Repatriation Of Relics & Antiquities: News & Specific Cases

[Mouldy13]

a) Because we acquired them legally, and have cherished and preserved them.

b) Because if we establish a precedent by returning them, what's next? Our museums would be virtually empty.

maximus otter

Elgin bought them off the Ottomans who were occupying Greece, the legality of this is dubious at best

So what?

Always the ambassador for foreign relations that he is, I think Max is suggesting that the Greek Government should take a note from the aforementioned case, viz;

our reply is as follows: fuck off.

Yeah i'm aware of that famous case. I suppose I believe there is a morality that transcends law. Trying very hard not to stray into politics here but nonsense like that makes it hard not to.

 

[maximus otter]

Elgin bought them off the Ottomans…

Yep.

maximus otter

 

[Mouldy13]

Yep.

maximus otter

superbly misquoted, but then you know that don't you?

 

[Steven]

.Trying very hard not to stray into politics here but nonsense like that makes it hard not to.

Yeah. Not a few people of my grandfather's generation had the opinion that foreign folks were often a leaderless rabble, only worthy of mockery, and that it took the British to 'properly organise' anything. In truth, even some of our very own kings and politicians have been reckless, mercenary, and wilful vandals e.g. we no longer have Thomas Becket's shrine, due to Henry VIII's ignorance, greed and self-righteousness.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

When will The Louvre return the Mona Lisa to Italy?
If The Prado had to return all of its non-Spanish exhibits to their place of origin, it would just be a large empty warehouse.

 

[pandacracker]

When will The Louvre return the Mona Lisa to Italy?

I don't believe it ever belonged to the Italian state.

Didn't it go from Leonardo to Francis II and thereafter to France?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I don't believe it ever belonged to the Italian state.

Didn't it go from Leonardo to Francis II and thereafter to France?

Not sure to be honest.
But is the consensus here that museums should return all exhibits, even when they had been paid for, to their countries of origin?
I suspect the Louvre, Prado, Pergamonmuseum etc. would have a thing or two to say about that.

 

[ramonmercado]

Yep.

maximus otter

The same as if someone bought French, Dutch, Belgian art from the German occupation forces in those countries.

The sale of the marbles is both legally and ethically dubious.

 

[Stormkhan]

While the moral or ethical question of the return of the marbles has always been a contentious issue, this recent flurry of care is misguided.
The BM cannot 'repatriate' any object - the law stopping this would have to be repealed. What the BM was discussing was a loan agreement, limiting the period of the marbles in Greece, along with an exchange exhibit.
Other private collections, such as the Horniman (a favourite with me), can make the decision for repatriation because they are, well, private collections.
My view? Considering the dodgy means with which they were purchased, I can't see the value in keeping them. They aren't part of our national heritage - they are to Greece. The moral high ground the UK would gain by the return would aid our claim to having a strength in 'soft diplomacy'. And it's not as if the BM haven't got other items to display.
Holding out on returning them sounds so petulant, it's like someone who buys a laptop off a burglar refusing to return it to the owner.

 

[Frideswide]

But is the consensus here that museums should return all exhibits, even when they had been paid for, to their countries of origin?

No catastrophism lol

 

[Kondoru]

But I have met some scholars who think so.

However they are in a minority

 

[Frideswide]

But I have met some scholars who think so.

However they are in a minority

Scholars think what they think. The question is is the consensus here that museums should return all exhibits, even when they had been paid for, to their countries of origin?

And the answer is NO