[Tancred]

Interestingly enough, his son (who was the envoy to China during the Anglo-French expedition to Peking of 1860) would burn down the emperor's Summer Palace in retaliation for the murder of British soldiers and diplomats.

[AnAmericanMother]

Purely from a conservation point of view, this is nonsense. As one of the speakers in this article obliquely acknowledges, the sculptures that have remained in Athens have been irretrievably damaged (in some cases nearly destroyed) by neglect and by the corrosive air filled with high-sulfur coal smoke and auto exhaust.

Look at the detail on the one caryatid that Lord Elgin carried back to England: Now, look at her sisters who have remained on the famous porch of the Erechtheion, especially the one on the corner (the lady in the back is a concrete replacement for the one Lord Elgin took). Their faces have been almost obliterated by the corrosive air.

Q.E.D.

[ClearCase_guy]

"Who owns the sculptures is unimportant, irrelevant and immaterial. What matters is where they should be," the Greek embassy in London said in a statement.

This guy needs a refresher in capitalism. If Britain owns the marbles (and they do), Britain should have total control over where the marbles ought to be.

This case really opens up a whole can of worms, a little like reparations. The ruler of Greece, in 1801, gave the marbles to an Englishman. That's legal transfer of ownership. A great deal of art in the world's museums is there by donation. If it is decided that the heirs of the donor can say "Changed my mind -- give the art back, please" then the contents of the world's museums will quickly revert back into private hands. And then be sold to museums or (more likely) rich private collectors.