The Elgin Marbles, removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, have been in the British Museum since 1816–1817.

They include 17 figures and about half the surviving Parthenon frieze, roughly 2,500 years old.

Greece has sought their return since 1832 as vital to its cultural heritage.

The museum and UK government say they were legally acquired and fit a universal collection.

Greece disputes legality, citing no export permit and limits in the Ottoman firman.

A 2019 search found no export documents, bolstering Greece’s illegality claim.

The British Museum Act 1963 bars deaccessioning, and the government will not amend it.

Greece seeks permanent reunification in Athens; the museum proposes loans or a partnership.

UNESCO has facilitated talks, backs return to Greece, and urges the UK to reconsider.

International law favors returning plundered cultural property but lacks enforcement.

Polls show 54–59% of Britons support returning the artifacts to Greece.

The Acropolis Museum’s Parthenon Gallery is prepared for reunification.

Criticism of the museum’s stewardship—leaks and poor records—adds pressure.

Secret talks explored a “Parthenon partnership” to share or loan pieces, but no deal exists.

UK figures split: George Osborne and Keir Starmer favor loans; Rishi Sunak is skeptical.

Greece offers loans to London but rejects terms that recognize British ownership.

Returns of Parthenon pieces by Italy and the Vatican increase pressure on the UK.

The UK government and some museums warn high-profile returns could empty collections, underpinning the British Museum Act.

Greece’s new law enables long-term antiquities loans, despite archaeologists’ protests and without recognizing UK ownership.

Under UK law, long-term loans or a partnership with rotating displays in Athens are most feasible, with UK ownership retained.

Permanent return would require amending the 1963 Act, which the government has ruled out.

The dispute remains unresolved amid negotiations and rising public support for repatriation.

The Elgin Marbles, removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, have been in the British Museum since 1816–1817.

Title:

Content: Nobel Foundation Returns Gold Ring Stolen During World War II to Greece
Friday 20 May 2022 - 03: 27 GMT
The Greek Ministry of Culture announced on Friday that the Nobel Foundation in Sweden has returned to Greece an old gold ring that was stolen from the island of Rhodes during World War II.
World - Miscellaneous
The announcement came just days after a UNESCO body unveiled an agreement between Greece and Britain to hold formal talks on the Parthenon Marbles currently on display at the British Museum in London.
The ministry said the Messini ring, which bears the symbol of the winged Sphinx, was officially returned at a ceremony in Stockholm on Thursday.
The ring was found on the island of Rhodes during an archaeological excavation in 1927 at a Mycenaean cemetery by the Italian School of Archaeology during the period of Italian control of the island.
The ministry said in a statement that the ring was stolen during World War II from the local archaeological museum along with other artifacts that have not yet been recovered.
The piece eventually appeared in the United States and was bought by Hungarian biophysicist Nobel laureate Georg von Beckessy, whose collection was posthumously acquired by the Nobel Foundation in 1972.
The ring was kept at the Stockholm Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Archaeology.
His identity was confirmed in 1975 by the museum ’ s then director, archaeologist and Mycenaean expert Carl Gustav Sterenius.
The ministry said the ring would return to the Rhodes Archaeological Museum.
The Mycenaean period was the last stage of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, extending from about 1600 BC to 1100 BC.
Earlier this week, the UNESCO Commission for the Return of Cultural Property said Britain had invited Greece in April for talks on the fate of the Parthenon Marbles.
The UNESCO committee said Greece had agreed to "a meeting between the parties which is about to be arranged in due course".
The Parthenon Temple was built in the 5th century BC in the Acropolis to honor the goddess Athena, patron of the Greek capital.
In the early 19th century, workers removed whole friezes from the landmark on the orders of the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin.
Elgin sold the marbles to the British government, which in 1817 transferred them to the British Museum, where they still exist as one of the most valuable exhibits.
Athens says the sculptures were stolen and is demanding that Britain return them.

They include 17 figures and about half the surviving Parthenon frieze, roughly 2,500 years old.

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

Greece has sought their return since 1832 as vital to its cultural heritage.

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 museum and UK government say they were legally acquired and fit a universal collection.

Greece disputes legality, citing no export permit and limits in the Ottoman firman.

