Who Owns the Parthenon Sculptures?

Khan Academy's video on the intricacies of the ownership of the Parthenon Marbles as well as the history and importance of demands for repatriation. This also provides the context that Lord Elgin was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and that his actions were considered 'legal' by the British Empire.

The United Kingdom still holds that the marbles were a legal acquisition; this video presents several sides of this argument, both on behalf of repatriation to Greece and on behalf of the UK and the British Museum in particular, which suggests that the Parthenon Marbles are part of humanity's collective heritage and should not be considered to the owned by any one nation.

Another argument holds that presenting the marbles in an encyclopedic context alongside art from all eras and all nations is just as, if not more, valuable as being able to see them in their proper context, in the "brilliant Mediterranean sunlight," in a custom-made museum Greece has constructed in anticipation of their return, near the original site of the Acropolis, where the ancient ruin of the Parthenon itself can be seen in the distance.