Why is the British Museum always in trouble?
Partly because it was bad. But partly because it was good
“The Essex Antiquities” doesn’t have quite the same ring. The sculptures that were hacked from the Parthenon in the early 19th century go by many names. They are called the “Parthenon Sculptures”, the “Parthenon Marbles” and, by traditionalists, “the Elgin Marbles” but never known by the name of the county in the south-east of England. Yet in 1902 part of the frieze from the Acropolis turned up in a rockery in a charming garden in Essex. Quite how it got there, as Mary Beard, a classicist, puts it, “we have no idea.”
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The Brutish museum?”
Britain December 2nd 2023
- How to restore Britons’ confidence in the police
- The Dark Hedges are dying
- Why is the British Museum always in trouble?
- Post-Brexit Britain is splurging more on state aid
- Why Britain’s homes will need different types of heat pump
- The curious case of Nick Clegg
- How to change the policy of the British government
From the December 2nd 2023 edition
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