A summary of the key arguments / points on both sides of the Parthenon Marbles debate.

From:
The First Post

Should Britain return the Elgin Marbles?
FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 13, 2009

THE ARGUMENTS FOR

Cultural treasures from ancient civilisations belong in the places they come from. Museums in Sweden, Germany, America and the Vatican have already acknowledged this and returned items taken from the Acropolis. The British museum should follow suit and put an end to more than two centuries of bad feeling in Greece.
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Christopher Hitchens has long been a strong supporter of the return of the Elgin Marbles & a third edition of his book on the subject (with revised preface) has recently been published. He talks here about why he still believes that it is imperative that the sculptures must return & the impact of some recent events on the issue.

From:
The First Post (UK)

October 6, 2008
Greece has the right to the Elgin Marbles
Christopher Hitchens tells Christina Borg why the marbles must be returned to Athens

Two weeks ago, at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, due to open early next year, the Presidents of Italy and Greece took part in an historic ceremony (right) that could have major repercussions for Britain. The Italians were handing back to the Greeks a fragment of marble sculpture taken from the Parthenon 200 years ago. The fragment portrays, in exquisite detail, the draped lower leg and foot of a seated goddess, probably Artemis.

It had been removed by the notorious Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire which was occupying Greece at the time. Elgin gave the fragment to the British Consul-General of Sicily and it ended up in the Salinas Museum in Palermo.
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