As rumours about talks to repatriate the Elgin Marbles to Greece resurface, we get two experts to make the case for and against their return in today’s City AM Debate

YES: The sculptures were designed to be viewed together on the Parthenon, forming a narrative

The Parthenon Sculptures (AKA Elgin Marbles) were removed from the Acropolis in Greece between 1801 and 1805 at the instruction of the 7th Earl of Elgin. Although this was a different era, it wasn’t that different. By 1850, people already used Elginism as a derogatory term to describe vandalism of ancient monuments.

Elgin never produced unequivocal evidence of his permission to remove all the sculptures he took, and this is the basis for most legal claims. Beyond legality though, there is an overwhelming moral argument for their return.

The sculptures were created in Greece and remained there for over two millennia, with half of them still there. They were designed to be read together on the Parthenon, forming a narrative. Would anyone try to argue that pages of a manuscript would not be diminished if split arbitrarily between two locations?

While........

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