Should Museums Return Artifacts To Their Original Countries?
The repatriation of ancient objects is highly-charged and complex
I recently stayed in Athens, and whilst there I took the chance to visit the Acropolis Museum, home to many ancient artifacts found on the rock of the Acropolis and on the surrounding slopes.
As I walked through the halls of the modern museum, I couldn’t help but be struck by the aptness of the museum being so close to the Acropolis itself. Only the day before I’d been up to the top of the rock and walked under the shadow of the great Parthenon temple. Now, at the museum, which sits at the foot of the rock of the Acropolis, I could look up and feel the presence of the old Athenian temples as I passed through the rooms of the exhibition.
The top level of the museum is set aside for the display of the Parthenon marbles, a series of stone sculptures that once adorned the outer edges of the famous temple. This floor is designed to sit in the same compass-orientation as the Parthenon itself and is laid out with the very same dimensions. You can even see the ancient temple on top of the rock through the glass walls, which permit natural light to illumine the marbles on display as they do on the Acropolis.
