The British Museum has maintained that Ottoman authorities granted an imperial edict allowing the sculptures to be removed, but a Turkish official has cast doubt on the document’s existence. A Turkish official has added fresh fuel to the fire over the , questioning the existence of proof long cited by Britain that it had legally acquired the 2,500-year-old sculptures taken from the Acropolis in Athens. Also known as the Elgin Marbles, the sculptures were removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire which ruled Greece at the time.
Much to Greece’s chagrin, they are currently housed in the British Museum in London. The museum argues that Elgin’s removal of the sculptures was legal, citing an imperial edict, or ‘firman’, from Ottoman authorities allowing him to do so. Zeynep Boz, the head of the Turkish Culture Ministry’s anti-smuggling committee, however, said that no such document has been found.
As the successor to the Ottoman Empire, “Turkey is the country that would have the archived document pertaining to things that were sold legally at that time,” Boz told The Associated Press Wednesday. “Historians have for years searched the Ottoman archives and have not been able to find a ‘firman’ proving that the sale was legal, as it is being claimed.” Boz added she felt obliged to intervene during the UNESCO meeting after a British participant said in his speech that the Elgin Marbles were bought legally duri.
