Post by Balkaneros on Mar 2, 2013 17:24:40 GMT -5
The prime minister has been criticised after he opposed calls to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece and the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India.
The Parthenon Marbles
Friezes and pediment figures which decorated the Parthenon temple in Athens, built 447-432 BC.
Many were removed by agents of the British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th Century, and eventually sold to the British Museum.
Most of the surviving sculptures are roughly equally divided between London and Athens.
Greece has repeatedly demanded that the British Museum marbles be returned to Athens.
The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, formed in 1983, supports the Greek demand.
Athens' new Acropolis Museum opened in 2009. It is designed to display all the surviving sculptures, in their original layout.
....
However, Eddie O'Hara, chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), said calls for the return of the Marbles were "probably unique... the reunification of the integral sculptured components of a Unesco world heritage monument, acquired in circumstances that were at best dubious, in an act of cultural vandalism."
The sculptures were acquired by the British envoy Lord Elgin in the early 19th Century under a permit from Greece's Turkish rulers which is contested by many observers.
The Greek government, the BCRPM and other supporters of their return say they should be reunited with other sculptures from the temple which have always remained in Athens.
Former Labour MP Mr O'Hara also criticised Mr Cameron for calling them the "Elgin" Marbles - a term the British Museum no longer generally uses
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21623965
The Parthenon Marbles
Friezes and pediment figures which decorated the Parthenon temple in Athens, built 447-432 BC.
Many were removed by agents of the British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th Century, and eventually sold to the British Museum.
Most of the surviving sculptures are roughly equally divided between London and Athens.
Greece has repeatedly demanded that the British Museum marbles be returned to Athens.
The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, formed in 1983, supports the Greek demand.
Athens' new Acropolis Museum opened in 2009. It is designed to display all the surviving sculptures, in their original layout.
....
However, Eddie O'Hara, chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), said calls for the return of the Marbles were "probably unique... the reunification of the integral sculptured components of a Unesco world heritage monument, acquired in circumstances that were at best dubious, in an act of cultural vandalism."
The sculptures were acquired by the British envoy Lord Elgin in the early 19th Century under a permit from Greece's Turkish rulers which is contested by many observers.
The Greek government, the BCRPM and other supporters of their return say they should be reunited with other sculptures from the temple which have always remained in Athens.
Former Labour MP Mr O'Hara also criticised Mr Cameron for calling them the "Elgin" Marbles - a term the British Museum no longer generally uses
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21623965