Sujet 2 - Partie 2 · Bac Anglais, monde contemporain Métropole 2026

Document A

British museums weigh the cost of repatriating exhibits

Dozens of institutions across the UK are reported to be considering plans to repatriate some of their objects, typically items "acquired" during the period of the British Empire. Some curators 1 have started the process, which could prove costly.

Late last year, Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, South London, transferred the titles to 72 ancient objects, including a series of plaques called Benin Bronzes, back to their country of origin, Nigeria.

"They came from the looting of Benin City by British forces in February 1897," said the Horniman's Director Nick Merriman. "Our trustees 2 went through a process and concluded that they were acquired illegally and therefore that they should be returned." [...]

But cultural commentator Tiffany Jenkins, a critic of repatriation, said that it betrays what should be the main purpose of a museum.

"It's about knowledge, about understanding, about preservation, about audiences. And it's not about righting the wrongs of history."

marketplace.org, 3 April 11, 2023

1 persons in charge of a museum's collection

2 membres du Conseil d'Administration

3 nonprofit media outlet

Document B

Former UK Prime Minister signs letter criticising campaign to return Parthenon Marbles to Greece

A group of high-profile figures, including the former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, has written a letter criticising what it claims is an "accelerating" campaign to return the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Greece.

The letter, which is addressed to the trustees of the British Museum and the UK government, calls for an end to any negotiations to send back the sculptures. [...]

The marbles have been housed in the British Museum since 1817, arriving there after being removed from the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens by the Scottish nobleman Lord Elgin, the then ambassador to the Ottoman court. In 2022, George Osborne, the chairman of the British Museum, said there is a "deal to be done" over sharing the Parthenon Marbles with Greece. [...]

Dan Hicks, a curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum and professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford, told The Guardian: "This letter is a desperate culture-warrior exercise in scaremongering and intimidation [...]. International loans 1 have been a normal part of the operation of museum exhibitions for more than a century. To give just one example, the British Museum itself will be the recipient of a high-profile loan from France next year when the Bayeux tapestry will be put on display."

Speaking to The Art Newspaper, the archaeologist Mario Trabucco della Torretta, one of the letter organisers, alleges that restitution claims such as the one surrounding the Marbles are "animated" by "distortions of the historical evidence. [...] That the Marbles were acquired legally is an uncontestable historical fact." [...]

The most recent statement on the Parthenon Marbles posted on the British Museum website says: "The trustees of the British Museum believe that there's a great public benefit to seeing the sculptures within the context of the world collection of the British Museum, in order to deepen our understanding of their significance within world cultural history. This provides the ideal complement to the display in the Acropolis Museum."

The Art Newspaper, 11 July 2025

1 prêts

Document C

Elgin Marbles could be loaned to Greece indefinitely under MPs' plans 1

Athens and the British Museum are locked in a stalemate 2 in talks over a potential deal that would see the ancient sculptures returned to Athens.

Limited by legislation, the best the British Museum chairman George Osborne can offer the Greek government is a three-year loan.

This will not be countenanced 3 by Greek leaders who claim that the Marbles were stolen by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, and are in effect illegally held in the UK.

Parliamentarians sympathetic to the Greek cause are hoping to alter existing laws to pave the way for an "indefinite loan" currently barred by UK law.

This would allow the British Museum to "loan" the Marbles to Greece without having to renounce ownership of the sculptures that once adorned the Parthenon.

The British Museum is prevented by British Museum Act 1963 from disposing of objects in its collection, which is held for the public, and it therefore lacks the power to hand over the Elgin Marbles. [...]

The UK government has said it will not change the British Museum act, resulting in a stalemate between all parties. [...]

However, MPs [...] hope that they can push for changes to the Export Control Act 2002 [which] limits the loan of cultural artefacts to three years.

The Telegraph, 19 July 2025

1 Members of Parliament's plans

2 impasse

3 tolerated

Document D

Partie 2 (4 pts)

Traduisez en français le passage suivant du document C (l. 7-13):

Parliamentarians sympathetic to the Greek cause are hoping to alter existing laws to pave the way for an “indefinite loan” currently barred by UK law.

This would allow the British Museum to “loan” the Marbles to Greece without having to renounce ownership of the sculptures that once adorned the Parthenon.

The British Museum is prevented by British Museum Act 1963 from disposing of objects in its collection, which is held for the public, and it therefore lacks the power to hand over the Elgin Marbles.