Express View: From Kohinoor to Parthenon Sculptures feud – who owns treasures?
It shows decolonising the museum may not be possible. But willingness to come to the table is a good place to start
The question of troubled provenance apart, countries such as France have begun recognising the empire's role in this displacement and initiated a process of limited transfer or loans. Processions of merrymakers, scenes of feasts and a motley group of guests. The birthday celebrations of Greek god Athena come alive in a burst of revelry on marble friezes and sculptures on display at the British Museum. But the Parthenon Sculptures have managed to strike a discordant note, once again, in diplomatic relations between Greece and the UK. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has accused his British counterpart Rishi Sunak of cancelling a scheduled meeting in London, where Greece’s persistent demand to return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, had moved out of the Parthenon between 1801 and 1805, might have been discussed. The UK has maintained that Elgin’s action was completely above board — he had acquired a firman sanctioning the acquisition from competent authorities. That firman, however, has been lost.
The Parthenon Sculptures episode is, of course, only the latest amid growing demands for repatriation of antiquities to their rightful owners by nations colonised by European powers. In 2009, Egypt had demanded that France return painting fragments from the tomb of Tetaki; Nigeria has long asked for a return of the Benin Bronzes from the British Museum. The question of rightfulness, though, is a double-edged sword. To whom do treasures such as the Parthenon Sculptures or the Kohinoor — demands for whose restitution had reached a peak in the early 2010s — really belong? History records Nadir Shah’s invasion of Delhi and seizure of the Kohinoor from the Mughals. It reached the British after the Anglo-Sikh wars, ostensibly as an act of reparation. Competing claims of ownership diffuse the injustices of colonial appropriation and threaten to derail conversation around them.
The question of troubled provenance apart, countries such as France have begun recognising the empire’s role in this displacement and initiated a process of limited transfer or loans. Decolonising the museum might not be entirely possible, but accountability and a willingness to come to the table might be a good starting place.
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