Greek PM Left ‘Deeply Disappointed’ Over Parthenon Marbles
The Parthenon sculptures have been a point of contention between the UK and Greece after Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which was planned for Tuesday the 28th. Sunak claimed he was willing to discuss ‘important topics of substance’, yet felt Mitsotakis merely wanted to campaign for the sculptures’ return to Athens.
Often called the Elgin marbles, the sculptures were removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin, who was the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century. They were housed in the British Museum in 1806, and have remained there ever since.
Greek politicians have long sought the return of the sculptures, where they would be housed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Mitsotakis compared the situation to ‘cutting the Mona Lisa in half’ during an BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg; this public statement was the reason Sunak cancelled Tuesday’s proposed meeting.
It's not the first time the British Museum has come under fire in recent years for its ownership and display of looted artefacts from around the world. The Benin Bronzes have been hotly debated, with museums such as London’s Horniman Museum and Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum returning stolen items to Nigeria. The British Museum has yet to do so.
In response to backlash regarding the marbles, the Museum’s Trustees’ Statement says ‘Lord Elgin…acted with the full knowledge and permission of the legal authorities of the day in both Athens and London’, denying they were stolen. The trustees have said they will consider loaning the sculptures to Athens, but will not allow them to be moved permanently.
Adonis Georgiadis, the Greek Minister of Labour, dubbed the cancelled meeting a ‘bad day’ for relations between the UK and Greece, and Mitsotakis said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ in Sunak’s decision.