Free Republic

New research has confirmed that the commonly repeated statement that the illicit antiquities trade is the third largest illicit trade in the world is unsupported by evidence.This factoid has been in circulation since the 1970s, and is regularly repeated in academic articles, popular press and even policy literature.As such, it has largely been accepted to be true by scholars, the general public and legislative bodies."The claim that the illicit trade in antiquities is the third largest, second only to arms and narcotics, is widely repeated," state the authors, but "the claim is not based on any original research or statistics,...

Signs will be added to explain the ‘whiteness’ of sculpture plaster casts inside Cambridge University’s archaeology museum as part of a new anti-racist strategy. Plaster casts of Roman and Greek sculptures are said to give a ‘misleading impression’ of the whiteness and ‘absence of diversity’ of the ancient world. And the Classics Faculty at Cambridge University has revealed it will ‘turn the problem into an opportunity’, according to the Daily Telegraph.... ...academics will be encouraged to include ‘content warnings’ to lectures and reading materials.

The idea is to show how the headless figures taught Rodin that the body could express emotion, as shown in his masterpiece 'The Kiss' and because he never visited Greece, experts say he may have picked up the idea from some of his 15 visits to the British Museum. This, it is argued by British Museum, shows why the museum is the right setting for the Marbles, acquired from the ruins of the Parthenon by Lord Elgin and brought to Britain about 200 years ago.

In February 2014, while promoting his World War Two film, The Monuments Men, Hollywood A-List actor George Clooney declared that Britain should send the Elgin Marbles back to Greece. Despite claiming they came from the Pantheon in Rome rather than the Parthenon in Athens (and also that they had been taken by Lord "Eljin"), he felt that returning them was now appropriate. This was fiercely controversial territory. However, once the furore had died down, most people wrote it off as a kooky PR stunt. Until last week, when it emerged that George Clooney’s new wife, Amal Clooney, a lawyer specialising...

David Gill, a professor of archaeology at the University of Wales Swansea, is the author of a number of studies on the antiquities market. With his colleague Christopher Chippendale, Gill has conducted detailed surveys on the origins of thousands of artifacts in private and public collections. His blog: www.lootingmatters.blogspot.com, explores the murky relationship between the museum world and illicit antiquities... "I was talking to Colin Renfrew about the Cretan collection at Cambridge, which was given to the university as a share of excavations. And he pointed out that Cambridge undergraduates have gone through these galleries for decades and been motivated...

Marbles back for Greek GamesBy Jon Ungoed-Thomas August 4, 2003THE British Museum has held undisclosed talks with the Greek Government over a proposal to return the Elgin Marbles to Athens for next year's Olympic Games. The museum has confirmed it had talked with the Greeks about lending the marbles, despite repeatedly stating they would remain in Britain. In Athens, work has started on a $74 million Acropolis Museum, which has been designed specifically to exhibit the marbles. Under the proposed deal, the exhibition space might formally be designated an annexe of the British Museum. British Museum director Neil MacGregor confirmed...

Campaigners See Hope for Elgin Marbles' Return Sun Aug 18,12:06 PM ET By Jason Hopps LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of visitors flock to a cavernous room in the British Museum every year to gaze upon rows of carved gods with flowing robes, headless heroes engaged in battle and wild horses without legs. Britain is loathe to give up these classical treasures -- known as the Elgin Marbles -- but campaigners fighting for their return to Greece hope a 200-year ownership dispute is finally nearing an end. "On all sides there is at last a cracking of the ice," said Anthony...