Cultural Repatriation Proposal

To ​Mr. Hartwig fischer,

In regards to the Elgin Marble

I am writing to you in regard to the Elgin Marble. I hope you will read my proposal to
return the artifact.

First, let me begin by telling you the history of the Elgin marbles. Elgin marble is a part of the
Parthenone, a temple that is built during the 447–432 BC. Then in 1687, the temple was
destroyed when there is a war of venice and ottoman empire. Then from 1801 to 1803, the Lord
elgin took the marble off the temple and transported into Britain. The lord elgin sold the
sculpture to the government for 35,000 pound. The elgin marbles have been in the british
museum since the early 19 century, some pieces of the Parthenon are all over in different
countries and some were destroyed or lost.

Please kindly consider the following two arguments on why the Elgin Marble should be returned

First, greece have argued that the Elgin Marble is just a small part of the Parthenone and they
belong together as a whole unit. “The sculptures are part of a larger work of art, and to keep
these Marbles away from their original location on the facade of the Parthenon is to demean
their value as art and historical objects.” This quote indicates how greece will want the Elgin
marble return into the group of other collection of Parthenon stones. They also mention how
keeping the artifact away from where they belong will degrade their value and their importance
in the history.

The elgin marble is also a really important to the economy of Greek. “Essentially the Marbles,
like almost all of the antiquities of greece, are seen as commodities that have material value and
viable economic potential.” this quote is written in a book called ​Marketing Heritage:
Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past ​by edited by Yorke Rowan, Uzi Baram. With this
quote, the author showed us how the elgin marbles didn’t just affect the culture and the history
of greece, but also the economy. Just one small part of the sculpture can change not only the
present but also the future of this amazing country of art.

Now I realized in the past, your museum has argued that ​“They (Elgin Marble) were brought to 
Britain by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, with the permission of the then rulers of Greece, 
the Ottomans.” However​, this argument is not fully supported with reasonable evidence. There
is no evidence or proof of the permission. According to a turkish scientist from the acropolis
museum, he states that there is no permission from the ottoman “firman”. This is what he said,
“The only person in the empire with the authority to allow a monument to be moved was the
sultan himself. “ This proved that the “firman”,only told Lord Elgin to remove stones that are
“with old inscriptions and figures”, and didn’t exactly let lord elgin remove the marble legally.

I hope you read my proposal with care. Each object should have to right to go back to where
they came from, to where they truly belong. If the Elgin marble is back to its original place, it will
make the sculpture even more beautiful. I hope you will come to the decision of returning the
Elgin marble back to its proper home, greek.

References
Gct. (2019, April 16). Ottomans never gave Lord Elgin permission to remove Parthenon sculptures 
claim Turkish academics. Retrieved from  
https://greekcitytimes.com/2019/04/16/ottomans-never-gave-lord-elgin-permission-to-remo
ve-parthenon-sculptures-claim-turkish-academics/  

Wilde, R. (2019, April 4). The Elgin Marbles Remain Controversial. Retrieved from  
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-elgin-marbles-parthenon-sculptures-1221618​.  
 
Kersel, M. (2004). The politics of playing fair, or, Who’s losing their marbles. Marketing Heritage:  
Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past, 41-56. 
 
8 facts about the Elgin Marbles. (2018, June 6). Retrieved from  
https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-greece/7-facts-about-the-elgin-marbles/