Τhe Return of the Acropolis Marbles to Greeks found another supporter in Great Britain. Author Howard Jacobson wrote an article to The Independent favoring the Return of the famous Marbles currently in British Museum. An article excerpt below:
…”when the subject of the Elgin Marbles came up in conversation I was adamantine in my conviction that they belonged to us now, that pillage cuts all ways, and that there would be no such thing as museums if there were no such thing as plunder. But a funny thing happens, reader, when you wander round the marvellous Acropolis Museum in Athens and note a signal absence, and an even funnier thing happens when you find yourself dining with Greeks on a rooftop restaurant beneath the Parthenon itself.
Suddenly, you know the Marbles don’t belong to you. A mad impulse grips me. I will get them back for you, I want to say. I look into the gentle brownness of their eyes, as Byron will have looked before me, in an ecstasy of comradeship. Not only will I get them back to you, I am desperate to tell them, I will throw in St Paul’s Cathedral.
I am putty in the hands of travel, you see. I have left the house, exposed my principles to the corrosion that is somewhere else, and am now, as other men, a person who goes on holiday, finds the local people charming and hospitable, and posts photographs of himself having good times in their company. It’s partly to avoid the shame of this that I have all my life argued against the very idea of holidays. “Life is holiday,” I insisted for half a century. A belief that wasn’t always shared by whoever happened to be living with me at the time.
So I have been wrong again. And now, having returned the Elgin Marbles to their rightful owners, I am on my way to a Greek island, not one of those you have to swim to – a quick flight is the most I am prepared to risk – but still an island. (full article here)
Of course the marbles should be returned – should have been returned as long ago as the moment it became possible and easy to manufacture perfect facsimiles from fibreglass; the eyes of visitors to the British Museum would not be able to discern the difference between facsimile and original marble, and if touching the exhibits is not allowed, there would be no tactile discernment either. All of this is common sense; sadly it is precisely this that is lacking within the ‘political’ class that has the power of decision-making.
The marbles most certainly should be returned! Now, with the new museum at the foot of the acropolis with a proper place for the marbles to be installed, there is no excuse. The Brits missed the golden opportunity to return the marbles with the 2004 Olympics held in Athens. Please return them!!