statue of a tiger eating a 'white man'.

This is called Tipu's Tiger and happens to be in the V&A in London, so hardly upsetting.