Title:

Content: Greece is trying to bring back the sculptures of the ancient Parthenon from London
In Greece, the campaign for the return of the ancient Parthenon sculptures taken from Athens from Great Britain has intensified again.
Against this background, the British called on Greece to actively “partnership on the Parthenon ”, but to negotiate the return of cultural values refused.
Greece considers the export of the Parthenon sculptures to the UK illegal and insists on their return.
The British Museum does not discuss this issue, and states that a prerequisite for any negotiations on the Parthenon sculptures is recognition of Britain as their rightful owner.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British envoy to Constantinople, Lord Elgin, took out a huge number of works of ancient Greek art, which was bought by the British Museum.
The collection includes, among other things, pediment statues and metopes of the Athenian Parthenon, Caryatid of Erechtheion, and a statue of Dionysus.
The British Museum claims that Elgin had permission to export - the so-called firman vizier.
The Greeks claim that there were no permits for the export of the sculptures, and Firman assumed only the possibility to make drawings of the statues.
In February 2019, scientists from the Acropolis Museum proved that there were no documents for the export of artifacts.
After that, Greece resumed efforts to return the statues of the Parthenon.

A 2019 search found no export documents, bolstering Greece’s illegality claim.

The British Museum Act 1963 bars deaccessioning, and the government will not amend it.

Title:

Content: Parthenon Sculptures: Agreement to Return Parthenon Marbles to Greece Arrives at Advanced Stage - Reports
• Kitty Razel
• Cultural Affairs Editor
Greece and Britain are close to reaching an agreement to return Parthenon sculptures (also known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles) to Greece, according to a Greek newspaper.
The Nea newspaper reported that the director of the British Museum, George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, held secret talks with the Greek prime minister.
Greece has been demanding the return of the statues for decades.
The British Museum said it was "ready to talk to anyone, including the Greek government" in order to reach a partnership on the subject.
The Parthenon sculptures are considered by many to be among the most important works of art that are being debated for return to their countries of origin.
Carved from the Parthenon Temple in Athens in the 19th century by British diplomat and military officer Lord Elgin, the sculptures were brought to Britain by the British government and placed in the British Museum in 1816.
The marble statues were among those decorated in the 2,500-year-old temple, which was carved by the sculptor Phidias.
The exhibition of the Parthenon Gallery at the Acropolis Museum in Greece was built more than a decade ago to display sculptures there.
In addition to the original marble sculptures that remain in Greece, the exhibition includes plaster copies of those other original marble sculptures that are currently housed in the British Museum and other foreign museums.
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Ta Nea reported that meetings were held with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the first time in London in 2021.
Osborne held preliminary talks with Mitsotakis about the fate of the Greek sculptures at the Greek ambassador's home in Mayfair, and also met with the Greek foreign minister.
He later met with the Greek foreign minister and the Greek minister of state, the paper said.
Mitsotakis met Osborne again this week at the Berkeley Hotel in London.
A Greek source familiar with the matter told the paper that an agreement was almost complete, but important details were still under discussion, that agreement on it was difficult but not impossible, and that tangible progress had been made.
Osborne told LBC that an agreement on Parthenon sculptures was under consideration and could be accomplished if neither party had preconditions or red lines.
A spokesman for the British Museum said the museum had previously called for a partnership on Parthenon sculptures with Greece, adding: “We are seeking a long-term and positive partnership with countries and communities around the world, and that includes Greece of course. ”
"We are acting legally and we will not dismantle our great collection of sculptures, they tell a unique story of human history," the museum said, which may be the most important obstacle to reaching an agreement with Greece.
The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London has signed a partnership agreement on 72 of its holdings, the Bronzes of Benin, with Nigeria over ownership of the artefacts.
The pieces were looted by British troops from the city of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, in 1897.
The museum ’ s director, Nick Merriman, said: “We are in the final stages of getting museums to recognize the era of colonial history. ”
Horniman has been able to act as a charity, and is governed by laws different from those governing national institutions.
British law prohibits the British Museum from relinquishing parts of its holdings, including 900 Benin bronzes, as well as Parthenon sculptures.
I had prepared a report in October on the efforts of the then Minister of Culture, Lord Vizin, to explore the possibility of changing the law.
The Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport said: “The British Museum is prohibited by law from transporting items except in a few exceptional circumstances, and the government is not considering changing this law. ”
Lord Vizi is currently the director of the Parthenon Project, an organization founded by Greek businessman John Levas.
Last summer, the association conducted a survey of 2,000 people about the return of the sculptures to Greece, which found that 54 percent of those surveyed said the sculptures should be returned, while 16 percent disagreed.
The claimants' view was that it originally belonged to Greece.
The Parthenon project is campaigning for a mutually satisfactory solution, and news from the talks suggests that a solution is close.
The project aims to reach an agreement in the interest of both parties, centered on a cultural partnership between the two countries.
According to the Te Nea report, the partnership is at the center of talks between the two sides, and the talk is about the return of the sculptures to Greece while the British Museum hosts archaeological treasures from Greece that have not been exhibited abroad before.
British officials have proposed that London and Athens share the sculptures and have explored the possibility of returning part of them to Greece.
The Greek government is not expected to settle for any solution that does not include the permanent return of the sculptures to Greece.

