The Elgin Marbles are currently located in the British Museum, but there are ongoing efforts and discussions about their potential return to Greece.

The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin.

The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s and are now the subject of a long-standing dispute between Greece and the UK over their return.

The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon, a historic Greek landmark.

Lord Elgin was the British diplomat who removed The Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens in the early 19th century.

"The Elgin Marbles dispute involves Greece and the UK, with Greece seeking the return of the sculptures and the UK being the current possessor."

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece, offering to loan other Greek treasures to the British Museum in exchange.

The Elgin Marbles were originally removed from the Parthenon in Athens, a historic landmark in Greece.

The UK and Greece have a long-standing dispute over the return of the Elgin Marbles, with the UK maintaining they were legally acquired and Greece viewing them as looted treasures.

The Elgin Marbles were originally taken from the Parthenon, a historic landmark in Greece.

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of ancient Greek sculptures that are at the center of a controversy regarding their removal from the Parthenon in Athens and their current presence in the British Museum.

Greece is seeking the return of The Elgin Marbles, which were removed from the Parthenon in Athens by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.

The British Museum Act 1963 prevents the permanent return of The Elgin Marbles to Greece, but there are discussions about a potential loan deal that could allow the sculptures to spend part of their time in Athens in exchange for Greek treasures being displayed in London.

The Elgin Marbles are currently located in the British Museum, but there are ongoing efforts and discussions about their potential return to Greece.

Title:

Content: LONDON (Reuters) - The historic Greek treasure of Elgin Marbles is nearing its return to its country of origin, 200 years after it was moved and ended up in the British Museum.
The Parthenon marble, seen as a symbol of freedom in Greece, was controversially moved out of the country by a British diplomat in a move that ignited a debate that lasted more than two centuries.
Greece has made repeated requests for the sculptures to be returned after they were controversially removed from one of the world ’ s most historic landmarks.
Prime Minister Rishi Sonak had been scheduled to meet his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday, but Downing Street canceled the arrangement and sent Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Duden instead.
The head of the British Museum, former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne, is pushing for a temporary loan to be returned to Greece, and is believed to have drawn up a deal.
But both Sonak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer say they will not support a change to the British Museum law that currently bars their return.
The museum said it was continuing "constructive discussions" about their possible return.
Gin Marble
The Algin marble is 17 sculptures that are 2,500 years old.
His pieces were part of a frieze that adorned the ancient Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
The marbles make up about half of the 160-meter-long frieze of the Parthenon Temple, which is considered one of the greatest cultural monuments in the world.
These sculptures are seen as symbols of freedom in Greece, where they are known as Parthenon marble.
British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the sculptures from the majestic Parthenon temple in the early 19th century.
At that time, he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Greece.
Beginning in 1801, Lord Elgin is said to have supervised the removal of the marble and shipped it to the UK in 170 boxes.
He is said to have claimed to have obtained permission from the Ottoman Empire to move the marble, but despite massive documentation from that period, nothing was found to support his actions.
In the United Kingdom, Lord Elgin received support and criticism, and sold it to the United Kingdom government in 1816 before the marble was transferred to the custody of the British Museum.
The beginning and evolution of the dispute
The controversy between Greece and Britain can be traced back to when the marble first arrived in Britain due to criticism of its removal.
In 1832, Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire before it began trying to recover sculptures and other works of art taken from the country.
In the early 1980s, the actress and then Greek Minister of Culture, Melina Mercury, reignited the campaign when she made it her mission to secure the return of marble sculptures.
In 1983, she met with the director of the British Museum, Dr. David Wilson, in London to demand the return of the sculptures.
She continued to press the museum and the British government until her death in 1994.
Despite other requests and high-level media coverage, no agreement was reached in the years that followed.
A new campaign
In 2009, Greece stepped up its marble recovery campaign after opening a new museum at the foot of the Acropolis Hill, hoping one day to house it.
In 2014, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney called on Britain to start talks with Greece over the return of the Elgin marble.
The lawyer, who is the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, said: "This is an injustice that has been going on for a long time, in a world full of intractable conflicts."
In 2015, Greece ruled out any legal action against the UK over Elgin Marbles.
In May 2022, the so-called Fagan fragment — a piece showing the foot of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis seated — was permanently returned to Athens from a museum in Italy.
It was originally part of the eastern frieze of the temple dating back to the 5th century BC.
The British reaction
In 2022, there were calls to make it easier for UK museums to consider returning cultural objects, but the government rejected them.
Former Conservative culture minister Lord Vaizi also headed a new body aimed at returning Elgin marble to Greece.
The refusal came after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the Greek prime minister during talks at Downing Street in 2021 that the sculpture issue was "a matter for the curators of the British Museum".
Then, at the beginning of December, George Osborne, the head of the British Museum, reportedly held secret talks with the Greek prime minister about the possibility of returning the marble sculptures.
Negotiations between former Treasury Secretary Osborne and Kiriakos Mitsotakis have been taking place in London since November 2021, according to the Greek daily Ta Nea.
The Greek prime minister has on numerous occasions called for the relocation of the sculptures, and even offered to lend other treasures to the British Museum in return.
A spokesman for Project Parthenon, a campaign advocating the return of marble sculptures, hailed the talks as a “positive sign ” that a“ win-win solution ” to the centuries-old debate could be reached.
Possible deal?
In December last year, Downing Street said there were no plans to change the law that prohibits the museum from disposing of objects in its collection except in very limited circumstances.
A spokesman for the prime minister said: “The Parthenon sculptures are legally owned by trustees and are practically independent of the government. ”
Last month, the British Museum issued a statement saying it would not dismantle its collection “because it tells a unique story of our common humanity, ” but added that it wanted to forge a new“ Parthenon partnership ” with Greece.
The talks in Westminster were used by former culture minister Lord Vaizi to press again for the return of the sculptures.
He said that the frieze in Athens "resembles a film that was cut in half and half of it was moved against the will of its owners to another country."
After cancelling the bilateral meeting between Sonak and Mitsotakis on Tuesday, the Greek leader said he was "disappointed".
Mr Sonak said the UK “has no plans to change our approach ” but“ did not ask him [Mr Mitsotakis] what short-term or new ideas have been put forward ”.
Starmer and Mitsotakis Meet
Opposition Labour leader Sir Kiir Starmer met Mitsotakis on Monday.
A source close to Labour leader Sir Kiir Starmer told the Financial Times he was unlikely to change the law if he won the next election.
"We are committed to the current law, but if a mutually acceptable loan deal can be agreed between the British Museum and the Greek government, we will not stand in the way."
Is the agreement possible?
The head of the National Museum, George Osborne, is understood to have drawn up a deal with Athens, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Current legislation bars the museum from legally granting treasures, but Osborne is said to be seeking to repatriate the antiquities as part of a long-term "cultural exchange."
But this loan deal is not expected to permanently end the long-running dispute.
The article was prepared from the site of (Sky News) British channel:
https: / / news.sky.com / story / elgin-marbles-what-are-they-and-how-did-they-end-up-in-the-british-museum-12779617

