http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/arts/newsid_
1761000/1761211.stm The Elgin Marbles are to stay in the UK, apparently. I saw these
about a year ago, when I was in London. (I stayed in a hostel
directly opposite, and a good hostel it was too.)
They're busted up, and not in very good condition, but still affecting. But more interesting was the justification for keeping them there. Various bits of text describe how their condition had declined in the centuries prior 1799 (when they were removed from the remains of the Parthenon). The Turks, for example, stored gunpowder there, and once upon a time it--oops!--went bang. The Greeks can't take care of their own relics, the exhibition argued, and so we have to do it for them.
Lots and lots of people are not very happy with this situation. In the picture below, the banner wrapped around the building at the right reads "Parthenon Marbles / It's time they were returned home". (This of Melbourne.) A little way up the street, at 258 Russell, is Cafe Baloo, which serves Indian curries and Italian pasta (!). Recommended, although it was better a few years ago.
