Museums and National Identity: The Case of the Parthenon Sculptures

The controversy over ownership for the Parthenon Sculptures between Britain and Greece questions the role of museums, specifically the British Museum, in the promotion of national identity in the late twentieth century. An analysis of this controversy suggests that museums, while helping maintain a national identity, also promote a global identity, albeit inadvertently. This paper seeks to examine the interaction between nationalism and museums, with a view to assessing what significance the Parthenon Sculptures have in the British Museum. Additionally, it attempts to presents the Greek demand for the return of these sculptures in context of the opening of the new Acropolis Museum in June of 2009 in Athens