once upon a time the Parthenon looked
like this a temple to the goddess Athena
it was a symbol of culture and
refinement a beautifully sculpted marble
frieze band at the Parthenon above the
columns and so this temple stood for
2,000 years but in 1687 it was blown up
during a war between Venice and the
Ottoman Empire which was then occupying
Greece the Parthenon lay in ruins a
century later Lord Elgin the British
ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
received what he construed as permission
to remove the marble friezes and take
them home to England his partisans say
he saved these stunning artworks from
vandals who were pulling them apart
without him they say the marbles
wouldn’t exist but to his detractors
Lord Elgin himself was the Vandal who
cut up the frieze into sections
so they could be shipped more easily to
England we’ll have a piece in London and
we have other fragments from the same
piece let’s say the heads of the figures
in Athens Dimitrios Pender Meli’s heads
the organization that’s building
Greece’s new acropolis museum and he
wants the marbles back permanently they
symbolize the highest moment of
classical art in ancient Greece they
belong to the pattern itself but the
British Museum is equally emphatic this
is not going to happen you can’t lend
something to a sort of government or
country that doesn’t recognize your
ownership of them as far as the British
Museum is concerned it has legal title
to the marbles moreover it has a mission
as a museum of all world cultures what
the British Museum can almost uniquely
provide is not
you to see the Parthenon sculptures in
context in context with civilizations
that that flourished and around the time
of ancient Greece you can also uniquely
see the huge inspiration that these
objects have had on subsequent world
cultures and how they have become now
masterpieces of art and and masterpieces
of Greek civilization but professor
pandered melis isn’t buying that
argument the story he wants to tell is
depicted in the frieze itself which
shows an important Athenian religious
procession but only about 50% of the
original frieze survives today and of
that 50% about half are in London and
the other half are in Athens he believes
all the surviving pieces should be
exhibited together because seen together
they have a narrative it’s not correct
for peace so important to have fragments
in different places and not all the
originals – together next to the
original building and the British public
seems to agree with him poll after poll
shows that the people of Britain support
the idea of returning the marbles to
Greece so with the British Museum then
go against the voice of the British
people well I think we need to have we’d
have to look in a little bit more detail
in terms of those polls and I think it’s
worth saying that that all of them are
sending out you know some years old
people think it’s a simple decision yes
or no they stay or they go and that’s it
and it isn’t it’s a very very very
complicated situation for now professor
pandit malleus intends to fill in the
gaps of histories with copies of the
British Museum’s freeze so the visitors
can have a more complete vision of the
procession that’s depicted we’ll paint
the copies with special color to make
differentiation of course our target is
that we replace one day the copies with
the originals and he’s hopeful they can
work something out on the base of an
exchange of a friendly cooperation will
be possible to get back the maps of the
pattern the trustees you know we have a
very generous loans policy there is an
there would be no reason why that
discussion couldn’t take place and
perhaps this great symbol of
civilization will ultimately inspire a
solution that benefits everyone
like this a temple to the goddess Athena
it was a symbol of culture and
refinement a beautifully sculpted marble
frieze band at the Parthenon above the
columns and so this temple stood for
2,000 years but in 1687 it was blown up
during a war between Venice and the
Ottoman Empire which was then occupying
Greece the Parthenon lay in ruins a
century later Lord Elgin the British
ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
received what he construed as permission
to remove the marble friezes and take
them home to England his partisans say
he saved these stunning artworks from
vandals who were pulling them apart
without him they say the marbles
wouldn’t exist but to his detractors
Lord Elgin himself was the Vandal who
cut up the frieze into sections
so they could be shipped more easily to
England we’ll have a piece in London and
we have other fragments from the same
piece let’s say the heads of the figures
in Athens Dimitrios Pender Meli’s heads
the organization that’s building
Greece’s new acropolis museum and he
wants the marbles back permanently they
symbolize the highest moment of
classical art in ancient Greece they
belong to the pattern itself but the
British Museum is equally emphatic this
is not going to happen you can’t lend
something to a sort of government or
country that doesn’t recognize your
ownership of them as far as the British
Museum is concerned it has legal title
to the marbles moreover it has a mission
as a museum of all world cultures what
the British Museum can almost uniquely
provide is not
you to see the Parthenon sculptures in
context in context with civilizations
that that flourished and around the time
of ancient Greece you can also uniquely
see the huge inspiration that these
objects have had on subsequent world
cultures and how they have become now
masterpieces of art and and masterpieces
of Greek civilization but professor
pandered melis isn’t buying that
argument the story he wants to tell is
depicted in the frieze itself which
shows an important Athenian religious
procession but only about 50% of the
original frieze survives today and of
that 50% about half are in London and
the other half are in Athens he believes
all the surviving pieces should be
exhibited together because seen together
they have a narrative it’s not correct
for peace so important to have fragments
in different places and not all the
originals – together next to the
original building and the British public
seems to agree with him poll after poll
shows that the people of Britain support
the idea of returning the marbles to
Greece so with the British Museum then
go against the voice of the British
people well I think we need to have we’d
have to look in a little bit more detail
in terms of those polls and I think it’s
worth saying that that all of them are
sending out you know some years old
people think it’s a simple decision yes
or no they stay or they go and that’s it
and it isn’t it’s a very very very
complicated situation for now professor
pandit malleus intends to fill in the
gaps of histories with copies of the
British Museum’s freeze so the visitors
can have a more complete vision of the
procession that’s depicted we’ll paint
the copies with special color to make
differentiation of course our target is
that we replace one day the copies with
the originals and he’s hopeful they can
work something out on the base of an
exchange of a friendly cooperation will
be possible to get back the maps of the
pattern the trustees you know we have a
very generous loans policy there is an
there would be no reason why that
discussion couldn’t take place and
perhaps this great symbol of
civilization will ultimately inspire a
solution that benefits everyone
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