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Greek PM at UNESCO: Parthenon Marbles must reunite with Athens collection

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis raised the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, in his address at a dinner celebrating the 75th anniversary of UNESCO on Friday night.

In September, UNESCO adopted a decision recognizing that returning cultural goods to their countries of origins is an issue that relates to talks between countries rather than museums. The Parthenon Marbles are housed at the British Museum.

The Greek PM stressed that the United Kingdom should join Greece in a goodwill dialogue, especially as “this year marks the bicentennial of the start of Greece’s War of Independence. No time could be better for the return of the section that is missing and the reuniting of the Parthenon Marbles in Greece, their country of origin.”

He called the antiquities “emblematic monuments, inextricably linked with the identity of a nation” and said that “the Parthenon Marbles in London must be reunited with the greater part of the Parthenon Marbles, in Athens,” at the Acropolis Museum facing the site of the Acropolis.

Mitsotakis is in Paris to attend the talks on the Libyan issue initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron, and UNESCO is celebrating its 75th anniversary at its headquarters in Paris.

 

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6 comments

  1. Of course, the Parthenon Marbles belong in Athens! They have to be returned!

    • When you say “They”, do you mean all the bits and pieces of Parthenon marble scattered across Europe or do you mean only those in London?

  2. And all van Gogh’s belong back in the Netherlands ,and all samurai swords belong in Japan , and bla bla bla ,
    Blame the Scotish and thank the British museum for their meticulous care of an item they purchased like any other piece of art.

  3. Maybe they will be returned one day, but it seems the uk has adopted a stance similar to Greek bureaucracy and the Greek’s don’t like it. Highly amusing.

  4. Yes, it is only fair and right that the Parthenon Marbles should be returned, and allowed to reside in their rightful home.

  5. Odd that Prime Minister Mitsotakis should be in Paris with President Macron and talk exclusively of Parthenon Marbles in London when there are Parthenon Marbles housed in the Paris Louvre, about which he and UNESCO remain iinexplicably, and it could be said hypocritically silent.