Comment on Rightwing campaigners claim there is covert deal to return Parthenon marbles

danielquinn@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Isn’t there a conspiracy theory that everything on show at the British Museum is a replica anyway and that the real artifacts are carefully stored elsewhere?

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  • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    There’s a lot of unfounded stupid conspiracy theories but the thing about stupid conspiracy theory is this that they’re stupid.

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    • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      For me it’s a conspiracy theory (and most likely untrue) - but it’s quite an interesting one rather than “stupid”. Raises ideas about authenticity and what people are doing when they go to look at artifacts in museums. There HAVE been paintings, for instance, hung in galleries for years that have turned out to be forgeries but - for a long time people were happy staring at the “art”. Also, ones that have been restored beyond a point where they are pretty much not the original piece. How much would it alter things if the Marbles were all replaced with exact replicas at the British Museum?

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• Naich@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  If we returned all the things we stole the British museum would be empty.

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  • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    There’s loads of British stuff in the museum. All of Darwin’s collections for one thing, plenty of artwork, lots of mediaeval and Roman finds, the famous dinosaur fossil collection, there’s quite a bit of masonry in there from the Great fire of London.

    Also a lot of stuff is from other countries but is on loan, such as all the Egyptian stuff.

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  • scratchee@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    To be fair, I’m sure there’s some British things in the British museum, I assume those could be kept.

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    • Naich@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I think the toilets were made in Britain. Yes, I know there is a lot of British stuff in there, but there is also quite a bit that has been basically looted from other countries during our colonial period.

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      • scratchee@feddit.uk ⁨22⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

        Oh for sure, I was being tongue in cheek. I do think they should make a system for returning things stolen that would be appreciated more where they came from (I’m fine with guarantees of quality preservation and public display, but I think that’s as far as can be justified). We really can’t justify keeping things that we couldn’t buy today because they mean more than money to the people we stole them from.

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  • Patch@feddit.uk ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Last time I heard a deal talked about in serious terms (which was some years ago), I believe the plan was for a “permanent loan” to Greece in exchange for a rotating selection of loans in return. Greece has a pretty impressive collection of ancient artifacts, and it would give British museum-goers a chance to see them.

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  • danielquinn@lemmy.ca ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Yes. It would.

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