Elgin Marbles in Irlanda – I tesori nascosti nei Musei britannici
https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/irelands-elgin-marbles-the-treasures-hidden-in-british-museums-qzrmcrfck?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=ireland&utm_medium=story&utm_content=branded
di TimesandSundayTimes
12 commenti
Ornate Celtic brooches, ogham stones and various relics from early Christian monasteries — including the 12th-century bell shrine of St Conall Cael, from Inishkeel in Co Donegal, and a 9th-century crozier from Kells in Co Meath — are among the 1,297 Irish relics and treasures in the British Museum that some academics argue were unethically taken and should be returned.
Last summer Kneecap attracted headlines in London for a guerrilla-style protest at the British Museum, during which the Belfast rappers placed stickers on artefacts reading: “Stolen from Ireland.”
They posted the escapade on their social media pages, with an accompanying caption that read: “Few bits we stuck around the British Museum today — place is huge and full of stolen treasures from other cultures and and people. Place would be empty only for the theft of everything they ‘discovered’.”
The stunt sparked renewed debate about the ethics of museum collections and the longstanding issue of cultural repatriation.
The British Museum is probably the worlds largest collection of stolen items.
It’s not just the British Museum. Look at the case of Irishman Charles Byrne. He had gigantism so the Brits stole his body when he died and put him on public display for 200 years in the Hunterian Museum in London, up until 2023. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Byrne_(giant)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Byrne_(giant)) . They still refuse to repatriate his body.
The Times’ post their own article here, about stolen Irish artefacts, referred to by the headline as ‘Ireland’s Elgin Marbles’. The Greeks and anyone advocating their return calls them the ‘Parthenon Marbles’, instead of giving them the name of their thief.
We going to ignore the stuff from other countries in Irish museums. Going to be plenty of people standing in heaps of broken glass if we really push this one.
I might’nt agree with everything they say but I’ll admit that – ya have to admire the neck on them! That’s one big stirring stick they carry, more power to them!
In defence of the British Museum, half the stuff they’ve got would be sitting in some rich persons house or have been destroyed years ago if they hadn’t taken them.
Just look at the amount of historical items destroyed in the Middle East lately. I’d rather it sitting there than be left in a country that wasn’t going to protect it.
I really dislike all this, pardon the pun, pearl clutching around this stuff. The marbles were bought fair and square there’s really not much else to it. The Irish and British museums also have a fairly good working relationship, it’s all bluster built up by bored people.
I think it’s a bit facile to be going on about reparations. In the case of the Parthenon Marbles, yes, it makes sense to return and restrore them as their provenance is known and their site is still there waiting for them. Other large loot, like the Ishar Gate in Berlin, should be kept safe until its home is safe, and it has not been safe at all recently. ISIS and the Taliban have a nasty habit of destroying any culture they come across.
But the British Museum is the product of an Empire, and it has collected artefacts from previous, fallen Empires, mostly from places then held by the Ottomans, when their Empire was falling apart. It may happen that one day London falls to a horde yet to be assembled, who plunder the Museum. So rather than send everything back where it came from, which would be a divide-and-conquer, destructive approach, the collections should be shared between museums in different countries.
I find it amazing that you can wander in to the British Museum – for free! – and see the wonders of the world. They should be shared by all, not packed up and shipped to where they were dug up, nor the preserve of those who can travel to London. I would love to see UNESCO have a go at curating a World Museum.
About the only thing in the British Museum that is British are the condescending people working there who’s basic arguments consists of 2 things that if we return everything there’d be nothing left and we are so much better at looking after them. From the people who scrubbed the Elgin Marbles themselves with bleach.
When I read the post title I thought this was about the things we have that we should probably give back…
“There are an estimated 15,000 objects which are in the National Museum of Ireland collection which were acquired between 1760 and 1914 when Ireland was part of the British Empire. These include items from North and South America, Africa, Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/2023/06/20/ireland-to-draw-up-policy-on-returning-historical-artefacts-to-their-countries-of-origin/
Sure we can blame the Brits for robbing them in the first place, but we are hanging on the that stolen property. Catherine Martin started a process on sorting it out, wonder if Patrick O’Donovan gives a damn.
The British Museum: We have everything except the receipts
Can you imagine if the Irish Crown Jewels were found and some British museum decided to keep and display them?
I’d imagine the reaction here would be a shrug and a, “Who cares?”