Deal to return Elgin Marbles to Greece at advanced stage – reports Published
An agreement to return the Parthenon Sculptures – better known in the UK as the Elgin Marbles – is at “an advanced stage”, according to a Greek newspaper.
Ta Nea reports that British Museum chair George Osborne, the former chancellor, has been holding secret talks with the Greek prime minister.
Greece has called for the return of the iconic sculptures for decades.
The British Museum said it would “talk to anyone, including the Greek government” to find partnership.
The Parthenon Sculptures are arguably the most high-profile artworks in the increasingly contested debate about whether museums should return items to their countries of origin.
They were removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th Century by the British soldier and diplomat, Lord Elgin. The sculptures were then bought by the British government in 1816 and placed in the British Museum.
The marble figures are part of a frieze that decorated the 2,500-year old temple, made by the sculptor Phidias.
The Parthenon Gallery at the Acropolis Museum was built more than a decade ago to house the sculptures. The exhibition combines the original marble sculptures with plaster copies of those held in the British Museum and other foreign museums.
According to the Ta Nea daily newspaper, behind-the-scenes meetings with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis first took place in London in November 2021.
Mr Osborne held “exploratory talks” with Mr Mitsotakis about the fate of the classical Greek sculptures at the Greek ambassador’s residence in Mayfair. He has since met the Greek foreign minister and the Greek state minister.
The paper reports that this week, while Mr Mitsotakis was in London, he again met Mr Osborne – this time at London’s Berkeley Hotel.
A Greek insider has told the paper: “An agreement is 90% complete, but a critical 10% remains unresolved. It’s hard to get there, but it’s not impossible. Significant progress has been made.”
In June, Mr Osborne told LBC “there is a deal to be done” over the Parthenon Sculptures, if both Britain and Greece “approach this without a load of preconditions, without a load of red lines”.
