Parthenon Marbles (ctd.)
January 15 2023
Picture: BG
It looks like the Parthenon Marbles are staying at the British Museum. There was some suggestion last year that the British Museum would effectively return the Marbles to Athens, after the BM began negotiations and talked of a 'Parthenon Partnership' with Greece. But in the last few days, the Greek Prime Minister has said there won't be such a deal, stressing that Greece cannot accept the BM retaining ownership of the Marbles.
On the face of it, it might look as if negotiations collapsed because the Greeks won't accept even formal title remaining with the BM, even if the Marbles themselves were to remain in Athens. But it seems clear from details that have emerged on the British side that what was being offered to Athens was far from anything like a long-term loan. First, there was a well-sourced report in Bloomberg that the BM was offering only 'a proportion of the Marbles sent to Athens on rotation over several years'. Then the UK Culture Secretary went on the airwaves not once but twice to say that in her view, and George Osborne's view, the Marbles 'belong here in the UK'. If you were the Greek government, given the domestic sensitivities in Greece over the Marbles, there's no way you'd concede the fundamental question of title in return for a partial loan over only some years. That would leave the British Museum looking like winners, and settle the issue forever, with not much left for Greece.
If you wanted to be cynical about it, you might think that was what the British Museum and/or the UK government knew would happen all along, but now at least it looks as if they have tried to be generous with the Greeks. Meanwhile, the British Museum continues to hide behind the 'we can't deaccession the Marbles because it's against the law' formula, without ever having the courage to request that the law be changed (as other UK museums have done). It's all very predictable really.
There's a good summary of where we are from Tom Seymour here in The Art Newspaper.
