Roxana Cooper Wrote:
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> My sympathies are with the BM.

Well ... Greece was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire at the time, and Elgin claimed that he had a firman from the Sultan authorising the removal of whatever stonework he wanted. But the full context is really quite complex:

[www.parthenon.newmentor.net]

But no convincing evidence of the existence of the original firman was ever produced. And Elgin's replies to the Select Committee - [www.google.co.uk] - were, IIRC, a bit evasive ...

However, the Acropolis itself was apparently in a bad way at the time, subject to depredations of various sorts, and maybe Elgin's efforts - despite their dubious legality - helped to save some of the stonework at least.

Hermione
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