Book review: Making Representations: Museums in the Post-Colonial Era

Abstract

In defending its refusal to lend the Elgin marbles to Athens for the Olympics, the British Museum recently adopted the position that they are the better custodians because Greece lets its treasures crumble. The Museum argues that it has always been an institution not just of Britain but of the world. While not denying that preservation responsibilities are at the centre of the keeper and curator’s traditional duties, the British Museum’s highly publicised stance would seem to reassert the old models upon which such major institutions were founded. Cultural property is universal, to be made available for all to see, and sculptures of pagan gods are to be cherished and displayed in their own temples. Show more