In reply to neilh:
> Clearly they were not " looted" like the Nazi treasures which have been returned in recent years. If anything Elgin saved them for the Greek nation, which if I am correct he was fighting for the Greeks to overthrow the Turks at the time.
He wasnt. He was the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire and so on, reasonably, good terms. Hence why he was able to get permission to study the site and, maybe, to remove items.
Those who did, later, fight against the turks would probably be opposed eg Bryon was.
> There are also part of the Acropolis etc in other countries- I think France and Denmark also have those pieces should also be part of the discussion.
They are.
> Without Elgin and the BM... they would probably not exist in their current format.
Possibly but given the state of those remaining there its not immediately obvious. Any which had fallen were probably saved (from being used by locals) but those in situ were quite possibly more damaged. They also came very close to being lost in a shipwreck.