I wonder what the young British visitors learn in the British Museum; do they simply admire some exhibits that for some reason they cannot visit on the internet, or is it the necessity to learn how great their country was that it could grab whatever from wherever in the world?

Let’s stop being so old fashioned, the Greek nationalism can be sustained by various other means, but what about the British one? Can this nation prove that living on principles means that one applies them first to himself?

Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne’er to be restored.
Curst be the hour when from their isle they roved,
And once again thy hapless bosom gored,
And snatch’d thy shrinking gods to northern climes abhorred!

Byron was not the only one to protest against Elgin’s actions at the time. Sir John Newport added:

“The Honourable Lord has taken advantage of the most unjustifiable means and has committed the most flagrant pillages. It was, it seems, fatal that a representative of our country loot those objects that the Turks and other barbarians had considered sacred.”

The article concludes with the question, “Should the Elgin Marbles be returned to Greece? Dorothy King – archaeologist and author of The Elgin Marbles book – answers with a “NO”.

I personally have great difficulty in following her points of view. Her arguments seem to be supportive of actions tantamount to plundering.

I believe Lord Byron in his narative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, part of which was written when visiting Athens soon after the “removal” of the Parthenon sculptures by Lord Elgin, provides a more accurate account:

But who, of all the plunderers of yon fane
On high, where Pallas linger’d loth to flee
The latest relic of her ancient reign;
The last, the worst, dull spoiler, who was he?

Yes, from the country that has created most of the problem region and conflicts in this planet, (India-Pakistan, South Africa, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Northern British Ireland!, Scotland, Wales…, Palestine-Israel, Hong-Kong), it is fascnating to be able to witness your new argumentation.

Cold blooded retorting of ideas, playing with words but avoiding the core of the issue etc..

Could it be that your world art stance only reflects a country that has pilaged literally all ancient civilizations (greek, egyptian, indian, china) and has never had the decency to apologise, ever…

The Germans have learned and thus they have evolved. You my dear fellows dream the glorious imperial past, may the winds of reason sometime awake you.