h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

THE BRITISH MUSEUM CLAIMS THAT THE ELGIN MARBLES WERE BOUGHT LEGALLY FROM THE SULTAN IN GREECE.

* IF THE BRITISH MUSEUM WOULD BUY THE 'EIFFEL TOWER' FROM HITLER DURING THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF FRANCE (WORLD WAR II),
WOULD THAT BE LEGAL AND THE FRENCH WOULD HAVE NO RIGHT TO CLAIM IT BACK ?

(THE GREEKS WERE OCCUPIED BY THE TURKISH WHEN THIS HAPPENED)

* BUT OF-COURSE WE KNOW WHY THE BRITISH DON'T WANT TO GIVE THE ELGIN MARBLES BACK TO GREECE....
'COS IF THIS WOULD HAPPEN THEN THEY SOULD RETURN ALL THE TREASURES THAT THEY STOLE FROM EGYPT, IRAQ, INDIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES AS WELL.
(OF-COURSE..., THEY DON'T WANT THAT!...)

WHAT WOULD BE THE RESULT OF THIS?
-THE BRITISH MUSEUM WOULD CLOSE DOWN

PS- I WONDER WHY THEY STILL CALL IT 'BRITISH' MUSEUM; THE ONLY BRITISH IS ITS NAME.

It's rude to shout.

throughout history, artifacts have been cosidered the spoils of war. So yes, the Germans owned the Eiffel Tower, and the Turks owned the Parthenon. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
Clearly, the shouter above has never actually been to a museum, and therefore doesn't realize the importance peices of history and art can have outside their own native land. If every nation laid claim to their ure, you would never ever see anything Mesopotamian- (that land is Arab, and unfreindly, unless you are perhaps French, and demented-) nor, for that matter anything who's plane ticket you couldn't afford.
For ured people with an interest in history and the world, that would be untold tragedy. For ignorant boors who shout when unsure if they even have an audience, it is clearly not. Better we should weep for the ignorant among us, then the loss of hte Elgin marbles to Greece.