Alex Salmond’s requests for the return of the Lewis Chessmen [1] seems to have stirred various other controversies – not least those that suggest that the artefacts were never Scotland’s in the first place.
From:
The Scotsman [2]
Published Date: 26 December 2007
Source: The Scotsman
Location: Scotland
Chessmen should be returned to NorwayThere is indeed a comparison to be made between the Lewis Chessmen and the Elgin Marbles. If it is right for the Marbles to be returned to Greece where they were created, then the Chessmen should be returned to Norway.
They are, despite your editorial claim (24 December) “most definitely” not Scottish. They were lost here. If they were originally bound, as claimed by historians, for Ireland, then that country has a stronger moral claim than Scotland.
It is an interesting criteria of ownership you use that they have been here “long enough for them to be considered ours”.If they had arrived here, like the Elgin Marbles, in the early 19th century (and they were unknown to anyone before then) would that be long enough for Scotland to claim ownership?
R J RITCHIE
Cecil Street
Stirling
The full article contains 143 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Last Updated: 25 December 2007 8:47 PM