As one would expect, however, “when he returned to London, he found that few in his party shared his views, let alone Conservative members of Margaret Thatcher’s government. He didn’t push the idea… Most of his successors, including Tony Blair, insisted the marbles should stay put in the British Museum, as one of its highlights,” Marshall said. The sculptures were opened to the public again last week after coronavirus restrictions and maintenance work forced the gallery’s temporary closure. Marshall wrote that “they reappeared as activists around Europe are clamoring to rectify perceived historical injustices, yet the idea of returning the marbles to Athens seems to have as little political support here as it did in Kinnock’s day. The British government’s official position is that it is not responsible for the marbles’ fate: That, it says, is a matter for the British Museum’s trustees, a group largely appointed by the prime minister that has repeatedly said the sculptures are integral to the museum’s mission of telling world history.”Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who once noted the Marbles should be returned, as Mayor of London in 2012 said, he “had reflected deeply over many years” on the sculptures, but despite feeling sympathy with Greek feelings on the issue, he concluded that it would be “a grievous and irremediable loss” for the British Museum.
Tags: New York Times, British Museum, Parthenon Marbles, Greece