Greece seeks permanent reunification in Athens; the museum proposes loans or a partnership.

UNESCO has facilitated talks, backs return to Greece, and urges the UK to reconsider.

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.

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International law favors returning plundered cultural property but lacks enforcement.

Title:

Content: News of Hong Kong
Together, we demand the return of the British artefacts.
The British Museum, home to eight million items, was earlier revealed to have a large number of items stolen, not only in the British cultural community, but also in Greece and Nigeria and other countries caused a huge response, have demanded that Britain return the cultural relics of the country plundered during the colonial period.
Chinese state media joined the war group and published an editorial calling on the British Museum to return Chinese cultural relics to China without compensation.
At present, there are many international conventions related to the looting of cultural relics by various countries in war.
According to international law, everything plundered through war should be returned to the country of origin.
But the law is the law, the reality is the reality.
Many countries in the West have refused to sign these conventions after weighing their interests, which greatly reduces the effectiveness of the conventions.
Moreover, some international conventions that support the return of cultural objects are limited by the principle of non-retroactivity.
In this regard, there are many cultural relics in China alone, which are basically difficult to recover through the Convention channel because of the long history of loss.
To put it another way, even if the international conventions do not have the above restrictions, since international law has no effective enforcement mechanism, most countries will only abide by international law in their favor and then refuse to assume responsibility for the return of cultural objects for many reasons.
In the United Kingdom, for example, many of the collections of the British Museum were captured from all over the world during the British colonial period, so the museum is also known as a "thief's nest".
However, the museum has long offered different reasons for refusing to return cultural objects, including the fact that cultural institutions are most important to protect cultural assets, and that it is not safe to return cultural objects to their countries of origin; and the British Museum Act, as amended by the British Parliament in 1963, prohibits museums from returning any collections.
The seizure of colonial artefacts was an immoral political act, but the British attempted to shift the issue of restitution to other issues.
This is obviously ridiculous and hypocritical.
In any case, Beijing should join forces with other countries to launch a decolonisation campaign to win the support of the international community, especially the British public, and to force the British Museum to return its cultural relics.
When political pressure fails to make progress, it is often only possible to rely on moral principles, even if they do not play a large role.
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Polls show 54–59% of Britons support returning the artifacts to Greece.

Title:

Content: Wednesday 24 November 2021
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
I'm sorry.
Mohamad Elbaz
Editor-in-Chief
Wael Lotfy
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editors
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Mohamad Elbaz
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Greek PM praises British support to return Parthenon marbles to Athens
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday welcomed the "support of the British people" for the return to Greece of the Parthenon Marbles currently in the British Museum in London, according to a YouGov poll.
The survey, published on the Daily Questin website, found that 59 per cent of respondents considered the Parthenon Marbles to be “Greek property ”, 18 per cent attributed it to the UK, and 22 per cent said they did not know the best answer to this question.
The survey was conducted on Tuesday on a sample of 7,717 British adults, according to the institute ’ s website.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted: “The relationship between Greece and the UK is strong.
It ’ s time to do the right thing and collect the Parthenon sculptures in Athens, a move supported by the British people, ” he tweeted.
Greece has been demanding for decades the return of Parthenon marbles that were separated from the ancient temple of the Acropolis of Athens and shipped to London by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.
The Acropolis Museum in Athens has kept a special place for these marbles waiting for their return.
A replica of it is currently on display at the museum, which has been built on 15,000 square meters since 2009 at the foot of the Holy Rock, a site from the 5th century BC that is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.
During an official visit to London last week, Kyriakos reminded Mitsotakis of Athens ’ request during a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
While Johnson said he understood "the strength of the feeling of the Greek people", he reiterated London's position that it was up to the directors of the British Museum, stressing that the issue of the Parthenon Marbles did not affect the "strength" of the partnership between the two countries.
London has consistently refused to return the marbles, saying they were taken from Athens with the permission of the Ottoman leaders who were occupying Greece at the time, but Greek authorities see the process as "theft".
In March, Boris Johnson, in an interview with the Greek newspaper Ta Nea, recalled the British government ’ s “firm position ” on the subject.

