On This, The 255Th Anniversary Of The Foundation Of The British Museum, Would It Be A Good...

[sandyRoe]

...day to announce the return of the Elgin Marbles to their rightful home in Greece?

[Baldric]

You mean "Lose our Marbles?"

[emmie]

no, they stay where they are, because if we return them, and believe me that would be no mean feat then every museum around the globe would start getting requests to return artefacts, think on it, besides some of these articles were bought not plundered... Not to mention how do the local thieves who plundered the Egyptian pyramids return their goodies,

[sandyRoe]

I've awarded you best answer. Anything after that ^ can only be superfluous.

[emmie]

nice to be superfluous.

[sandyRoe]

Items have been returned. There used to be a tattooed Maori head on display in the Ulster Museum in Belfast. I 'm sure it was returned and buried in NZ.

[sandyRoe]

Sorry Emmie, posts crossed there. :-(

[AB Editor]

Some time in the last couple of years I went to the British Museum with a friend of mine who had never visited.

He was quite shocked - he thought that it would be a museum of British things.

"What's all this foreign stuff doing here?"

"Is it only stuff we've nicked?"

Etc.

Should we give it back? I think if we start doing that we open the floodgates to giving everything back, and do you know the price of stamps?

[emmie]

one item, all museums that have items that have been taken from archaeological sites, would by and large be empty, if you visit the BM it has million of articles, from every known period of history and some. Elgin Marbles has been a problem for years, if we return them, what next do we give back. Most of the artefacts from Ancient Rome, Greece, and so forth.

[emmie]

Ab Editor, strange that anyone would think that the British Museum would only contain British items?
I have been lost in the museum before now, one of these days i think i will turn in to a relic and be found mummified centuries on. It's a massive wonderful place, full to brimming with exhibits, and would i am sure take a lifetime to see it all, only a small portion of what the museum shows is on display, much like most museums is hidden away.
some items so priceless they can't be shown without an army to back up possible theft.

[Baldric]

///Following a public debate in Parliament and the subsequent exoneration of Elgin's actions, the marbles were purchased by the British government in 1816 and placed on display in the British Museum, ///

So long as we've still got the receipt I don't see a problem!

[emmie]

one assumes they did, incredible amount of money for the time

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/richard-dorment/5699534/The-Elgin-Marbles-will-never-return-to-Athens-the-British-Museum-is-their-rightful-home.html

[AB Editor]

"Ab Editor, strange that anyone would think that the British Museum would only contain British items?"

Yes - I guess he didn't think about it properly at the time!