Article challenge to “Times» of London for the Parthenon sculptures. Andrew Norman Wilson not only argues that they should not be returned to Greece, but claims that the British should not call them “Parthenon’s”.
The columnist of the London “Times”, against the climate that has been created between the governments of Greece and Britain, trumpets his opposition to any scenario of the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens.
In addition, Andrew Norman Wilson “hurls” disparaging expressions about the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but also about the president of the British Museum, George Osborne.
Indicatively, he states that “more people will see our marbles if they stay in London than if they are moved to Greece”, to ask himself: “Would you ever trust either the director of the British Museum or the Greek Prime Minister to come to a reasonable conclusion conclusion;”.
AN Wilson himself “argues” that the antiquities should remain forever in the British Museum, mainly because “humanity today is utterly incapable of appreciating the true value of these incomparable works of art”.
The columnist goes a step further, writing that “referring to the Sculptures implies a certain point of view: If you call them the Parthenon Sculptures, you automatically rank yourself among those who believe they should be where they stood for first time, in the middle of the 5th century BC. If you refer to them as Elginian Sculptures, you are a supporter of the view that they belong in the British Museum, in the magnificent building dedicated to the Greek Revival, in Bloomsbury, which was designed especially for the Sculptures by Robert Smirk, in full Greek glory, in order to host the specific treasures”.
The article in question is entitled “We lost our marbles over Ancient Greece”, and subtitled “The British Museum is not the site of a cultural misappropriation, but a tribute to a higher civilization we no longer understand”.
In British slang, the phrase “we lost our marbles” is rendered: “How did you… screw us with the marbles…”!
We’ve lost our marbles over Ancient Greecehttps://t.co/sPjKHd4Gw2
— Michael Sanfey (@sanfeym) December 7, 2024
Andrew Norman Wilson is an author and regular columnist for The Times of London.