Janet Suzman wants the marbles joined to their other half in Athens,Benedict Birnberg also argues for their return from London, and Pete Eiseman-Renyard reflects on their careRe the letter from Richard Lambert, and chair of the British Museum trustees (Trust us to look after the Parthenon marbles,27 September), I understood that the museum was there for the people as well as the scholars. As an ordinary person, or albeit interested in the return of the Parthenon marbles to their original domestic,I fail to see why both visitors and scholars can continue their pursuits of self-education on the one hand and scholarly study on the other from London only. His reasoning has a patricentric ring to it, which I find dated; both the internet and air travel have enabled things undreamed-of in Lord Elgin’s day.whether, and however,he is implying that the Acropolis Museum in Athens cannot possibly provide the encyclopaedic resources of the British Museum, then that is possibly even worse than dated; it might be rather insulting and, and perhaps worse,smug. And even were that partially precise, it still fails to reply why sharing knowledge and conducting serious research is impossible from Athens.
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Source: theguardian.com