It is accepted by many, that the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum will be resolved once the British Museum realises that this is not a problem that is going to go away. One might question this, on the basis that people have been pressing for the sculptures return for some two hundred years already. The problem is, that in terms of the general public perception, the issue is currently below the radar – it surfaces every now & then, but doesn’t attract enough attention that it becomes an issue that needs to be resolved.
The impending opening of the New Acropolis Museum [1] may well go a long way to solving this problem, as a permanent reminder of the issue to all who visit Athens. Moreover, the publicity that the museum is generating in the British Press, means that it has now reached the stage that it is mentioned in passing in other articles, rather than only in the articles specifically about the subject.
From:
The Times [2]
September 5, 2008
Sorry Lord Coe, but Britain’s real art talents run rings round your official events
Tim Teeman, Arts & Entertainment Editor[…]
The reopening of the Acropolis Museum in Athens this autumn will reignite the argument over whether Britain should return the Elgin Marbles. In December the Government is expected to publish the Heritage Protection Bill, the first for a generation, to streamline rules on listed buildings, ancient monuments and other national assets, giving English Heritage more powers to oversee the system and home owners a right of appeal against listing.
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