The GREEKS LOST their MARBLES...

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About The GREEKS LOST their MARBLES...

Ancient Greece has produced World masterpieces in Architecture, Sculpture, Philosophy...
Genetically and linguistically the ancient Greeks have as much to do with modern Greek culture as today's Egyptians may have to do with the Pharaohs, or the contemporary Americans with the Aztecs.
The ancient Greek culture has survived due to its dissemination first by the Romans and there after by their descendants: the Italians, the French, the Spanish and not to a little extent by the 17th, 18th and 19th century Anglo-Saxon Scholars, British (Including Irish), German and Scandiinavian. Without their interest and knowledge neither Archaeology nor History of Art and Conservation will have developped to the extent we know it today,
As an integral part of the dissemination of such compendium of knowledge come the private and public collections, the "Grand Tour" and the teaching of ancient greek language and philosophy in schools in Britain and elsewhere.
BYRON's interest in Greece stems from such an education, without which he will not have nurtured the idea of Greek Independence.
A century later, Churchill too, who was born in an aristocratic environment of classic erudition and who, like Byron, was taught Classics at Harrow, kept a live political interest in Greece. On the checkered board of power game at Yalta: without Churchill's negotiating skills with Stalin, Greece might have fallen behind the Iron Courtain, as the communists had an advantage in the Civil War. One could say that the Greeks have much to be grateful to the British for their good fortune.
Seen in this historic context it is only natural that a great deal of greek antiquities found their way in Museums outside Greece: In the Louvre, the Munich Glipyoothek, in Vienna Hisory of Art Museum, in the Vatican and of course in the British Museum and in the world's greatest museums of Western Europe and North America.
So are for that matter Italian paintings of the Renaissance, or Spanish Baroque masters. These masterpieces, ancient and modern were legally acquired - the majority of them bought on the open market by collectors of good taste and foresight who paid premium prices for their acquisitions. . Like in all such situations when the demand exceeded the offer, some collector's pieces changed hands in a less overt manner, but in most circumstances they were made possible, at the other end, by a native purveyor, ready to make a profit... In retrospect, judging by today's standards it is incorrect and reprehensible, in a world which is changing all the time and which witnessed in the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century the destruction (by nationalist fundamentalilsts and sundry native thugs) of ancient temples in Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, world cultural heritage lost for good, being blown up by accident, or by design. By the same process, early Christian churches in the Middle East are systematcally destroyed. The last conflict in Baghdad witnessed the plunder by native Irakis, of all its museum's collection, which was phenomenal and now dispersed and "gone underground'.,,, an irreplaceable loss. The Antiquities Museum in Kabul suffered the same fate as that in Baghdad.
Might the same have happenned in Greece, with the ancient amrbles, first during the war of Independence then through the later conflicts and not least during the Civil War? It is difficult to tell but not impossible to fathom.

So, it is fair to say that the silver lining in the initiative and deeds of the collectors of the past, such as Lord Elgin is that without their interest and personal resources, such works of art might have been lost for good.

In London the Marbles are viewed free of charge by all who want to see them: by contrast, in Athens whatever is held in their national museum is still partially kept in storage, out of sight and out of mind! To this curious disregard for their own culture, let us not tadd the aspects of endemic corrupotion, pollution of the environment or the persistent supression of other people's cultures - such as the Vlach minority of Greece which is forcibly assimilated: being "Greek" in a negative way is contrary to what a Classic scholar like Byron might have died for at Missolonghi.

Back to the much drummed up business of the Parthenon, other pieces of t its metopae are dispersed in various museums round the world.

There is an apocryphal story, circulating at the time when the singer Melina Merkouri was Greek Minister of Culture and very active in the campaign for the "return of the Elgin marbles": Neil Kinnock the Leader of the British Labour Party, when approached by his Greek counterpart to influence the decision making of a proposed return of the "Elgin Marbles" offered a deal; "We will give you the Marbles if you give us (in exchange) Melina Merkouri!"
The "deal" was turned down and so, the Greeks lost their marbles (for a second time).

Photos are invited for ancient Greek marbles in museums outside Greece.

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/gr/debate.html