This article is an informative piece about sculptures taken from the Pantheon by Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1812 at which time Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The main purpose of this article is to show both arguments for why the marbles should be returned to Greece or why they should stay in Britain. After removing the marbles Elgin then sold the sculptures to the British museum in 1816 where they sit protected from the elements, vandals, or any other destructive forces. Melina Mercouri is a major advocate for the return of the sculptures to Greece on the basis of morality. She claims that the marbles are an essential piece of the Greek culture and should be returned to their rightful home. The Greeks claim that Elgin wrongfully removed the marbles and they never legally belonged to the British museum. However, Elgin had the necessary paperwork from the proper officials to rightfully remove the statues. The form that Elgin had produced was nonspecific and partially left open to interpretation by the reader. It is believed that Elgin bribed officials in order to obtain this paperwork which reinforces the idea that this act was immoral and perhaps illegal. At this point in the article the author seems to agree with the Greeks, He seems to speak directly towards the immoral act of removing a significant piece of history from the culture which produced it. After reading through the first few pages I shared the same point of view as the Greeks, what Lord Elgin did seems cold hearted and borderline illegal. .
The British have the law on their side, 'statues of limitations' require that any action be taken within a few years of the act in question. However, Greece has never taken any action since they have been able to sue since 1828 when they won their independence from the Ottoman Empire. It is apparent that if Greece took the British Museum to court they would lose and the British would keep the marbles.
