February 18, 2025

Tullio Corradini

Trusted Legal Source

Technological Advancements and the Parthenon Marbles: the Potential Role of 3D Printing in the Greek Claim Against the British Museum

Technological Advancements and the Parthenon Marbles: the Potential Role of 3D Printing in the Greek Claim Against the British Museum

By Ilaria Bortot

The Parthenon was designed in the 5th century on the hill of the Acropolis in Athens in honor of the goddess Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). It was aspect of Pericles’ rebuilding software right after the Greek victory above the Persians, and it was the incredibly image of Greek liberty and democracy. The marbles shown at the British Museum include fifteen of the first ninety-two metopes illustrating scenes from Greek mythology, seventy-five metres of the frieze, and seventeen sculptures from the pediment symbolizing Greek gods and heroes. The never ever-ending dispute all over the marbles began in the 18th century when Lord Elgin, a British Ambassador to the Ottoman Court docket, which controlled Athens at the time, asked to “collect as significantly marbles as possible” and take them again to England. Still these days, the only doc used by the British Museum to base the legality of Elgin’s steps is the “firman”, i.e., a royal decree issued by the ruler that functioned as formal permission to carry on a asked for action. Even so, the original duplicate is lost and the only surviving copy is in Italian. Also, its written content is vague and fairly open to interpretation, and it produces doubts about no matter whether Lord Elgin acted in accordance to regulation. At the time in England, then, the Parliament obtained the marbles for £35,000 and vested them to the British Museum’s trustees, generating them the entrepreneurs.

The debate for the return of the Parthenon marbles dates to Greece’s independence in 1832 on the other hand, the very first formal declare was only in 1983, and it was formally rejected in 1984. Since that second, the English authorities has been denying Greece’s requests as nicely as all those from the intercontinental local community. For instance, in 2021, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Fee for the Return of Cultural Home to Countries of Origin (ICRCP) voted unanimously for the initially time at its 22nd session for the return of the sculptures to Greece, but absolutely nothing altered. As a substitute, the English government based mostly its refusal on five main points. To start with, in accordance to the popular regulation principle of the nemo dat quod non habet rule, the Crown cannot purchase greater title to the marbles than what was acquired by Lord Elgin consequently, if his title was lawful, as they declare, the Crown’s title is lawful, as well. 2nd, the removal of the marbles from their primary location saved them from possible damages brought on by deficiency of care (however, the British Museum forever ruined some of the elements when they had been greatly cleaned in the 1930s). 3rd, the museum states that the marbles have grow to be an critical section of British cultural heritage because of to their extensive presence in London and the wonderful impact they have experienced on British neoclassical art. Fourth, the trustees of the British Museum are concerned that the return of the Parthenon marbles could established a precedent for worldwide restitution of artefacts to their nations of origin. Lastly, the trustees have a sturdy lawful justification in the 1963 British Museum Act, which helps prevent the museum from disposing of any items besides for objects that have been uncovered to be duplicated, weakened, or unfit for retention. When it could be argued that the marbles are morally unfit, as the earlier a long time have shown, the probability that the trustees would change their place is not likely. To allow for the disposal of the marbles then, the Parliament would require to authorise a new act, but there has been opposition to these types of an selection.

To prevail over some of the troubles raised by the United Kingdom, the Institute for Electronic Archaeology (IDA) proposed to create excellent replicas of the marbles applying 3D printing, which is the system of generating a 3-dimensional object from a electronic model. Technological progress like 3D printing have increasingly tested by themselves to be a robust asset for cultural heritage. An significant illustration is how this technology has been made use of in the reconstruction of ruined monuments. Following ISIS ruined Mosul, various cultural initiatives and jobs ended up launched in opposition to the terrorist team. One such initiative was the “Missing: Rebuilding the Past” exhibition which was a present by artists incorporating different media, including 3D printing, to characteristic monuments and artworks that have been shed all through heritage. Even with this heritage technically currently being shed, it is even now doable for people to working experience it through this technology. An additional significant system was the 3D duplicate by IDA of the Palmyra Arch of Triumph, which was destroyed by ISIS in October 2015. The objective of this job was to ship a concept of peace and hope just after the terrorist assaults and to exhibit the potential of new know-how in the cultural heritage field. In 2016, the 3D marble duplicate of the Arch of Triumph was displayed in Trafalgar Square. It was then moved after two weeks from London to many internet sites this kind of as New York, the World Govt Summit in Dubai, and the G7 Culture Summit in Florence ahead of arriving in Arona, exactly where the archaeological museum dedicated to Khaled al-Asaad, the Head of Antiquities in Palmyra killed by terrorists in 2015, is situated. In this way, the new Arch grew to become a image of cultural resistance towards ISIS’s atrocities.

