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When John Oliver Demanded the Return of the Parthenon Marbles

John Oliver Parthenon Marbles
John Oliver blasts the British Museum for the Parthenon Marbles and other antiquities stolen from all over the world. Credit: Video screenshot/Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

In October 2022 John Oliver made an eloquent case for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece and blasted the British Museum over its refusal.

In his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver aired by HBO he offered his distinct perspective with humor and sarcasm on an issue that has strained relations between Greece and the United Kingdom for decades.

The Parthenon Marbles, known in England as the Elgin Marbles, were hacked away by Lord Elgin, he said.

“A British Earl entered your house, stole the Marbles, and then sold them to a museum 1,000 miles away,” he said. “Greeks are understandably furious about it. They were not lost. They were taken.”

Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece, says Oliver

He noted that Greece has been demanding the return of the Marbles for decades, but the response of the British Museum has been “unbelievably patronizing.”

“The Marbles should absolutely be returned to Greece,” Oliver stressed and added that the Parthenon antiquities are “the tip of the iceberg.”

If you are ever looking for a missing artifact, nine times out of ten, it is in the British Museum. It’s basically the world’s largest lost and found with the words lost and found in the heaviest possible quotation marks, he said.

British Museum linked to slavery and colonialism

Antiquities from all over the world have been taken and are displayed in European and American museums, and a 2018 report, commissioned by the French President, found that over ninety percent of Africa’s cultural heritage is held outside Africa by major museums.

Oliver referred to British aristocrat Hans Sloane who offered his collection for the founding of the British Museum. Sloane was married to an heiress of a sugar plantation in Jamaica worked by enslaved people. He bought many artifacts with the wealth he accumulated from slavery.

“The British Museum foundation is inextricably linked to slavery and colonialism,” Oliver said.

He noted that The British Museum Act of 1963 forbids the giving away of artifacts owned by the British Museum. “But laws can be changed,” he concluded.

Greece renews calls for the return of the Parthenon Marbles

Greece has recently renewed calls for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the UK following the disappearance of an estimated 2,000 artifacts from the British Museum.

The disclosure was made last week by the Chairman of Trustees George Osborne who admitted that the Museum did not have a complete catalog of what was missing.

“I will give you an estimate of around 2,000. But I have to say that’s a very provisional figure,” Osborne said. “We have started to recover some of the stolen items, which is a silver lining to a dark cloud.”

Museum Director Hartwig Fischer resigned on August 25th, admitting the institution did not act “as it should have” on warnings that items had gone missing.

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