Brexit: London Will Lose the Elgin Marbles?

Exactly two centuries after the Elgin Marbles arrived at the British Museum the Brexit negotiations have provided the perfect opportunity for Greece to revive its campaign to reclaim the marble friezes and sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens.

Next year has been designated the European Year of Cultural Heritage, which is sure to see an escalation in a debate that has seen even the likes of actor George Clooney argue in Greece’s favour.

Stelios Kouloglou (left), a member of the European Parliament for Greece`s governing hard-left Syriza party has written to the European Commission protesting that “the Parthenon Marbles are considered as the greatest symbol of European culture.”

“Therefore, reuniting the Marbles would be both a sign of respect and a civilised relationship between Great Britain and the EU, and much more a legal necessity.” His legal argument is doubtful but the more moral point of respect has become more significant at a sensitive time for Europe.

Background

The marbles are a collection of 5th Century BC flat narrative friezes and rounded sculptures taken from the Parthenon temple in Athens by Thomas Bruce, or Lord Elgin, in 1812.

The diplomat had obtained a permit from the Ottoman Empire which was then in control of Greece to take the works but he was immediately accused in Britain of having essentially looted them.

A Parliamentary Select Committee in 1816 found that his action was legal but the Earl, who was facing an expensive divorce bill, sold the works to the British government for less than they had cost him and they were housed in the British Museum from 1817.

Half of the original marbles remain in Athens at the Acropolis Museum. The British Museum argues that returning its marbles would set a precedent that would empty many institutions around the world that house global treasures. But the exceptional circumstances of Brexit could be just the opportunity to break the deadlock.

What the Treaty Says

Besides the Lisbon Treaty`s Article 50 “divorce requirements” and Article 3 on respecting cultural heritage, the MEP Kouloglou also cited Article 167 on culture as grounds for his claim.

That article says the EU “shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore.”

It says the union should “support and supplement” the action of member states in the “improvement of the knowledge and dissemination of the culture and history of the European peoples, conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage of European significance, non-commercial cultural exchanges, artistic and literary creation, including in the audiovisual sector.”

Those aims have a tenuous link to the marbles, and could instead support the British Museum’s own institutional principles. Three years ago a statue of the river god Ilissos was the first of the Elgin Marbles to leave Britain as a loan to the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, showing that future cultural exchange through such objects will be able to continue both inside and outside the EU.

Return of Cultural Objects

An EU directive orders the return of cultural objects that a member state deems as national treasures.

“The directive applies where such cultural objects have been removed from the territory of an EU country unlawfully,” it says. “Consequently, the objects must be returned, irrespective of whether they have been moved within the Union or first exported to a non-EU country and then re-imported to another EU country.”

Unfortunately for Kouloglou, 19th-Century Greece was not an EU member when the Elgin Marbles were taken and the directive applies only to cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of an EU state on or after 1 January 1993.

But while Kouloglou’s “legal necessity” may hold little ground in EU law many experts agree that returning the marbles would be a powerful and well-timed gesture of good faith and collaboration. The idea still seems far-fetched despite idealistic academic debate on the role of art in diplomacy but given the surprises and uncertainty we have already faced since June 23, 2016, the future of the marbles may well be known only to the Gods.

by Stewart Vickers

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