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E-PrinceThe removal of artifacts from their original contexts is nearly as old as the given artifacts themselves. Perpetrators vary from living-room decorators in search of the newest style to concerned academics attempting to preserve the past via the most technologically ...(back to the article)
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I disagreed with your opinion until I read this column and followed it up with further reading and research of my own.
Well written, persuasive, and above all, correct.
Don't forget also that the stuff wouldn't be looked after as well in the original countries.
In what way can payments made by Lord Elgin according to the standards and customs of the day be deemed illegal? Procurement "based upon a written contract made by the internationally recognized authorities", can a contract be any more legitimate than that?
It's hard to believe that the air in 19th century Athens was anywhere near as bad as the air in 19th century London.
Great column. Not an ordinary topic. I appreciate that.
Wow. WTF. What does this mean: "Should seeing an artifact in its original geographic context outweigh its being seen by significantly more people out of that context?" What does "more people" mean? Do you mean significantly more of the right people? Because this smacks of "only certain countries appreciate art and have the right to fetishize and display other cultures for their own people". There are a lot of people in Egypt, Africa, Asia who deserve access to their own culture.
And "easier access to scholars and the general public": seriously?? You mean scholars and the public of the first world. DO you have ANY idea how hard it is to be a scholar/researcher in a developing country where journals arrive months after publication and many can't afford the cost of online subscriptions? This point is SO not "entirely invalid today". Returning these artefacts might enable scholars IN EGYPT to come to the forefront of "Egyptology".
And hah, nice: my word verification is "power". Nice term to think about in this context.
To the above poster: Surely Egypt has the greatest collection of egyptian art. The writer makes a good point that these cultures that have long been gone for thousands of years belong as much to the world as they do to the current inhabitants of Egypt. Being Egyptian doesn't give one a higher claim to these artifacts of a long lost ancient society. Should egyptian art only be experienced in Egypt and no where else? French art in France, Italian art in Italy? That's unthinkable in the multicultural world we live in.