One of the undisputed gems of the British Museum’s collection, the famous Parthenon Marbles, may return to Greece. A corresponding bill was recently introduced into the British Parliament by representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party and supported by their Conservative and Labor colleagues. Therefore, if you intended to see ancient Greek masterpieces within the walls of the London Museum, then perhaps you should hurry up with your trip.
The introduction of the bill coincided with the 200th anniversary of the Act of Parliament purchasing these same marbles from Lord Elgin. However, the debate about the legality of the appearance of ancient Greek artifacts in the London Museum has never subsided. In case anyone has forgotten: Lord Elgin, being the British ambassador in Constantinople during the Napoleonic wars, collected a collection of ancient Greek art, mainly fragments of the Athenian Acropolis, and, with the permission of the authorities of the Ottoman Empire, took the treasures to his homeland, where he later sold them to the state. This is how the collection ended up in the British Museum. Almost from the moment of the revival of Greek statehood in 1830, Greece began to demand from Britain the return of the marbles as an integral part of the national heritage. The Museum, relying on the supposed legitimacy of the agreement between Lord Elgin and the Ottoman Empire, has so far successfully rejected all such calls. Perhaps museum workers will be able to fend off attacks this time too. However, recent opinion polls show that 69% of Britons surveyed support the return of the marbles to Greece, with only 13% opposed. And the recent referendum in the United Kingdom demonstrated that what seemed impossible just yesterday is now becoming a reality thanks to public pressure. And who knows, perhaps after the campaign to return ancient Greek treasures to their historical homeland, someone will remember the ancient Egyptian collection of the British Museum. And about trophy art stored in Russian museums. So, perhaps, we should hurry to the museums while everything is in its usual place.
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