The Parthenon Marbles and the Future of Cultural Repatriation
The Parthenon Marbles, the most notable artifacts in the debate over the repatriation of cultural property, might finally return to Greece amidst promising talks between the British Museum in London and the Parthenon Museum in Athens.[1] The marbles have been a source of dispute for over 200 years between the two countries.[2] Unfortunately, there is no precedent dealing with cultural property in customary international law, but there have been a number of developments in contemporary international law that have addressed the subject.[3] The 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict marked the beginning of a series international treaties, agreements, and resolutions focused on the protection of cultural property.[4] The Convention stated that cultural property is
“movable or immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every people, such as monuments of architecture, art or history, whether religious or secular; archaeological sites; groups of buildings which, as a whole, are of historical or artistic interest; works of art; manuscripts, books and other objects of artistic, historical or archaeological interest; as well as scientific collections and important collections of books or archives or of reproductions of the property defined above.”[5]
Following the 1954 convention there were subsequent conventions in 1970, 1972, 1995, 2001, 2003, and 2005 that addressed issues relating to cultural property.[6] Most recently, on December 6, 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on the return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin.[7] The resolution “reaffirms the importance of . . . other international conventions, and invites Member States that have not already done so to consider becoming parties to those conventions that specifically address the return and restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin.”[8]
Despite the number of international conventions and resolutions regarding cultural property that have been reached over the past few decades, none have been effective in facilitating the return of such property to their respective country of origin.[9] In fact, UNESCO stated that the “the obligation to return the Parthenon sculptures lies squarely on the United Kingdom government.”[10] On their side of the matter, the British Museum and the United Kingdom say that they are constrained by the 1963 British Museum Act, which they say governs any possible return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.[11] In relevant part, that act provides that the British Museum may give away an object if “in the opinion of the Trustees the object is unfit to be retained in the collections of the Museum and can be disposed of without detriment to the interests of students.”[12] The current negotiations between the British and Parthenon Museums may circumvent that law via a loan or rotational agreement.[13]
While talks of the potential deal have been promising in terms of the marbles finally returning to Greece, they may be less than ideal for the return of other cultural property by the British Museum and by other museums and institutions in countries around the world. While other museums and countries have decided to return cultural property that is not culturally their own to the country of origin, there is still highly controversial cultural property around the world that have yet to return to their countries of origin, such as the Benin Bronzes of Nigeria and the Crown Jewels of South Africa and India.[14] Without goodwill from institutions that hold disputed cultural property, a successful arrangement for the Parthenon Marbles may set an unfavorable precedent for museums and countries seeking a return of cultural artifacts from places like the British Museum that are unwilling to completely part with the cultural property of another country. That precedent will leave the negotiating power overwhelmingly in favor of the current possessor of the cultural property who will not have to accept offers that they deem unfavorable. Without further international law developments to even the negotiating power between countries with cultural ties to certain property and countries that possess that property, people around the world could continue to be deprived of experiencing important pieces of their cultural heritage in their own country.
Niko Dimitrakopoulos is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLVI.
[1] See Alberto Nardelli & Alex Wickham, Parthenon Marbles May Return to Greece in Exchange Deal With UK, Bloomberg (Jan. 3, 2023, 12:08 PM), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/parthenon-marbles-may-return-to-greece-in-exchange-deal-with-uk.
[2] See Alex Marshall, After 220 Years, the Fate of the Parthenon Marbles Rests in Secret Talks, N.Y. Times (Jan. 17, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/arts/design/parthenon-sculptures-elgin-marbles-negotiations.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,After%20220%20Years%2C%20the%20Fate%20of%20the%20Parthenon%20Marbles%20Rests,called%20Elgin%20Marbles%20to%20Athens.
[3] See Saby Ghoshray, Repatriation of the Kohinoor Diamond: Expanding the Legal Paradigm for Cultural Heritage, 31 Fordham Int’L L.J. 741 (2007).
[4] See The Hague Convention. 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, UNESCO, https://en.unesco.org/protecting-heritage/convention-and-protocols/1954-convention.
[5] Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with Regulations for the Execution of the Convention May 14, 1954, 249 U.N.T.S 240. Available at: https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/1954_Convention_EN_2020.pdf.
[6] G.A. Res. 76/16, at 1 (Dec. 6, 2021).
[7]See UN General Assembly Unanimously Adopts Resolution on “Return or Restitution of Cultural Property to the Countries of Origin”, UNIDROIT (Dec 21, 2021), https://www.unidroit.org/un-general-assembly-unanimously-adopts-resolution-on-return-or-restitution-of-cultural-property-to-the-countries-of-origin/.
[8] Id.
[9] See Goshray, supra note 3.
[10] See Alex Marshall, As Europe Returns Artifacts, Britain Stays Silent, N.Y. Times (Dec. 20, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/arts/design/parthenon-marbles-restitution.html.
[11] Id.
[12] British Museum Act 1963, c.24 (UK), https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/24/section/5.
[13] See Nardelli, supra note 1.
[14] See Kiara Alfonseca, Who Rightfully Owns a Country's Artifacts? Greece's Fight Over Parthenon Marbles Sparks Debate, ABC News (Jan 29, 2023, 10:04 AM), https://abcnews.go.com/US/rightfully-owns-countrys-artifacts-greeces-fight-parthenon-marbles/story?id=96636118.
This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.