Keep Elgin Marbles in U.K., expert says

The British government should not return the Elgin Marbles to Athens from their current home at the British Museum because Greece has a poor record of caring for its treasures, a leading archaeologist says in a new book.

"I think they have to start looking after what they have," said Dorothy King. "Most of the Parthenon sculpture in Athens isn't on display and hasn't been cared for."

King, who studied classics at King's College, London, and did her PhD on Greek architectural sculpture, is the author of the book, The Elgin Marbles.

The government's refusal to give back the treasures has been a contentious issue in Anglo-Greek relations for nearly 200 years.

The decision earlier this month by a German university to restore a piece of the Parthenon to Greece has increased pressure on the British Museum to return the marbles.

According to the Greek culture ministry, Heidelberg University agreed to give back a frieze showing the heel of a man, which originally adorned the Parthenon.

The Elgin Marbles, called the Parthenon Marbles in Greece, are statues and fragments taken from the Parthenon temple in the early 19th century by British ambassador Lord Elgin, who sold them to the British Museum.

The Greeks say Elgin bribed Ottoman authorities to raid the Acropolis and ultimately caused great damage to the Parthenon with his raiding.

In  The Elgin Marbles, King mounts a defence of Elgin's character and devotes pages to the archaeological history of the Parthenon. She saves her venom for Greece, and the way its treasures have been shaken, stripped and smashed.

King is opposed even to loaning the marbles to Greece. "It is not an option. What are we going to do — send in the SAS to bring it back? If we loan it, it is not going to come back."

She rejects the argument that Britain's refusal to return the marbles is an arrogant echo of its imperial past.

She says the marbles are well preserved, well cared for and accessible to all free of charge in the British Museum.

In contrast, she says the Parthenon sculptures in Athens are mostly in poor condition, continuing to disintegrate and accessible only to specialists.

The Greeks say they are well capable of caring for their own antiquities and refute charges that they are doing a poor job.

King also opposes creation of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens which is being especially built to house the marbles.

"I am not being rude about the Greeks," she insisted. "But I think various Greek governments have made it into a political issue which they shouldn't have.

"I have objections to the way the Greeks are very nationalistic about it. I don't like the way they have become this symbol of Greek superiority. The world has become multicultural."

In recent years, British personalities such as actress Vanessa Redgrave have backed up Greece's request for the return of the marbles.