Readers respond to Boris Johnson’s refusal to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece, and the legacy of colonial looting
Boris Johnson dismisses out of hand the latest request from Greece to return the Parthenon sculptures, currently exhibited in the British Museum, on the grounds that they were “legally acquired” by Lord Elgin and have since been “legally owned” by the museum’s trustees (Boris Johnson rules out return of Parthenon marbles to Greece, 12 March). It is difficult to know what “legally” is supposed to mean here, but their contentious removal remains under increasing international scrutiny. Perhaps the museum’s trustees thought it sufficient to dispense with the inscription of Elgin’s name by which they were previously exhibited, a name that still emblematically evokes Britain’s imperial looting project of the 19th century.
Historians today are asking searching questions about Britain’s imperial past and its present legacy, so it is unfortunate to have such an unreflective prime minister as Johnson treating the subject with characteristic disdain. He will find that this issue will not be going away.
Dr Ian Brookes
University of Nottingham