The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin.

Title:

Content: Greece asks Britain to return Parthenon statue British Museum: a popular heritage
▲ Part of the Greek Parthenon, now in the British Museum.
(Photo / Reuters)
Journalist Lin Yen-chen / Comprehensive Report
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a speech in Paris on the 12th that the Parthenon statue in the British Museum should be returned as soon as possible, and that the British side should enter into negotiations as soon as possible to achieve this goal.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in March that Britain was the rightful owner of the Parthenon and refused to return the 2,500-year-old statue to Greece.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stressed that the United Kingdom legally owns the Parthenon.
(Photo / Reuters)
Speaking at UNESCO ’ s 75th anniversary event, Mitsotakis said UNESCO took a key step in September when it recognised the inter-governmental nature of the problem and therefore the obligation to return the Parthenon was entirely in the UK.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis believes Britain has a duty to return the Parthenon.
(Photo / Dazhi Imaging / Associated Press)
Since independence in 1832, Greece has been demanding the return of the statues to Britain, where they are known as Elgin Marbles because it was the British diplomat Lord Elgin who removed them from Greece, which was then ruled by the Ottoman Empire, in the early 19th century.
The British Museum refused to return and claimed that the stone carvings were acquired by a legal contract between the Earl of Elgin and the Ottoman Empire, and that the statues were the common heritage of everyone.
Mitsotakis stressed that the existing Parthenon statue in London must be reunited with most of the other statues in Athens as soon as possible.
Share with friends:
※ This article is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without permission. [ETtoday Copyright Notice]
Related News
Hot News
The best video
And more.
Hot News
Back to the top.

The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s and are now the subject of a long-standing dispute between Greece and the UK over their return.

Title:

Content: Opinion

Bring them home

At the end of August, it was reported that around 2,000 artefacts, including gold jewellery and gems, had been stolen from the British Museum over a long period of time.

