The remarkable artefacts in Scots stately home that rival Elgin marbles

A grand country manor, it is available as an upscale venue for anything from political gatherings to banquets, as a film set, an imposing backdrop to showcase supercars and for well-heeled tourists seeking to dine with Scottish aristocracy whose gilt-edged roots stretch all the way to King Robert the Bruce.

Seat of the Bruce family, whose chief is the Earl of Elgin and of Kincardine and whose flag flutters over the West Fife mansion’s roof, its doors are firmly closed to passing public.

But for those lucky enough to take a private tour, a wealth of riches, fine art, and – perhaps surprisingly - ancient artefacts await.

A quick glance at Broomhall’s Instagram page reveals some of what hides inside.

There’s the elegant library, stuffed with original copies of works by principal thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, including a first edition of Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

There are countless 16th and 17th century paintings, a mantlepiece made from the marriage bed of James VI and Queen Anne of Denmark, drawing room curtains trimmed with antique Chinese silk cloth removed during an 1860 British and French raid on Yuanmingyuan, the Manchu emperors’ fabulous Peking summer palace, and the sword once held by Robert the Bruce.

What there is not, however, is obvious mention of Broomhall’s links with the controversial Elgin Marbles.

Or, for that matter, other antiquities and artefacts collected from Athens and other ancient sites in the early 19th century by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, and which still lie within Broomhall.

They include an ornately carved sarcophagus, thought to date from the 2nd century AD and bearing the name, Aelius Epikrates Berenikides.

Excavated in “the fields of the city of Athens” around the same time the Parthenon frieze was being removed, it is richly decorated with swags of luxuriant garlands of fruit and leaves carried by a figure thought to be Eros. Carved into the white marble are two bulls’ heads, satyrs, and lions’ heads.

Hard to miss, it sits in the manor’s elegant entrance hall and is believed to have been shipped to Britain along with sections of the Parthenon frieze.

Nearby, set into the west wall, are four inscribed ancient funerary steles; white marble ornately carved slabs more than 2000 years old, including one almost complete piece featuring two female figures, the folds of their robes chiselled into the cool stone, one with hair tied back, the other’s hanging loose.

Long gone – or, indeed, not so long gone - from Broomhall are various other ancient artefacts, bought by the 7th Earl during his time as Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman empire.

Indeed, as recently as 2012, Broomhall was selling antiquities bought from foreign lands by the 7th Earl. The c.AD27-45 Bust of Germanicus, legitimately acquired in Rome by the Earl’s private secretary in 1799 - was sold at auction to a private collector for $8.146 million.

Just last month, the bust changed hands to join several other pieces collected by the 7th Earl which remained at Broomhall until as recently as the 1970s, and are now owned by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Among them is the elaborate Elgin Throne, a rare surviving example of Greek marble furniture. In the family for more than 150 years, it was sold in 1968 by the current 11th Earl of Elgin.

According to Manchester University researchers who viewed five inscribed antiquities at Broomhall in 2019, the manor “is home to a small but diverse collection of antiquities, encompassing Greek inscriptions, uninscribed Greek sculpture and architectural fragments.

“All of the items in it were acquired by, or on behalf of, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841), British ambassador to the Porte at Constantinople from 1799,” it adds.

“However, as is the case for the main part of the Elgin collection (now at the British Museum), little information survives about the exact circumstances of the discovery of most of the individual inscriptions in the collection.”

Such was the outcry over the removal on the Earl’s orders of 80 metres of Parthenon frieze, that it and various other items collected from various Acropolis sites were ordered to be sold by an Act of Parliament to the British Museum.

The transfer of the Elgin Collection was made in 1816. According to the university’s researchers it is “unclear why” the sarcophagus was not included in the sale.

What’s certain are growing calls – yet again - for British Museum’s Parthenon collection to be returned to Greece.

Fuelling demands is a shoebox size piece of creamy white marble, identified as the foot of Artemis and once part of the 160-metre-long Parthenon frieze.

Now being loaned by Sicily’s A. Salinas Archaeological museum to Greece, it has reignited a two century old debate.

Fuelling discussion further are events in Australia, where a major exhibition of Ancient Greek artefacts from the British Museum is being threatened with a boycott.

While back in Greece, a newspaper has unearthed a report of a 1986 Oxford University debate in which now Prime Minister Boris Johnson supports the marbles return.

“The Elgin Marbles should leave this northern whisky-drinking guilt-culture and be displayed where they belong: in a country of bright sunlight and the landscape of Achilles, 'the shadowy mountains and the echoing sea’,” he reportedly said at the time.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Broomhall House said: "Broomhall House has been open for fine art tours, on a commercial basis, since 2017. By appointment, visitors are able to view antiquities and other artefacts in the historical context of when and why the collection was created, and its subsequent importance to art history.

“The entire collection of Parthenon sculpture, including the plaster moulds of the frieze and measured drawings of all the buildings and structures found on the Acropolis, were acquired by the British government in 1816 and subsequently transferred to the British Museum where they have been on public display ever since.

“There are no further such Parthenon artefacts.

"The Bruce family is fully aware of the importance of the collection which is safely cared for at Broomhall House.

“We ensure that the collection is available to specialist researchers and conservators for the benefit of international research and scholarship.”

However, museums across the globe are answering calls to return colonial spoils, including Germany, which is preparing to return 1,100 artefacts known as the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.

The British Museum trustees say: “The Acropolis Museum allows the Parthenon sculptures that are in Athens (about half of what survives from the ancient world) to be appreciated against the backdrop of Athenian history.

“The Trustees firmly believe that there's a positive advantage and public benefit in having the sculptures divided between two great museums, each telling a complementary but different story.”

However, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the Sicilian museum's gesture paves the way for “serious discussions” between the British Museum and Greek authorities “Sooner or later,” he added, “it will happen.”