CULTURE AND MIGRATION

111 Chapter 4 THE CASE OF THE PARTHENON SCULPTURES HOUSED IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM I. Drawing an analogy between refugees and the Parthenon sculptures Katerina Papadopoulou 157 A. Abstract Analogy is a comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect. Although somebody would argue that there can be no analogies between refugees and the Parthenon sculptures, our study on the issue proves that there are indeed many. More specifically, there are three kinds of analogies. The first set of analogies refers to the way the sculptures were removed by the Parthenon complex and reached England. The second set of analogies is about the time that the sculptures remain in England. The third set of analogies refers to their return to Greece. Obviously we support that the sculptures must be returned to where they belong, Greece. B. Introduction In 1986 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) listed the Acropolis and its monuments as a World Heritage Site, because these masterpieces of the fifth century BC “are universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek antiquity to the world”. 158 Though, till today this unique monument is “mutilated” as many of its sculptures were removed by Lord Elgin in 1801, British Ambassador at the time to the Sublime Porte of Constantinople, the seat of the Ottoman Empire. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Greek demand for the Parthenon sculptures is the 157. Katerina Papadopoulou, Attorney at Law, Adjunct Lecturer at Hellenic Open University. You may contact the author at papadopoulou.aikaterini@ac.eap.gr . 158. G. Robertson QC, Prof. N. Palmer QC, A. Clooney: “The Case for Return of the Parthenon Sculptures”. 31 July 2015, p. 4.