
“The wrangling over the Parthenon (or Elgin) marbles displayed in the British Museum has been going on since 1817. This example of British appropriation of another nation’s material culture for (so the argument went) the sake of preservation was the removal of the sculptures and friezes from the Parthenon in Greece by Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1812. There was not universal agreement even amongst contemporary Britons about the validity of this supposed act of heritage conservation.


