American actor, who has been involved for many years in favor of the restoration of Greek sculptures taken at the beginning of XIXI Lord Elgin believes that his restoration by the British Museum will go in the direction of history.
It is a bone of contention that has tainted relations between the United Kingdom and Greece for more than two centuries. The thorny subject of the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum has been raised again by George Clooney during a visit to Greece. As the country prepares to celebrate 25 March 200I The anniversary of his independence, the American actor once again called a significant collection of Parthenon marbles to amend the United Kingdom and return to Greece, formed since the beginning of XIXI A century of the greatest treasures of the British Museum. “While there are many items of historical value that must be returned to their original owners, none are as important as the Parthenon Marbles.»Announced George Clooney according to the words stated by the Greek daily on Sunday 7 March Ta neya . «Parthenon statues must be returned to their original owner»Underlined the actor.
Also read:Greece is once again seeking the return of the Parthenon Marbles from London
The artist’s commitment was praised by Janet Suzman, chairman of the British Committee for the Re-evaluation of Parthenon Sculptures, which was campaigning for the restoration of the Marbles in the United Kingdom. The actress who cited Ta neya George Clooney said that his commitment to it was a positive sign: “ It is the heart of Greece’s cultural heritage. The British Museum has abandoned them, but one day it will let them go home. He will because it is the right thing to do. Inviting imaginary property is something that a reputable institution cannot continue to cover itself without the slightest ridicule.“British Museum needs to be shown”Supreme generosity of soul“And a big”moral couragePaul Cartlett, Professor of Greek History at the University of Cambridge, also said.
A secular dispute
This is not the first time that the American actor has committed to the repatriation of the Greek Marbles. George Clooney had already spoken out for the return of the collection to Greece at the time of the film’s release in 2014. monuments Men , Which sheds light on the American group responsible for finding works of art plundered by the Nazis. If his statements had drawn him the wrath of the then Mayor of London – Boris Johnson – he would also have given him the friendship of lawyer Amal Alamuddin, whom he would marry a few years later.
Also read:To fix the Parthenon marbles, Greece offers barter to England.
The Parthenon Marbles are the subject of an old dispute between Greece and the United Kingdom. The temple sculptures and architectural elements of the Temple of the Acropolis, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, were mainly built during the Ottoman times dominated by Greece in 1801–1802 under the supervision of the British ambassador Constantinople, Lord Elgin. Built between 438 and 432 BCE. Particularly build erudition as one of the major groups of classical Greek sculpture. The aristocracy brought a good portion of the temple’s two pandals, its main frescoes, as well as its historical adaptations, back to England, at least part of which has been given to the Athenian sculptor Phidias. The set was sold to the British Crown in 1816, after which they were displayed in the British Museum.
Inaugurated in 2009, the Acropolis Museum in Athens has designed a large exhibition space to accommodate all of the Parthenon Marbles, which Greece keeps asking for return at regular intervals. Successor governments have seriously questioned the authenticity of the Ottoman document branded by the British Museum in order to legitimize its annexation of the collection. British resistance comes mainly from institutions eager to keep an invaluable treasure of classical art at home: In 2014, a YouGov study revealed only Britain’s minorities were opposed to the return of the Parthenon Marbles in Athens . Other celebrities, such as Liam Neeson, have favored the repatriation of the Marbles from the British Museum, while UNESCO and the European Union have also called for an end to this two-century cultural dispute.
The question of the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece is more widely a part of the movement of the return, more or less late, of the actions illegally looted by European powers during the preceding centuries. In France, a report on the return of works of art to sub-Saharan African countries was submitted to Emanuel Macron in 2018. The National Assembly approved the return of old items preserved in Benai and Senegal in October last year.
