NSW Minister for Arts Calls on British Museum to Return Parthenon Marbles

“Today I call upon the British Museum to conduct itself as a museum, a contemporary museum, and not as some colonial power clinging to a prized trophy.” said Virginia Judge, Minister for Arts in New South Wales. Her speech was attended by David Hill, the President of the Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.  The Minister added: ”I do not ask the British Museum to return a vase or some statue with a missing limb. I ask the British Museum to return half the Parthenon; return it to Greece so that it may be reunited with the rest of itself…If we agree with the Code of Ethics of the International Council of Museums, ownership of material culture, which is the result of a transaction with an occupying force, in itself is questionable and unethical.”.  The Australian Minister is a member of the NSW government which has consistently supported Greek efforts to take back the Parthenon Marbles.  They are also named Elgin marbles by Lord Elgin.  He removed a staggering amount of panels and sculptures, including 247 feet of the Parthenon Frieze.