The Acropolis Museum’s Parthenon Gallery is prepared for reunification.

Criticism of the museum’s stewardship—leaks and poor records—adds pressure.

Secret talks explored a “Parthenon partnership” to share or loan pieces, but no deal exists.

UK figures split: George Osborne and Keir Starmer favor loans; Rishi Sunak is skeptical.

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.”

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Greece offers loans to London but rejects terms that recognize British ownership.

Title:

Content: People 's Network > > International
These artefacts set off a "war of words" between Greece and Britain
November 30, 2023 09: 14 | Source: Xinhua Network
Small number
Xinhua News Agency, BEIJING, November 29 (Xinhua) -- A war of words between Greece and Britain over the stone carvings of the Parthenon temple of the Acropolis was escalated on the 28th.
The two countries pointed to each other's actions, which led to the leaders' scheduled meeting on the same day.
Greece, Britain blame each other for meeting cancellation
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday.
However, his remarks in an interview with the British media gave Sunak a last-minute break.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Mitsotakis said that the stone carvings of the Parthenon on display at the British Museum "belong to Greece, and it was stolen."
In his view, this is not a dispute over ownership, but a matter of “reunification. ”
Mitsotakis also asked: If the world famous painting Mona Lisa is cut in half and placed in a museum in a different country, will people still appreciate its beauty?
This is a Parthenon marble sculpture taken at the British Museum in London, England, on September 7.
Photo by Xinhua reporter Li Ying
Mitsotakis's remarks caused dissatisfaction with the British side.
Reuters reported on the 28th, citing news from Sunak's office, that the Greek side had previously promised that it would not use Mitsotakis's visit to "re-raise the issue that has been resolved for a long time", that is, the question of the ownership of the stone carvings of the Parthenon Temple.
Sunak's spokesman told reporters that the British side decided to cancel the meeting because the Greek side had "not kept its promise."
Richie Sunak speaks in front of the Prime Minister ’ s House at 10 Downing Street, London, UK, on October 25, 2022.
Photo by Xinhua reporter Li Ying
The BBC quoted a Greek source as saying the Greek side had not made the British commitment.
AFP quoted a Greek government source as saying that the issue of the Parthenon stone carvings was "routinely included in the agenda of the meeting along with other bilateral and international issues" and that "10 Downing Street is aware of this".
Mitsotakis expressed "displeasure" at the British side's temporary cancellation of the meeting and ended his visit to Britain ahead of schedule.
A man visits a Parthenon marble carving at the British Museum in London, UK, on September 7, 2023.
Photo by Xinhua reporter Li Ying
The decision to cancel the meeting has raised questions in the UK.
Former Minister of State for Culture and Digital Economy Ed Weezy, a consultant to the Parthenon Project, told Sky News that the British side's previous position was that the issue of the Parthenon stone carvings should be resolved by the British Museum itself, and that Sunak "did not need" to intervene in this way, which would be detrimental to the relationship between Britain and Greece.
The stalemate between the two sides is difficult to resolve.
Greek Labour and Social Welfare Minister Azzonis Georgiades told the BBC that Mitsotakis's comments about the Parthenon stone carvings were not only personal, but also "the unanimous view of 11 million Greeks", as well as many people around the world.
In the early 19th century, the British diplomat Thomas Bruce, Count of Elgin, obtained "permission" from the authorities in Turkey's Ottoman Greece to cut large numbers of stone carvings from the Parthenon and bring them back to Britain.
The British government later acquired the stone carvings and exhibited them as a collection of the British Museum.
Greece has long demanded that the British Museum permanently return the stone carvings it has collected since 1816, but the British side refused.
Currently, the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Greece display different parts of the Parthenon stone sculpture, while the British Museum on display sculpture is called the "Elgin Marble", is the essence of the stone sculpture.
According to AFP, many museums in Western countries, including the British Museum, are under increasing pressure to return cultural relics plundered from other countries.
British law stipulates that the British Museum may not remove the collection from the collection except in certain circumstances, but the law does not prohibit lending.
The British Museum has previously negotiated long-term "loan" of stone sculptures and other plans with Greece.
However, the Greek side does not seem to be able to accept the "loan" proposal.
A spokesman for Mr Sunak said the loan was conditional on Greece accepting the British Museum as the rightful owner. (Reporter: Wang Yijun; video: Tan Ran; editors: Chen Dan, Qiao Ying, Liang Shanggang, Wang Fengfeng)
(Edited by: Cui Ziguo, Cui Yue)
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Returns of Parthenon pieces by Italy and the Vatican increase pressure on the UK.

