The Elgin Marbles should be returned to their native Greece, a leading anthropologist and TV presenter has said.
Professor Alice Roberts believes the 30-plus classical Greek monuments, which have been on display in the British Museum in London for more than 200 years, belong ‘back in Athens’.
She made the comments after speaking with the country’s Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, who expressed ‘a sincere desire to see them returned’, while filming a new Channel 4 series, Ancient Greece by Train.
Prof Roberts, known for presenting BBC shows including Digging for Britain and Incredible Human Journey, said it can be ‘very damaging’ when the removal of cultural artefacts is carried out in a way that feels ‘unwelcome, unintended or unconsented’.
In a Radio Times interview she said while she was not suggesting this is how the debate surrounding the famous marbles should be framed, she stressed: ‘I don’t think this is a question we should just ignore.’
The artifacts came from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple and have been displayed at the British Museum since the 1800s.
They were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
The British Museum said in December a deal on the artefacts was ‘still some distance’ off but that there has been a ‘lot of progress’. It came after a Downing Street spokesman said the future of the sculptures lay ‘entirely’ with the museum.
TV presenter and anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts believes the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece
The artifacts came from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple and have been displayed at the British Museum since the 1800s
The Museum said that while a deal on the artefacts was ‘still some distance’ off, there has been a ‘lot of progress’
After speaking with the Greek minister, however, Ms Roberts said: ‘I have to agree with her…I think they belong back in Athens. It’s not equivalent, but I imagine we might be pretty upset in England if another country had significant bits of Stonehenge and wouldn’t give them back.
‘But actually, the argument goes deeper than that. There’s a pressing need to recognise some of the questionable practices of the past, which often went hand in hand with the history of colonialism.’
A formal request for the permanent return of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece was first made in 1983.
