How Greece lost her Marbles

photo: a decent view of the Parthenon without too much scaffolding (copyright the author)

On a recent trip to Athens, the cultural hot potato that is the Elgin Marbles was very much in play. Piles of leaflets at the entrance to the Acropolis make the case for the return of these treasures of the Parthenon (or stolen booty depending on your stance) from the British Museum to Athens.

A brief summary of the story:

From 1799 the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople was Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin. At this time the Ottomans were in charge of Athens, and in 1801 Elgin obtained permission (or so he claimed) to remove around half the existing sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures on the Acropolis. This his agents duly did and in by 1812 they had been shipped back to Blighty.

Although Elgin's motives were based on a love of antiquity (he had heard that some sculptures had previously been burnt to extract lime), a row broke out almost immediately, and has been running off and on for the 200 years since.

Arguments for keeping the marbles in the BM:

1. They are closer to my house (and for Londoners generally). OK, this might have held water when it took a week by sea to get to Athens, but that was before Easyjet & co.

2. The Greeks won't look after them. Pollution in Athens is less of an issue since the Olympics clean-up, and the fab new Acropolis Museum makes the BM look very last year. They even have a space ready.

3. It will set a precedent for returning stuff which will empty our museums. Well, you shouldn't have nicked it in the first place. See this site for more hot potatoes.

4. We built a nice gallery for them. Just move with the times and use it for a permanent exhibition of our best graffiti artists. The Athens galleries are full of light and a much better setting for the marbles.

That's my balanced opinion anyway.

West Wycombe Park

An autumn view of West Wycombe Park, an early 18th century English Palladian mansion in the Chiltern Hills, north-west of London. The house was built by Sir Francis Dashwood, sometime Chancellor of the Exchequer and founder of the Dilettante Society and slightly more notorious Hellfire Club. The caves where the latter Club held meetings are nearby and make an interesting visit.

The house is still in the family:the 12th Baronet Edward Dashwood currently enjoys the modest 5000-acre estate, albeit shared with visitors as the property is run by the National Trust.

Nearly West Wycombe village dates from the 16th century and is also looked after by the National Trust. The pubs and jettied shops on the old coaching road feel in a different age to dreary High Wycombe up the road.


The peace of this area of the Chilterns is now threatened by the High Speed 2 train project.

Photo: the author.

Lost Rivers of London: What Lies Beneath

The prolific Diamond Geezer blog is running a series on The Lost Rivers of London.
And I thought Stamford Brook was mainly a bus garage....

The Londonist has also run interesting posts on London's lost rivers from above., and explains what the Tyburn Angling Society is up to.

These guys hope their torch batteries don't run out...

Frank Jacobs' Strangemaps has ...... a map.

Wikipedia has a general article.

photo: Fleet River Tour by Tom Bolton, on Strange Attractor's London leg of Obscura Day, 20 March 2010 (photo credit: Mark Pilkington)