2008-10-01 Archaeological loot and the Parthenon Marbles

Hitchens is definitely articulate as ever and I'm sure he is aware of the large number of people who visit the British Museum to see the PARTHENON MARBLES. But we are missing the point here. This a great book about pieces of art violently taken from their place: THE PARTHENON during the Ottoman occupation in Greece. Greeks were not asked,the sultan was. They were not stickers to be peeled off the building of the Parthenon. Giovanni Battista Lusieri, the artist who was appointed to oversee the removal of the artefacts later admitted that he had to be 'a little barbarous' with them (Christofer Hitchens: `The Elgin Marbles: Should they be returned to Greece?', appendix 1). These marbles ARE NOT Elgin's. They are MISSING parts of the PARTHENON and this is where their place is. Let's not justify crimes of art, or 'archaeological loot' (N.Davies in 'Europe: a History', page 741), in the name of cultural, political or archaeological colonialism. If someone wants to see Stonehenge they should visit England but if someone wants to see Parthenon (and its marbles), Athens should be the place.