The Return of the Parthenon Marbles is again high on the agenda of the media and the public as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in London for an official visit and a meeting with his counterpart Keir Starmer.
Poll in UK
In a poll conducted by the YouGov company in the UK 53% of the British public was in favor of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
Only 24% said they were against, while 23% expressed no opinion.
A total of 4,280 adults across the country were surveyed and the poll was published on Monday, December 2.
The exact question was: “The British Museum in London houses the Parthenon Marbles (also known as the Elgin Marbles), a set of classical Greek sculptures that were removed from the Parthenon in Athens 200 years ago by Lord Elgin. Some believe that Britain should return the Marbles to Greece, while others believe that they should remain here. Do you personally think that Britain should return the Elgin Marbles to Greece or keep them in Britain?”
Negotiations ongoing
Negotiations started in 2021 with the British side to insist of a return as “a loan”, something that Greece finds hard to accept as it questions the ownership of the Marbles.
A British Museum spokesperson stated on Monday about the negotiations progress “discussions with Greece on the Parthenon Marbles are ongoing and constructive. We believe that a long-term partnership will achieve the right balance.”
The Greek and British sides are in advanced talks on the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, media report. The major thorn in the negotiations continues to be the ownership status. The British do not accept that they belong to Greece and Athens will not agree to take them on loan.
The most prevalent solution seems to be their transfer to Athens in the form of a “Deposit”. That is, the British will retain ownership, but Greece will have the right to use them, without having to recognize the ownership status.
The Greek side is discussing the issue mainly with the British Museum, which is the competent authority. However, PM Mitsotakis is expected to raise the issue with his British counterpart. Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly stated that he does not intend to create obstacles if there is ultimately an agreement between Greece and the British Museum.
Tuesday noon, while the Greek and the British PMs were holding their meeting, the BBC reported that the Parthenon Marbles was not on the agenda of the talks.
KTG POLL
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I haven’t voted because I have no idea what will happen. As the saying goes: “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.”
I can, however, define the underlying problem. Virttually everything in the British Museum was looted from other countries during Britain’s period of colonisation. To the British Museum it is absilutely vital that they assert their “right of ownership” before even considering returning something to its country of origin. I don’t believe they will ever move from this position otherwise every country in the world would be demanding return of their artifacts. If Greece wants to see the sculptures back in Athes, where they undoubtedly rightfully belong, I think that they are going to have to find a compromise that does not challenge Britain’s right of ownership.
You are exactly right! I was privileged to have a 2-hour private conversation with the Director of the British Museum, some 30 years ago. His position was that the Greek government had politicised the issue of returning the Marbles, because they saw a win-win situation whether the Marbles were sent to Greece or not. However, the British Museum could only agree to return the Marbles if Greece did not claim ownership. His preferred choice was to make a quiet deal with Greece and put the Marbles on permanent loan to Greece, with some arrangements for the BM to borrow some things from time to time, for special exhibitions. But, as he pointed out to me, if the Greeks make it clear that they will never lend any of the exhibits to London once returned to Greece, then the Marbles would never be returned.
Moreover, since the BM cannot consider “committing suicide” and returning everything to just about every country of the world, the arrangement with Greece had to be discreet and carefully managed. He expressed extreme doubt that Greek politicians are able to engage in discretion. I recall that he felt quite sorry for Merlina Mercouri, with whom he was engaged in negotations at the time — “a nice lady, although a little naive, who is being manipulated by politicians”.
I note that the current prime malakas — Mitsotakis — has shown no discretion or intellectual grasp of the situation. It seems unlikely then that the Marbles will be returned.