Aug

4

2009

Should the Elgin Marbles be returned to Greece? James Cuno debates Christopher Hitchens on Newshour

by Jessica Pellien | Filed in: Archaeology and Ancient History - Art and Architecture | 1:29pm EST

PUP author James Cuno debates Christopher Hitchens on whether the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece or remain in The British Museum. I read Hitchens’s moving and convincing piece in Vanity Fair about his visit to the new Greek museum, but I am also swayed by Cuno’s arguments about the importance of encyclopedic museums and protecting artifacts from less than ideal circumstances in their source countries (see the Iraq museums being looted, or deliberate attempts by new regimes or religions to destroy artifacts of earlier times).

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2 Responses

1. On October 24th, 2009 at 5:51 pm Abstract Art Prints replied:

   Personally I think they should stay. there are so many people within England that truely appreciate these pieces of art.

2. On November 14th, 2009 at 1:37 pm mary replied:

   “there are son many people within England that truely appreciate these pieces of art”
   that statement is so wrong in so many ways.
   1) the marbles should stay there because they are appreciated by many English people?that is kind of selfish statement. If the return to Greece they will not.
   The marble should return to Greece. They were stolen.