Chairman of the trustees, George Osborne acknowledged that the museum’s reputation has suffered as a result of its mishandling of the thefts, which sparked outrage after it was revealed that most of the stolen antiquities may never be recovered due to the museum’s poor record keeping, raising questions about security and leadership.

For decades, the British Museum has argued that the Parthenon Marbles should not be returned to Greece since the country lacks a suitable location for their display.

The Acropolis Museum, on the other hand, has solidified its place among the world’s top ten best museums and is the go-to museum in Athens where one can readily understand why Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization. So, why not return the Parthenon marbles to their rightful home, and how did they end up in the British Museum in the first place?

In the early 1800s, when British aristocrat Lord Elgin sailed home from Greece, he also shipped to England some of the greatest treasures of antiquity, which included a collection of Greek statues and carved frieze panels that once decorated the Parthenon in Athens.

The so-called Elgin Marbles were later sold to the British government with the approval of the Ottomans who ruled Greece at the time and became the most storied artefacts in the British Museum’s collection. They also became the subject of perhaps the world’s most notorious cultural dispute.

The British maintain that the marbles were legally acquired and they belong in a universal museum alongside other artefacts, excluding the 2,000 that were now reportedly stolen. The Greeks, on the other hand, view them as looted treasures that form the cornerstone of their national heritage.

For decades, the issue of the Parthenon Marbles has been on the agenda of the Unesco Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP). In fact, it was Melina Mercouri, the Greek Minister of Culture at the time, who raised the matter of their return during the 1982 Unesco World Conference.

Although the forum ruled in favour of the cause, stating that restitution of works illegally removed from their countries of origin is a fundamental principle of people-to-people cultural relations, Mercouri’s British counterpart responded that the UK Government “could not intervene in the affairs of a private establishment like the British Museum.”

While efforts are underway to retrieve the stolen antiquities, the British Museum’s collections may never be recovered because the museum’s records only identify the collection as a whole and fail to list the individual pieces.

This is not the first time the museum’s image as a safe keeper of global treasures has been called into doubt. The poor condition of the British Museum’s western block has been recorded numerous times. Images of water leaking into the Parthenon gallery were broadcast on Greek television in 2018, resulting from a cracked glass ceiling pane. Although the glass was replaced with new fixings and no sculptures were destroyed, a leaking roof in 2021 resulted in water seeping through, once again, delaying the reopening of the Greek galleries following the pandemic.

The British Museum claimed that none of the statues had been damaged and the issue was addressed. However, for Greece, these events demonstrate that the British Museum is failing to care for the Parthenon Marbles, reinforcing the country’s legitimate claim that the sculptures be permanently returned to Athens.

Earlier this year, the British Museum moved closer to a landmark agreement with Athens that could result in the return of the marbles. Although existing legislation makes it illegal to give away treasures, Osborne is reportedly seeking to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles as part of a cultural exchange that would see other Greek antiques displayed at the British Museum. Over half of the British people support their repatriation to Greece.

Hundreds of statues from the Archaic and Classical periods can be found at the ultramodern Acropolis Museum. The top level is the museum’s showcase, which provides a visual link to the Acropolis and allows visitors to view both the monument and its sculptures. The majority of the Parthenon Marbles will be displayed there upon their anticipated return.

The Parthenon Sculptures were made in Greece by Greeks to honour the glory of Greece. They represent millions of people’s cultural identities. Greece is their true home. It is where they belong.

Related Posts

Armenia is making a mistake

Gwynne Dyer

Our View: Disy must stay in opposition

CM: Our View

Questionable performances of Cyprus banks

Les Manison

Jack Straw has very little credence

CM Reader's View

Technical Committees show two sides on the island can work together

CM Guest Columnist

No-one should care what Jack Straw has to say

CM Reader's View

The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon, a historic Greek landmark.

Lord Elgin was the British diplomat who removed The Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens in the early 19th century.

"The Elgin Marbles dispute involves Greece and the UK, with Greece seeking the return of the sculptures and the UK being the current possessor."

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece, offering to loan other Greek treasures to the British Museum in exchange.

Title:

Content: Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Greek prime minister tries to broker deal for return of Parthenon marbles

Kyriakos Mitsotakis offers to loan Greek treasures to British Museum if ‘stolen’ sculptures are returned to Acropolis

The Greek prime minister has demanded that the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles, which he accuses Britain of stealing, be returned to Greece, and even offered to loan some of his country’s treasures to the British Museum in an attempt to broker a deal.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the Daily Telegraph that the sculptures, also known as the Elgin marbles, belong in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

However, Boris Johnson has previously ruled out returning them on the grounds that they were acquired legally.

