The Queen's estate is facing a legal battle with Libya as the country attempts to have the Elgin Marble columns returned from Windsor Great Park. Photo / Getty Images
The Queen's estate is facing a legal battle with Libya as the country attempts to have the Elgin Marble columns returned from Windsor Great Park. Photo / Getty Images
The Crown Estate faces a lawsuit over the Libyan "Elgin Marbles" in Windsor Great Park.
Lawyers acting for Libya have said "nothing is off the table" in the attempt to have 2000-year-old columns returned from Windsor to the ancient site of Leptis Magna, near Tripoli.
Libya could sue the Queen's own estate in an effort to have the ruin repatriated, it has emerged, as lawyers argue that "like the Elgin Marbles", the artefacts were taken illegally by British imperial officials in the 19th century.
The Crown Estate, which oversees Windsor Great Park on behalf of the monarch, has been officially asked by representatives of the Libyan state to either return the artefacts or provide proof they were not stolen.
"We say that these were stolen and they should be returned as a matter of moral obligation", Mohamed Shaban, the lawyer acting for Libya, told The Telegraph.
"British values are about doing the right thing, and I think the right thing would be to return these artefacts.
"We have shown great respect so far, and we have perhaps not had the respect that we deserve. For us, now, nothing is off the table."
It is understood that Libyan officials - galled by a piece of national heritage being a curiosity in a British park - are first seeking an "amicable" return of the ruins with the help of the Crown Estate, but are then willing to plead their case to Unesco, or launch into a more "acrimonious dispute" and litigation.
A legal battle could be fought in the UK courts, or the International Court of Justice, to secure the ornate assortment of stone and marble columns, capitals and pedestals.
Mist settles over Windsor Castle and the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park. Photo / Getty Images
Shipped to Britain in 19th century
They were originally erected separately in Leptis Magna in the 2nd century AD, and survived at the site even after it fell into ruin, but in the 19th century they were shipped from Tripolitania (now part of Libya) to the UK by British diplomat Hanmer Warrington.
It has been claimed they were a gift from a local pasha to the future George IV and, after the pieces were first brought to the British Museum, the king's architect made them into an artificial "Temple of Augustus" at Virginia Water in Windsor Great Park, where they are now the Grade II* listed property of the Crown Estate.
The estate has been asked to produce proof of the pasha's "gift", but Libya claims there is no proof Warrington legally acquired the ruins while on his diplomatic mission in North Africa, and that he simply stole them.
Mr Shaban, a London-based lawyer, said: "Much like the Elgin Marbles, they were taken in the 19th century and moved to Britain - almost at the same time in fact. We say that they were stolen and should be returned."
Greece's Parthenon Marbles contention
The Libyan claim mirrors the Greek Government's contention that the Parthenon Marbles were taken from Athens unlawfully by Lord Elgin from 1801 to 1812, while the British Museum has argued he acquired them legally through the local (Ottoman) authorities.
Efforts to have the sculptures returned to Greece have proved unsuccessful, and it is unclear what legal case Libya might have for repatriation, despite the UK being signed up to agreements on world heritage, as Mr Shaban stated: "These were all signed long after the pillaging."
The time elapsed since the alleged theft would make a legal case difficult, and both the UK and Libya would have to agree to seek a settlement through Unesco. It would likely be difficult to prove in court that modern-day Libya has rightful ownership of artefacts created and "stolen" before it existed.
Alexander Herman, restitution expert and director of the Institute of Art and Law, said "legal claims to recover historically removed artefacts like this are very often beset with insurmountable challenges", but added that "legal ingenuity ... may be possible".
