In the world of woke, if anyone disagrees with you the default solution is to cancel them or silence them by other means. Perish the thought of having a civilised discussion.
The Acropolis Museum in Athens has banned Dr Mario Trabucco della Torretta, an archaeologist and staunch defender of the British Museum’s right to retain the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, from speaking at a conference organised by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors to be held at the Acropolis Museum later this year. The Telegraph has the story:
The academic’s attendance was vetoed by the museum’s board after it learnt he had been invited to speak.
Dr Trabucco has been an outspoken defender of Britain’s right to retain the Marbles, and has supported efforts to rebuff Greek demands for their return.
He claimed that the 2,500-year-old artworks were legally acquired by Lord Elgin in the 19th century. This is the position taken by the British Museum, where the pieces are held.
However, the Greek Government contends that they were stolen. This view has been advanced by Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis, the Director of the Acropolis Museum, who has been a leading advocate of the Marbles’ return.
Displays within the museum deliberately draw visitors’ attention to the absence of the artworks removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin.
Dr Trabucco said he was disinvited because he was “persona non grata” in the eyes of the museum.
He said: “The behaviour displayed by the Acropolis Museum’s board is unworthy of the world-class research institution it claims to be, and degrades the museum to a propaganda establishment that shuts down debate and quells dissent.
“In the city that prides itself on being the birthplace of democracy, one would expect higher standards.”
UK law forbids the museum from permanently giving away the treasures in its collection. The collection is held in trust for the British public, leaving open the option of a loan deal.
The Greeks would have to sign an agreement accepting the British Museum’s legal ownership in order to secure a loan, an unacceptable stipulation to them given their belief that the artworks were stolen and are held illegally in Britain.
According to Wikipedia, the removal of the sculptures lasted from 1801-1812 while Athens was under Ottoman control. In 1816, Elgin said (p 37) that “the thing was done publicly before the whole world. I employed three or four hundred people a day, and all the local authorities were concerned in it, as well as the Turkish government.”
The Telegraph’s story is worth reading in full.
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Give them back, along with every other piece non-British stuff. We don’t need it. I’m sick of hearing about this stuff. We have our own culture.
I’m reaching that point too except this has become like a football match and I don’t want the greeks to win on penalties!
These marbles essentially got sold by their then legal owners over 200 years ago. By that time, Greece was part of the Ottoman empire and if the Greek government of today has any beef with anyone about this, it would be the present government of Turkey.
They’re just making illegitimate demands in the hope that this will work.
Our culture is still very much influenced by the classic Greeks and Romans which means this is definitely part of it. It’s not some kind of brass monstrosity African fans of human sacrifices created out of “yellow metal” they got as payment for slaves.
These marbles where rescued and kept ever since by English people in a completely legal way, namely, by dealing with authorities responsible for this at that time, and the present government of Greece has no rightful claim on them.
Completely agree
Just want it all gone so that all these tossers have to STFU
Interesting question here: Based on precisely what does the government of Greece of today claim any rights on public property of the former city state of Athens which ceased to be over 2000 years ago?
And if RICS had some balls they would cancel their conference but I would not hold out too much hope on that.
If Elgin had not acquired the marbles at the last minute, the Ottomans would have broken them up and used the gravel for road building.
The least the Greek government could do is show some gratitude.
You are absolutely spot on! Not only had the Muslim Turks already caused the whole building to be blown up by storing gunpowder in it, but they were already burning the resulting statue fragments for lime to use in construction. They would have utterly destroyed them all, as anathema to Islam, if Lord Elgin hadn’t had the tremendous foresight, courage and generosity to rescue them for posterity. He bought them fair & square, with the full permission of the Ottoman authorities at the time.
The Greek government ought to bestow Greek national honours upon Lord Elgin’s descendants, and upon the British Museum and others for painstakingly reconstructing and preserving these Greek statues for all the world to see.
The 7th Earl of Elgin, Thomas Bruce, was a hero, and so is archaeologist Dr Mario Trabucco della Torretta !
That was going to be exactly my point.
Take the bloody Marbles, drop them in the deepest part of the ocean and then tell the Greeks if they want them, they can have them.