The British Museum of Art, The Elgin Marbles (Again)

I received some angry comments when I made a post on Facebook describing the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum as "stolen."  (Most of the angry comments came from British Nationals.)

I did some research, and found scholarly sources proving I am right.

Most historians agree that Lord Elgin stretched or exceeded his authority in removing large parts of the Parthenon sculptures and that later conservation practices at the British Museum caused irreversible damage.

In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin removed large sections of the Parthenon sculptures from Greece, even though the Ottoman permit he relied on only allowed limited access and the taking of a few loose stones, not whole carvings. His workers cut sculptures directly from the building, causing damage during removal. Years later, the British Museum further harmed the marbles by aggressively cleaning them with metal tools and wire brushes to make them look whiter, scraping away original surfaces and details that can never be restored.

Excuse my formatting, I'm doing this on my phone.  Here are some selected scholarly sources (for reference):

Boardman, J. (2000). The Elgin Marbles: Matters of fact and opinion. International Journal of Cultural Property.

St Clair, W. (1999). The Elgin Marbles: Questions of stewardship and accountability. IJCP.

Neils, J. (2003). Cleaning and Controversy: The Parthenon Sculptures 1811–1939. JSTOR.

Titi, C. (2023). The Parthenon Marbles and International Law. Springer.

Reppas, M. J. (1998). The deflowering of the Parthenon. Fordham IPLJ.

Çelik, Z. (2016). About Antiquities: Politics of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire.

Stamatoudi, I. (2022). The Parthenon Marbles Case. Cardozo Arts & Ent. LJ.

Betts, P. (2000). Cleaning of the Parthenon Marbles. Museum Management and Curatorship.