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Content: Beyond Politics
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Looted Ancient Relics Return to Greek Soil After Lengthy Legal Tussle

© AFP 2023 / LOUISA GOULIAMAKIThis photograph taken in Athens on February 8, 2022 shows a rainbow appearing over the Ancient Acropolis.
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Greece's recent recovery of ancient artefacts comes against the protracted legal ownership tug-of-war between the UK’s British Museum and the Greek government regarding the fate of the "Elgin Marbles" - Parthenon carvings, which were removed from the Acropolis over 200 years ago.
A batch of ancient artefacts spanning historical periods from the Neolithic to Byzantine era are being repatriated to Greece after a 17-year-long legal battle, Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni announced on Friday.
The 351 antiquities in question include a white stone Neolithic-era statuette dating to the 4th millennium BC, an Early Cycladic figurine from between 3200 and 2700 BC, a bronze statue of Alexander the Great from the second half of the 2nd century AD.
Without going into any specific details, Mendoni hailed the joint efforts by Culture Ministry officials, the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country’s judiciary, and archaeologists to wrest the vast collection from the company of a UK antiquities dealer - Robin Symes Limited - which is undergoing liquidation at the moment.
Symes is said to have put together the collection with the help of a sweeping network of illegal traders.
The current repatriation comes after back in 2006 an investigation was launched into the company owned by the now-disgraced British antiquities' dealer. Acting in close cooperation, Italian and Swiss police in 2016 recovered archaeological artefacts, from Symes’ possession, found to have been stolen from Italy. Symes, once a famous London dealer in artefacts, was suspected of being in cahoots at the time with Italian tomb raiders. There has not been any clarification from Mendoni whether the batch of items coming home to Greece now is somehow linked to that discovery at the Geneva Freeport warehouse complex.
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Removal of Greek Parthenon Marbles Likened to Stripping Salisbury of Stonehenge by UK's Stephen Fry
Greece has been on a crusade to return looted artefacts across the globe. The most high-profile artworks in this case are the Parthenon Sculptures. Originally part of the temple of the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens, they were removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin during the Turkish occupation in 1802. They were brought to Britain and are now on display in the British Museum in London. The UK has long argued that Elgin was given permission to take them by local Ottoman rulers. Greece has consistently demanded the return of the sculptures on display in the British Museum, claiming they are "the product of theft." The campaign to return the artworks continue. Meanwhile, at a reunification ceremony in Athens, three fragments of the Parthenon were brought to the Greek capital and its Acropolis Museum from the Vatican.
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Vatican Returns Three Fragments of Parthenon to Greece
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The UK government and some museums warn high-profile returns could empty collections, underpinning the British Museum Act.

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Send Them Home

The Elgin Marbles, actually the Parthenon Marbles, have been Greek for over two thousand years and still are in every way except location. They were taken, realistically stolen, by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s and most people believe should be returned but that is actually illegal under British Museum Act 1963 and offers to ‘lend’ them are insulting.

One of the most obvious concerns that many museums have is that they would be emptied of items that were acquired, a weasel word for stolen, during times when the attitudes were different. Different attitudes do not condone theft.

