The Noisy Introvert: Of Man and Marbles. The Repatriation Maze.

Parthenon/Elgin Marbles Exhibition hall at the British Museum 2010

Here we go again! Hold onto your hats. In recent days the issue of the restitution (return) of the Parthenon/Elgin Marbles (from the British Museum back to Greece) has been raised again.

In case you've been under a rock (or a marble) Stephen Fry has suggested that the UK government, at this time of the London Olympics, make the offer to return the statues. It would be a sign of maturity, trust, recognition of everything Greek culture has given the west and just plain old goodwill.

For me the issue is not the actual returning. It's the offer to the Greek government by the UK to resolve the dilemma once and for all that is important. It's time to be the bigger person, to recognise the place of origin, to make an incredibly mature gesture and simply "get it sorted".

This could mean many things. This might indeed mean repatriating the marbles to Greece. It might mean paying Greece for them legally and shaking hands on the deal (goodness knows they need the funds). It might mean casting replicas for one or both museums and making a separate decision on the marbles themselves. Who knows? The outcome could be anything they want it to be. The point is it's time for them to both want to move on and realise no-one and nothing is threatened by resolving this. Not their dollars, institutional policy, popularity or reputation. In fact those elements could improve for all parties.

The Parthenon

It's time for the Greek and UK governments to sit down in a mediation session and discuss the possibilities and opportunities, having first made the pact for a resolution. Athens now has a museum able to house the collection adequately, so the conservation issue is subsiding.

The argument of precedence (ie "If we return the marbles we'll have to return everything else in the BM too") is fading also. Collection repatriation is considered on a case by case basis within any museum and I think museum professionals have matured well beyond that very simplistic fear-wrought- thought. We know there is no "one rule fits all" regarding deaccessioning or repatriation and just because something came from somewhere else, it does not mean it must go back there.

When reading all these articles over the last few days I kept thinking about the ongoing prgramme for the restitution of Australian Aboriginal remains in public and private collections. These are ancestral skeletons collected 150 years ago or only 50 years ago or anytime in between.

It's immediate, very recent, in my community and not only concerns "cultural heritage", but families and people. People with very different views, from very different cultures. I'll say it again. From very different cultures. Still didn't get it? one more time...from very different cultures.

At least the UK and Greece are western-civilisations-together. I know it's not all jolly hocky-sticks and Haloumi, but they're neighbours. These nations have a shared historical base and a mis and/or /under -standing that dates back thousands of years. Ok. I get it that that's part of the problem.

Australian Aboriginal cultural traditions do not share the same roots as UK/European culture. They're different. In some aboriginal cultures you do not mention the names of the dead. That's disrespectful and taboo (We have a vastly modified version; speaking ill of the dead). In some cultures to take an image of someone is to take part of their soul. So some people have trouble with photographs. As with any community, some practice those cultural traditions, others don't. When I was in central Australia one elder was complaining about the youth of their community taking photos on iphones. Their ancestors would not approve and the youth were careful around their parents. In the meantime European culture is all for digging up their ancestors. You can see skulls and bones and dug up people every night of the week on telly. I love Time Team!