Mitsotakis said: “Our position is very clear. The marbles were stolen in the 19th century; they belong in the Acropolis Museum and we need to discuss this issue in earnest.

“I am sure that if there was a willingness on the part of the government to move we could find an arrangement with the British Museum in terms of us sending abroad cultural treasures on loan, which have never left the country.”

The marbles were removed from the Acropolis more than 200 years ago by Lord Elgin in circumstances that have spurred one of the world’s most famous cultural rows and have long been the subject of dispute.

Mitsotakis said he would raise the issue with Johnson when the two meet next week for talks that could shape future relations between the two countries.

“Refusing to discuss the topic seems to me, given the context of everything that has been happening in terms of the return of cultural treasures, to be rather an anachronistic approach,” he added.

“It would be a fantastic statement by what Boris calls Global Britain if they were to move on this and look at it through a completely different lens.”

But Johnson dismissed the appeal for their return to Greece earlier this year, telling the Greek newspaper Ta Nea: “I understand the strong feelings of the Greek people – and indeed prime minister Mitsotakis – on the issue.

“But the UK government has a firm, longstanding position on the sculptures, which is that they were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time and have been legally owned by the British Museum’s trustees since their acquisition.”

Greece has long called for the reunification of the sculptures, displayed in museums across Europe but mostly in London, and says it is integral to understanding the artworks in the context of the Acropolis.

The Elgin Marbles were originally removed from the Parthenon in Athens, a historic landmark in Greece.

The UK and Greece have a long-standing dispute over the return of the Elgin Marbles, with the UK maintaining they were legally acquired and Greece viewing them as looted treasures.

The Elgin Marbles were originally taken from the Parthenon, a historic landmark in Greece.

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of ancient Greek sculptures that are at the center of a controversy regarding their removal from the Parthenon in Athens and their current presence in the British Museum.

Greece is seeking the return of The Elgin Marbles, which were removed from the Parthenon in Athens by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.

The British Museum Act 1963 prevents the permanent return of The Elgin Marbles to Greece, but there are discussions about a potential loan deal that could allow the sculptures to spend part of their time in Athens in exchange for Greek treasures being displayed in London.

Title:

Content: Greek premier to meet Starmer and Sunak in renewed push to return Elgin marbles

Kyriakos Mitsotakis due to meet Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer in London next week

Matt Mathers
Saturday 25 November 2023 23:43
Comments
Elgin Marbles: British Museum lends statue

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is set to raise the issue of the Parthenon sculptures with the UK next week.

He is reportedly due to hold talks with Labour leader Keir Starmer on Monday and prime minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday and will raise the subject with both.

The Financial Times reported that Mr Starmer was open to a potential loan deal that would see parts of the ancient sculptures returned. Labour declined to comment.

The 2,500-year-old sculptures, also known as the Eglin Marbles, were taken from Athens to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Eglin, in the early 19th century and never returned. Greece says they were stolen, sparking a bitter and long-running dispute with the UK.

Housed in their own dedicated room, the sculptures of Olympian gods and goddesses, centaurs and warriors are among the greatest at the British Museum.

A 1963 Act of Parliament stops the British Museum from permanently handing them back.

George Osborne, the museum’s chair and the former Conservative Party MP and chancellor, has backed a loan deal.

“I hope we’ll find a way to partner with Greece so that a portion of the Marbles spend part of their time in Athens . . . and we see more of their treasures in return,” he wrote in The Spectator last week. Mr Osborne conceded that “we may well not succeed” but that it was “surely worth the effort”.

The proposed deal, which Mr Osborne and Mr Mitsotakis have held secret talks over, would allow the sculptures to return to Athens in exchange for Greek treasures being displayed in London.

Many of the artworks in question are in storage in museum vaults and have never before been seen.

Mr Mitsotakis, who has said it is his “passion” to get the sculptures back, is scheduled to meet both party leaders next week. He intends to raise the issue in both meetings, a person close to him told the FT.

Mr Sunak is said to be not opposed to the idea of a loan deal but sceptical that the sculptures would ever be returned if they were loaned to Greece, according to the paper.

No 10 has been contacted for comment.

A UK government spokesperson told the FT: “The UK has cared for the Elgin Marbles for generations.

“Our galleries and museums are funded by taxpayers because they are a huge asset to this country. “

We share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change it.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in