In addition to the reproduction of shed monuments and cultural artefacts, 3D printing could also be the remedy to quite a few repatriation cases like the Parthenon Marbles, which is what IDA hoped to attain by means of the proposed creation of the marbles’ best replicas. With this option, the originals could go back again to Greece and be reunited with the parts previously shown in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, and the British Museum could retain an correct duplicate whilst also benefiting from the good acknowledgement that the return of the marbles would give them from the worldwide community. In addition, 3D printing on historical monuments has a main authorized benefit: it does not cause copyright infringement. According to Article 12 of the Copyright, Style and design and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988, copyright guards an artwork for the period of the lifestyle of the writer moreover seventy several years. Thus, the Parthenon Marbles can be conveniently reproduced due to the fact they do not have any copyright security: in addition, they dated to an era when there was no authorized interest in copyright, so they have under no circumstances had copyright. Having said that, for the reason that the marbles are at the British Museum, the museum’s trustees presently have copyright to any of their digital scans intended for advertising and marketing or reproduction.  As a result, if the IDA needs to recreate a 3D print of the marbles, legal permission from the trustees is demanded.

The only challenge that 3D printing raises regards the authenticity of the pieces that would continue to be in London. In other text, how people today would respond being aware of they are admiring copies instead than originals. Using the description of Walter Benjamin, initial artworks are surrounded by a kind of metaphysical high quality, an “aura” that defines their have exceptional presence in time and house. A reproduction, no issue how ideal it may be, will often be missing this specific top quality. Individuals admire, cherish, and nearly worship a do the job of artwork not only for its high quality and beauty but for its background and what it represents an artwork is a witness of the past. For that reason, even the most specific and perfect duplicate simply cannot reproduce aura, which is totally primarily based on people’s notion of the item and their feeling in direction of it. Even although replicas are equivalent to the originals, people’s look at alterations after they know they are seeking at copies. 3D technological innovation, however, issues Benjamin’s principle and the pretty importance that folks give to cultural objects. As the instance of the Arch of Triumph shows, the 3D replica is continue to enjoyed and highly regarded due to the fact it carries a information of peace and cultural resistance. In addition, museums’ attitudes toward replicas are changing, as perfectly. For occasion, the Victoria & Albert Museum, a single of the most well known museums in London, with an common of 4 million readers per yr, has an whole area dedicated to reproductions.

The only challenge associated to the 3D printing of the Parthenon Marbles, for that reason, is simply related to the viewers’ perception of the objects. It is paramount to remember that their tale has a substantially broader and deeper context that dates to colonisation. The British Museum, the Louvre, and any other encyclopaedic museums even now have artworks from former colonies in their collections. The latter, on the other hand, are now independent nations deprived of their cultural heritage. The Parthenon, in Greece, was a symbol of flexibility. It represented the victory of democracy more than tyranny. Even after Lord Elgin eradicated the marbles, it was nevertheless employed as the surroundings to proclaim Greece’s independence in 1832, and it was furthermore the image of liberation from the Nazis in 1944. Everything about the Parthenon, from the photos represented to its story, speaks about Greece and its liberty. It is the countrywide symbol of a region that struggled, and the absence of essential items like the marbles, making use of the phrases of Alexander Herman, “denotes that the Liberation remains incomplete, as if the Greek can only genuinely perfect this symbol of nationwide freedom once the sculptures are returned”. Probably it is accurate that the Parthenon’s replicas will deficiency aura even so, the query is whether or not people today would price their personal amusement above the reunification of the most crucial nationwide symbol of a region.

About the Author 

Ilaria Bortot is a graduate student in Artwork Law at the College of York. Her tutorial fascination is focused on the protection of cultural heritage, repatriation troubles, provenance exploration, and the unlawful trafficking of antiquities.

Proposed Readings 

Ahmet Denker, “Rebuilding Palmyra Pretty much: Recreation of Its Former Glory in Digital Space”, Virtual Archaeology Overview, 8 (2017) https://www.researchgate.internet/publication/318717262_Rebuilding_Palmyra_pretty much_Recreation_of_its_previous_glory_in_electronic_room

Christopher Hitchens et al. The Parthenon Marbles (2016).

Stuart Burch, “A Virtual Oasis: Trafalgar Square’s Arch of Palmyra”, Archnet-IJAR: Worldwide Journal of Architectural Study (2017). www.archnet-ijar.net/index.php/IJAR/write-up/perspective/1401.

Footnotes