Will the British museum finally give back the Parthenon marbles?

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**Amber Minogue** (1:05)
Will the British Museum finally give back the Parthenon marbles?
Thanks for asking. It's not news that museums all around the world contain works of art that have been looted or forcefully taken during colonial rule. But is it time they gave them back? It seems pretty straightforward for an increasing number of people that it is the moral thing to do and that art and artifacts belong in their country of origin. Museums often counteract this by saying, amongst other things, that if they returned these objects they'd be left nearly empty, or that these countries or territories no longer exist, so where would they go back to? Or even that they were legally acquired in the first place. But recently a number of prestigious museums around the world seem to have had a change of heart and are indeed repatriating works, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which is returning a group of life-sized terracotta statues to Italy, the K. Bronley Museum in Paris has returned a collection of bronze statues to Benin, and a court in Amsterdam has ruled that the Alad Pearson Museum must return various items to Ukraine.
And so once again, the spotlight has fallen on the British Museum in London, which has a wealth of controversial artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone, a large collection of Benin bronzes, and of course, the most hotly debated, the Parthenon marbles. What are the Parthenon marbles? Where are they from? And why are they in the UK? The marbles are a collection of 17 sculpted figures in marble, which were once part of a frieze that decorated the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens. They were taken by Lord Elgin, which is why they are sometimes called the Elgin marbles, in the 19th century, when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and brought back to the UK, which is why they are now in London. And pretty much since they were taken, the Greeks have been asking for them to be returned. But the British Museum maintains that they were legally acquired and refuses. Public opinion, however, seems to be changing, and according to a recent YouGov survey, 60% of the British public say that they feel that the marbles should be returned. Will Britain be giving them back? The short answer is no. But after years of asking for their return, there is some movement. Jonathan Williams, the Deputy Director of the British Museum, has suggested a Parthenon Partnership, which would see the marbles lent to Greece for an indefinite amount of time. So maybe soon you will be able to see the marbles returned to their original home. There you have it.
Now you know if the British Museum will give back the Parthenon marbles. In under three minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines. Listen along and you really will know for sure.
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