Hawaii Artifact dispute question? NEW UPDATE Page 5 - General Tiki

TW Trader Woody Member Tiki Manor, Forest of Bowland,UK Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 2301	TW Trader Woody Posted posted on Wed, Jun 2, 2004 12:09 AM On 2004-06-01 18:37, christiki295 wrote:http://www.chn.ir/english/eshownews.asp?no=1195 The British Museum’s general claim is that it “has the resources to preserve them better than the country from which they were taken.” It has regularly rejected demands for the return of the 51 Parthenon sculptures, made by the Greek government, now supported by a group of athletes under the banner of British Committee for the Restitution of the Marbles. The Chinese, too, want back 23,000 of their national relics in the British Museum.Understandably, they were annoyed last July when Tony Blair shrugged off their request. “Sorry about that,” he quipped during a visit to Beijing. “It’s something that happened in history.” There are disagreements regarding many items in the British Museum, which is certainly understandable - you could argue that the entire contents be returned to their country of origin. This doesn't make the British Museum predatory. The article you quote mentions 'predatory museums', but these are usually privately funded institutions, building up their own collections. The British Museum has little need to do this. The British Museum has issues that go to the very heart of this thread - should artifacts be returned to their place of origin? My opinion is that they shouldn't as the world would be a poorer place, but I've yet to read 'The Elgin Marbles' by Christopher Hitchens and make up my mind completely. Once again, I would state that The British Museum should not be described as 'predatory'. Trader Woody

*On 2004-06-01 18:37, christiki295 wrote:*http://www.chn.ir/english/eshownews.asp?no=1195

The British Museum’s general claim is that it “has the resources to preserve them better than the country from which they were taken.”

It has regularly rejected demands for the return of the 51 Parthenon sculptures, made by the Greek government, now supported by a group of athletes under the banner of British Committee for the Restitution of the Marbles.

The Chinese, too, want back 23,000 of their national relics in the British Museum.Understandably, they were annoyed last July when Tony Blair shrugged off their request. “Sorry about that,” he quipped during a visit to Beijing. “It’s something that happened in history.”

There are disagreements regarding many items in the British Museum, which is certainly understandable - you could argue that the entire contents be returned to their country of origin. This doesn't make the British Museum predatory. The article you quote mentions 'predatory museums', but these are usually privately funded institutions, building up their own collections. The British Museum has little need to do this.

The British Museum has issues that go to the very heart of this thread - should artifacts be returned to their place of origin? My opinion is that they shouldn't as the world would be a poorer place, but I've yet to read 'The Elgin Marbles' by Christopher Hitchens and make up my mind completely.

Once again, I would state that The British Museum should not be described as 'predatory'.

Trader Woody

Post #94031 by Trader Woody on Wed, Jun 2, 2004 12:09 AM