OPINION - The Greeks do not have a moral right to the Elgin Marbles and if we "loan" them, they will never come back

It doesn’t instrumentality overmuch nous to spot what’s going connected with the Elgin Marbles. After the PM’s affectionate chat with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the different day, Sir Keir Starmer’s bureau has confirmed that the Government volition not basal successful the mode of a deal betwixt the Greek authorities and the British Museum for a semipermanent indebtedness of the statues. It seems the Prime Minister regards the “care and management” of the sculptures arsenic a substance for the museum.

The Chairman of the British Museum trustees is George Osborne, and helium is thought to favour a semipermanent indebtedness statement arsenic a mode to settee the vexed contented of the existent ownership of the Marbles. You tin spot the mode things are going. The museum’s Western Wing, with the Greek statues, is owed to beryllium renovated successful the adjacent fewer years. What could beryllium handier than for the Marbles to beryllium shipped disconnected to Greece portion their plinths are getting scrubbed?

A Greek authoritative progressive successful the negotiations told The Times, “We are moving connected a wide and lengthy taste statement that would see an interchange and rotation of humanities artefacts betwixt Greece and the British Museum. That is what we mean by a win-win situation”.

If the Marbles spell to Greece, they won’t beryllium coming back

Can I enactment successful a condemnation what’s incorrect with this “broad and lengthy taste agreement”? It’s this. If the Marbles spell to Greece, they won’t beryllium coming back. The thought of “rotatation” and so “loan” suggests a instrumentality of the artefacts. But the Greeks won’t fto the Marbles retired of their hands erstwhile they’re installed successful the Parthenon Museum.

I’m tempted to accidental that the trustees of the Museum would really beryllium losing their marbles if they nursed the smallest anticipation that they’ll beryllium getting the existent Elgin Marbles backmost for their nicely renovated Duveen Gallery. The Greek authorities has repeatedly made wide that it considers that the marbles were stolen; it would beryllium improbable that the Greek courts would instrumentality a antithetic presumption if the British Museum nether different procreation of trustees tried to unafraid their return.

Once they’re gone, they’re gone. It whitethorn beryllium that successful the tiny people the ineligible ownership of the statues volition stay with the British Museum but that won’t bash it overmuch good.

Given this reality, it would beryllium incorrect for the British Museum to hold a loan. As Sir Noel Malcolm observed successful a superb investigation of the Marbles occupation for the Policy Exchange deliberation tank, (a caller study for Policy Exchange), the depository tin lone marque short-term loans for objects that are of compelling nationalist involvement – and the Elgin Marbles are astir the astir fashionable assemblage – and it surely could not responsibly marque specified a indebtedness to Greece.

As acold arsenic the Greeks are concerned, The Marbles Are Coming Home.

Does it matter? You stake it does. The sculptures are not conscionable precise beauteous but are of exceptional importance, being the enactment of Phydias oregon Phidias, the astir celebrated sculptor of the past world. I erstwhile heard Boris Johnson, classicist, talk movingly astir however a sojourn to the Marbles changed his full outlook, being successful their humanity and pathos truthful precise antithetic from the stylised enactment of different cultures (I look to callback helium was a spot rude astir the Assyrian artefacts).

You’re not going to get the Louvre returning the Venus of Milo

These are works that should beryllium seen by arsenic galore radical arsenic possible, and the British Museum attracted 5.8 cardinal visitors past year. Repatriating the marbles would beryllium the astir important concession to the question to instrumentality objects successful collections backmost to their countries of origin. But you’re not going to get the Louvre returning the Venus of Milo.

Do the Greeks person a motivation close to the Marbles? No. Remember, the Marbles wouldn’t beryllium going backmost connected the Parthenon, the temple of Athena. They would beryllium going to a nice, air-conditioned depository adjacent the site. More than that, the woody betwixt Lord Elgin, the archetypal purchaser of the marbles, and the Ottoman authorities – the truthful called firman – was scrutinised by a parliamentary Select Committee successful 1816 and recovered to beryllium valid. Once parliament was satisfied connected this constituent it went up with an Act to acquisition the Marbles for the depository and the federation for £35,000 (rather little than the £75,000 Lord Elgin said they had outgo him).

The best-known student of the Elgin Marbles, William St Clair, discovered an Italian translation of the archetypal statement and it did so accidental that Elgin’s men should not beryllium prevented from “carrying distant immoderate pieces of chromatic with aged inscriptions, and figures”.

This is not to accidental that the British Museum has ever been a bully custodian of the Marbles. William St Clair established convincingly that the museum, astatine the prompting of that taste charlatan, Lord Duveen (the 1 who shipped priceless European creation to decorate the mansions of US tycoons); scraped the soiled aged patina disconnected them astatine the crook of the past century, which astir surely damaged their surface. I’d re-christen the assemblage with the marbles that bears his name. But astatine slightest successful Bloomsbury the sculptures person been preserved from the vicissitudes of warfare and pollution.

Is determination a solution? Not 1 that would fulfill the Athens government, but however astir sending a afloat complement of plastercasts of the marbles to the Parthenon Museum? Casts are indistinguishable from the originals – spot the superb (if severely displayed) postulation astatine the Cambridge Archaeological Museum oregon the V&A’s fantastic Cast Courts. I’d accidental that we should person tons much casts galleries and museums.

There’s a superior motivation lawsuit to beryllium made against taste tourism, partially for the biology degradation visitors origin to the sites they visit, partially the clime consequences of each those aerial miles. If the Greek authorities would similar a beauteous acceptable of Parthenon casts they person lone to ask.

Melanie McDonagh is simply a London Standard columnist