disrespectful Rishi Sunak

NotSpaghetti maybe for his garden?

Elgin wanted them for his own home

The Marbles - but for us - would have been looted and disposed of by Turks or Greeks back then, no question.

No problem returning them now, but we SHOULD charge for having looked after them so well. How about £100,000 a year?

Elgin thought he was saving ancient treasures for posterity. he probably did. And paid with an early death. But time to move on. They presumably can do replicas for British museum. Return them. They will look better in Athens. It’s quite a dull display in London, out of context.

I think it’s likely that Sunak, in talks with another head of state, might take the opportunity to bring up topics of interest which aren’t on the formal agenda if they might benefit the UK? Nothing underhand about it, surely.

Q :- Why are there pyramids in Egypt?
A :- Because they wouldn’t fit into the British Museum !

Pressed Post accidentally! It was not intended, by the UK, to be about Marbles. The Greek PM had an agenda which was not disclosed when the meeting was arranged. Somewhat underhand. In any case the Marbles belong to British Museum.

As I understand it, the meeting was supposed to be about migration and other important issues facing both countries m

DaisyAnneReturns ,
in that case
Sunak should have met with the Greek prime minister out of respect, whether or not he intended to return the marbles.

The OP was about Sunak, Fairycakes.

Delila

Safekeeping is one thing, but 200 years is stretching things further than necessary, as is Sunak’s impolite refusal to have a conversation with the Prime Minister of the friendly country from which the marbles originated.

It is Dehlia. I can't see anything wrong with the loans idea.

Sunak has just given one if the most hypocritical speeches I have heard, and there have been a few in recent years. King Charles's was well balanced and knowledgeable. Sunak, on the other hand simply sounded full of his own importance and as if he has never tried to use Ulez to divide the country.

But we are talking about the return of antiquities to their country of origin. We are always being asked to return other countries ' artifacts, so how about other counties start returning ours? And what about our antiques that are constantly sold abroad, which our museums etc would like to have but can't afford? They should not be allowed to be taken overseas. It's part of our history. So if other countries want their artifacts back, that is fine with me, provided they start returning ours.
And as for salvage rights, is it much different to Lord Elgin's acquiring of the marbles? Just a thought 🤔

Fairycakes

DaisyAnneReturns
Out of interest - what do other countries have of our thst they should return?

There are vast quantities of our antiquities in the USA. Take the sinking of the Titanic, for example. Priceless manuscripts, rare pieces of art, jewelry - all which sank with the ship, and which when retrieved was auctioned by the ton load in the USA.
This is just one example.

But there are laws about marine salvage which must have applied.

Given that the Acropolis was used as a munition store Elgin saved the marbles from certain destruction. However, the Greeks now have a beautiful museum in which to display them as part of the story of the Acropolis and they should be there and some kind of deal arranged. The fear that everybody will ask for their artefacts, hitherto less regarded, is a serious point and, taken to extremes, mean that no museum in the world will be able to tell any other cultural story than their own. Is that what we should want?

We should return them.

I tried to get a petition started and discovered two had already been started and scrapped through lack of interest of so they said.
Maybe someone with a better command of English could try to start another. Of course they should be returned!

Yes never seen them anyway wasn’t on my to see list when visiting London lol but I do think they should give us the money back that we paid for them after all nothing in life is free is it lol

DaisyAnneReturns
Out of interest - what do other countries have of our thst they should return?

There are vast quantities of our antiquities in the USA. Take the sinking of the Titanic, for example. Priceless manuscripts, rare pieces of art, jewelry - all which sank with the ship, and which when retrieved was auctioned by the ton load in the USA.
This is just one example.

Safekeeping is one thing, but 200 years is stretching things further than necessary, as is Sunak’s impolite refusal to have a conversation with the Prime Minister of the friendly country from which the marbles originated.

The argument that we will look after them better is now rather outdated. It seems we haven't looked after them that well and they have been damaged/corroded while in our care because of a treatment applied to them.

There is a museum next to the Parthenon with gap waiting for the marbles which some believe is much better that the British Museum could produce.

Fairycakes

No they shouldn't be returned. They were given to Lord Elgin in good faith and now belong to our country. If we start returning artifacts to their countries of origin, maybe other countries should start returning things of ours that they possess.

Where is your proof - and the proof of your knowledge of this part of history, that this was a "good faith" transaction?

Out of interest - what do other countries have of our thst they should return?

spabbygirl

I quite agree Sunak did snub the greeks, I think Tories believe being tough is a vote winner and Sunak is desperately searching for approval. He really doesn't have the standing for PM, even if he has been to Eton

A detail maybe, but Sunak didn’t go to Eton. He was at Winchester.

Thin edge of the wedge! We have many artifacts from all over the world in our museums. There would be a tsunami of similar requests made from other countries. Would you like to see then all go?

I have read in the broadsheets that we bought the marbles. I notice that giving them back has sometimes been spoken about before. Why didnt James Callsghan, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown give them back and why it is only now the usual suspects descend on Rishi
Sunak? He will have taken advice before any decision was made. I hope i live long enough to think of every wrong we get once we Labour is in power. But then I have a life and little time left to bother.

Both sides have a good case. Elgin did not steal them and the BM has looked after them better than they would have been left exposed to the elements and pillaging for lime. Some kind of loan deal might work if it could be guaranteed that loans would be returned. A permanent deaccessioning would require amending the BM Act: the return of e.g., the Benin bronzes, etc., is not a procedural precedent because the museums which held them were not constrained from deaccessioning by legislation .