The Minister of Culture and Sports of Greece, Lina Mendoni, said today that reaching an agreement with the British Government for the definitive repatriation of the Parthenon marbles it’s difficult but not impossible”.
In response to a question asked in the Hellenic Parliament by the Social Democrats of PASOK-KINAL. Mendoni stressed that the Hellenic Government is in discussions with the British regarding this issue.
The minister pointed out once again that Greece “does not recognize the jurisdiction, possession and property of the British museum of the Parthenon sculptures”, since these were “stolen” from the country.
Parthenon sculptures: the history of the emblematic works that crowned the most important temple in Athens https://t.co/0RSEcbiNTN pic.twitter.com/nw3MCMf15N
— CervantesMHC ? (@CervantesMHC)
January 20, 2023
He pointed out that the repatriation and reunification of the Marbles in Greece is a “global issue” but also a “ethical responsibility of Europe” within the framework of the protection of their common cultural heritage.
The British newspaper Times quoted yesterday in a report in its Sunday edition a Greek government source who said that Greece is in the final stretch to reach an agreement with the British Museum for the repatriation at the end of this year of at least a part of these archaeological treasures of more than 2,500 years old.
IT MAY INTEREST YOU: Van Dyck’s ‘Study for Saint Jerome with an Angel’, found on a farm, goes up for auction at Sotheby’s
The Greek prime minister, the conservative Kyriakos MitsotakisHowever, he stressed a little over a week ago that the sculptures are not expected to “return to Greece soon.”
The UK Minister for Culture, Michelle Donelanaffirmed on the 11th on the BBC that the Parthenon Marbles “belong to the United Kingdom” and they are not going to return to Greece, since that “I would open Pandora’s box” for the British Museum and would provoke confrontations over other pieces on display there.
At the beginning of the 19th century, these archaeological treasures traveled to Britain when the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (of which Greece was then a part), Thomas Bruce, better known as Lord Elgin-who defined himself as a lover of antiquities-, got permission from the Sultan to take part of the metopes and the interior frieze of the Parthenon.
He later sold them to his government for £35,000 and since 1939 these jewels have been exhibited in the British museumMeanwhile he Acropolis Museum it only exhibits copies.
