sunny0_0 t1_ir3b3tz wrote
Reply to comment by something_facetious in Hercules statue, approximately 2,000 years old, discovered in Greece - The Jerusalem Post by DRKILLM0NGER
I saw it the other day but learned about it long ago. The BM likely did save some of the marbles taken from Greece, but it's no longer the case.
BernzSed t1_ir3s01e wrote
Honestly, the British Museum is kinda boring. The exhibits have no context, they don't really tell a story or teach us about life in ancient societies. It's just a collection of old stolen stuff, like some ancient hoarder's attic but with everything behind glass boxes.
London's other museums are excellent, though. The Science Museum is amazing.
sunny0_0 t1_ir3va4x wrote
They were not taken to teach the public, they were trophies. For context you'd have to read about them and put the pieces together yourself.
Ypnos666 t1_ir5666a wrote
The Parthenon Marbles were taken from Athens illegally. Lord Elgin obtained a "firman" (document) from the Sultan in Constantinople that gave him permission to take plaster casts of the friezes.
He went to Athens, showed the local authorities and insisted that it meant he could take the entire thing. He then proceeded to use untrained local labour to crowbar the friezes off the Parthenon.
He loaded them onto two boats, bound for London. One of the boats sank off the coast of Italy.
London was originally not interested and so he kept them in his "back yard" at his stately home in Scotland. Eventually, the British Museum agreed to buy them (fence). In the 1930s they found that everything was badly damaged from being left outside in Scottish weather. So they used untrained labour to clean them.
They then found this "strange pink tint" and used untrained labour once more to get the tint off using scouring pads and caustic soda!
It turns out the pink tint was remnants from the original paint from 2000 years earlier.
This story blows the theory that the BM "protected" (and continues to "protect") Greece's heritage clean out of the water. One can only imagine what they have done with the treasures from other civilisations.
sunny0_0 t1_ir57f4f wrote
Let me know when your report on everything in the BM is ready.
something_facetious t1_ir3eb7k wrote
I'm of the opinion that everything should be returned, unless a country/culture asks that another country keep it safe for them because of times of instability or what have you. But if it gets returned and then gets destroyed... it was always theirs to preserve or destroy. Is it a tremendous loss? Yes, but such is the way of human history.
Jordan_the_Hutt t1_ir52l1v wrote
That's a valid argument. I think what we need is a multinational museum collective that owns and loans a large number of antiquities. It would be horrible to live in a world where no museum has any significant foreign objects. So for example the met could donate 1 piece to the collective which would entitle then to one loan. They then apply to take out a specific piece, and it gets moved to the Met for 1 year. Country of origin always moves to the top of the list for taking out there own pieces.
A system like this would alow people all over the world to continue to be inspired by foreign artifacts while still not depriving the country of origin from seeing those artifacts. Of course this is not a perfect system, many artifacts should simply be returned to their country if origins and there would be a lot of details to work out but with growing globalization I do think it's important for artifacts of world history to be available to the world.
something_facetious t1_ir5e2rc wrote
Yes, I agree that would be a good system. Museums lend things to each other all the time and they get money in exchange. Wouldn't it be better if that money went to the artifacts' country of origin?
I think we should offer to repatriate everything, and if those countries can't afford to preserve those items and would like help, there should be a trust set up by the museum where they're being displayed and a percentage of ticket sales should go into that trust. Then the trust could be used to cover the cost of building a facility/museum in the artifacts' home country so they can be safely returned.
It breaks my heart that people are being deprived of the experience of seeing important pieces of their own cultural history. That should be the priority, in my opinion.
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