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One of my ancestors helped bring the Parthenon marbles to the UK. Another helped return works that were looted by Napoleon during his campaigns (my grandmother
by iamacyborg 4y ago
One of my ancestors helped bring the Parthenon marbles to the UK.
Another helped return works that were looted by Napoleon during his campaigns (my grandmother had one of Canova’s Ideal Heads which the ancestor received as a gift from Canova for returning those artworks).
This stuff is pretty complicated, simply returning it is not possible, for example with ISIS purposefully destroying historical artefacts.
Having artefacts in foreign countries is, in my opinion, a net good. It exposes folks to cultures that they would not otherwise get to see.
- AbrahamParangi 4y agoShould the UK give the US the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom in perpetuity so that more people get to see them? There are more people living in America and our cultural destinations have more visitors from all over the world. Or is it only a net good when the UK keeps the priceless cultural heritage of other nations?
- iamacyborg 4y agoThe US have more than enough artifacts from foreign cultures already, don’t you think?
- AbrahamParangi 4y agoThe point is: if you were from a culture that was looted, rather than the one which did the looting, would you feel the same as you do now? That it was a net good that the looting had happened so that others might enjoy your priceless heritage as a trophy of conquest?
- iamacyborg 4y agoI’m not sure there are many folks still around from cultures that are thousands of years old…