Plan to return chessmen to Scotland is 'nonsense', says minister

Published on Sunday 27 January 2008 21:23

THE UK government has knocked back Alex Salmond's attempt to repatriate the Lewis Chessmen, deriding his plan as "nonsense".

The First Minister wants the artefacts to be taken from the British Museum and put on display in Scotland.

But Margaret Hodge, the UK culture minister, dismissed the idea yesterday, accusing Mr Salmond of "creating conflict, not culture".

Mr Salmond told a Gaelic audience last month that he wanted to see the chess pieces returned to Scotland.

The British Museum has strongly resisted the idea and yesterday Ms Hodge intervened to rubbish the repatriation plans on behalf of the Westminster government, saying: "It's a lot of nonsense, isn't it?"

She said: "Mr Salmond's clarion call is all about creating conflict, not culture. It's an ounce of policy mixed with a pound of posturing because museums and galleries in the 21st century do not have static collections.

"They lend and borrow. They acquire. Imagine how the National Gallery in Edinburgh would be with nothing but Scottish pictures on the wall."

The minister said the pieces had been made in Norway and were probably on their way to Ireland when they got lost in the Western Isles.

She added that the pieces were made of walrus ivory, which was not indigenous to Scotland, and had been loaned to museums all over the world, including to places in Scotland, by the British Museum.

"It seems to me that they've been doing a pretty good job promoting the importance of European medieval culture – and Scotland's place in it – without any help from those who would round them up into a single, static place," the minister said.

However, Ms Hodge's intervention drew a sharp response from Linda Fabiani, the Scottish culture minister.

She said: "This type of uninformed and dismissive attitude is not helpful. The reality is that under the current Treasure Trove system, the Lewis Chessmen would have stayed in Scotland and been displayed in Scotland's museums (were they found today]."

Ms Fabiani said the Scottish Government would continue to press for the repatriation of the pieces and said she had made her views known to the British Museum.

"The Scottish Government believes it is unacceptable that only 11 Lewis Chessmen rest at the National Museum of Scotland, while the other 82 remain in the British Museum and I shared this view with the British Museum."