The Parthenon Marbles And Britain’s History of Shameless Theft and Plunder Around The Globe.
British imperialism under scrutiny.
The Parthenon marbles.
This extraordinary sculpture has been at the heart of a dispute between the United Kingdom and Greece for a long minute.
And it led to the last minute cancellation of a meeting between the British Prime Minister and his Greek counterpart, yesterday.
So how did all this come about?
A few centuries ago, a British peer — Lord Elgin — stole this work of art from Ottoman Greece, and subsequently it sold to the British government, which made the all important decision of keeping it in the national museum.
There would have been no controversy on this subject had the British government returned the sculpture upon immediate request by the Greek government, several years ago.
But this hasn’t been the case.
Nor has this been the case for much of the rare objects of art sitting in the British museum today.
Why?
Because these very items, currently resident at Holborn in central London, represent a history of theft, violence and colonial plunder.