Let’s return the thefts of the past to their rightful owners and put the past attitudes in the rubbish bin of time.

Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia

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Greece’s new law enables long-term antiquities loans, despite archaeologists’ protests and without recognizing UK ownership.

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Content: Without removing jurisdiction
Museum protests in Athens
The government of Greece has initiated the adoption of a law that removes the five main museums of antiquities in the country from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
These include the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and the Museum of Byzantine Culture and the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion in Crete.
Archaeologists have been protesting against the law for several weeks, and in recent days they have been joined by museum staff.
The law on changing the management system of the main Greek museums was adopted on February 13.
This was preceded by long debates and protests by the Association of Archaeologists of Greece, but the centre-right government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ignored the opinion of the professional community.
The Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, supported the law, which, in fact, fixes the loss of her Ministry of control over museums.
Party discipline has proved to be stronger than departmental interests: Mendoni said the move is aimed at modernizing museums, citing “the need to change the way in which specific state museums are managed, as well as to expand their activities and actions. ”
In response, all five interested museums closed.
The strike continues.
What is the essence of this conflict?
Instead of a museum director appointed by the Ministry of Culture, Greek museums will receive councils whose members will be appointed by the government.
That is, instead of professional archaeologists, who traditionally held the posts of directors of these museums, they will be headed by “effective managers ”, whose appointment can strongly correlate with the policy of one or another of the winning parties.
On the one hand, there is a purely managerial desire to remove from the state responsibility for the full provision of museums (under the new law, museums will be able to independently attract additional funding, which, if successful, will greatly facilitate their existence - both in the matter of reconstruction and in the case of various exhibition projects).
On the other hand, the new law could change the situation with Greek antiquities once removed from the country by colonial authorities, black archaeologists, private individuals or Greek refugees.
That is, we are talking about those issues of restitution of artistic values, which until now have been the most painful for the Greek cultural authorities.
It is on this occasion that the different political forces of Greece clashed.
Alexis Tsipras, head of the left-wing Syriza party and former prime minister of the country, immediately stated that “culture and people of culture are being persecuted again. ”
Syriza members abstained from voting on the law.
Tsipras was referring to the part of the new law that regulates the long-term “export ” of certain antiquities.
The law allows “export ” as a“ temporary ” practice of extended credit agreements that will allow looted antiquities to remain abroad for years to come.
In early November 2022, the Metropolitan Museum announced the signing of an agreement, known as a memorandum of understanding, between the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Greece, the private Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens (MCA) and the Metropolitan, according to which 161 Cycladic artifacts from the collection of billionaire businessman Leonard N. Stern will be on display at the New York Museum for 25 years. and only then will these controversial things return to their homeland.
To postpone the solution of a problem for a quarter of a century is almost the same as not solving it at all.
So far, Prime Minister Mitsotakis ’ position on the need to return antiquities to Greece has been very consistent.
First of all, he was interested in the “Marbles of Elgin ”, sculptures of the Athenian Parthenon, exhibited in the British Museum (“ Kommersant ” wrote about this on January 12).
In December last year, he held secret talks with George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum ’ s Board of Trustees, to discuss possible solutions to the issue.
However, the new law seems to be specifically written to make a deal with the British Museum to “lease ” 2500-year-old Parthenon marbles instead of continuing to fight for their full return and not giving up ownership.
According to journalists from various Greek media, the British Museum has proposed an agreement under which some of the marbles can be sent to Greece, and the rest will remain hostage in London.
Greece, in return, will have to borrow other exhibits to fill the vacant space in the museum.
The Greek Minister of Culture Mendoni categorically denies this information: “I repeat once again: the position of the Greek government with regard to the sculptures of the Parthenon is that it does not recognize the jurisdiction, possession and ownership of the British Museum. ”
Given that the elections in Greece will be held this spring, no one here takes his word for it.
The archaeological community, however, is not jokingly alarmed: more than a thousand people went to the protest rally, and the doors of striking antiquities museums are increasingly closed than open.
Kira Dolinina
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Under UK law, long-term loans or a partnership with rotating displays in Athens are most feasible, with UK ownership retained.

Permanent return would require amending the 1963 Act, which the government has ruled out.

The dispute remains unresolved amid negotiations and rising public support for repatriation.