Britain is legitimate owner of Parthenon marbles, UK's Johnson tells Greece

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ATHENS (Reuters) - Britain is the legitimate owner of the Parthenon marbles, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a Greek newspaper, rebuffing Greece’s permanent request for the return of the 2,500-year-old sculptures.

Since independence in 1832, Greece has repeatedly called for the repatriation of the treasures - known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles - that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th century, when Greece was under Ottoman rule.

But the British Museum in London has refused to return the sculptures, roughly half of a 160-meter (525-foot) frieze which adorned the 5th century BC monument, saying they were acquired by Elgin under a legal contract with the Ottoman Empire and are part of everyone’s “shared heritage”.

In an interview with Ta Nea newspaper released on Friday, Johnson, a former student of the Classics much given to quoting Latin and Greek, reiterated that the British Museum was the legitimate owner of the marbles.

He said he understood the feelings of many Greeks about the issue but said Britain had a “firm and long-standing” position about the sculptures. “They were acquired legally by Lord Elgin, in line with the laws that were in force at that time,” he said.

Greece’s conservative government has stepped up pressure for a return of the marbles since it took power in 2019, a campaign it has said would be intensified by Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, who has previously referred to Elgin as a “serial thief”, said Johnson appeared to be unaware of recent historical evidence showing the former envoy had not acquired the marbles legitimately.

“For Greece, the British Museum does not have legitimate ownership or possession of the Sculptures,” she said in a statement.

In 2019, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would be willing to lend important artefacts to London in return for putting the marbles on display in Athens in 2021, when Greece marks the 200th anniversary of its independence.

Xkeletal on March 12nd, 2021 at 17:01 UTC »

"The British Museum was home to a million antiquities, several dozen of which were legitimately come by. For two hundred years prior to the magicians’ rule, London’s rulers had made it their habit to filch anything interesting they could from countries where their traders called. It was something of a national addiction, based on curiosity and avarice. Lords and ladies taking the Grand Tour of Europe kept their eyes open for small treasures that could be stuffed unnoticed into handbags […]. Most of these items made their eventual way to the ever-expanding collections of the British Museum, where they were set out on display with clear labels in many languages so that foreign tourists could come and see their lost valuables with minimum inconvenience."

-Jonathan Stroud, The Golem’s Eye

carnizzle on March 12nd, 2021 at 15:20 UTC »

I went to see them in London. Much to my confusion they were not marbles. they were not even round.

homo_balcanicus on March 12nd, 2021 at 15:10 UTC »

We stole it fair and square!