Greece open to exchange of treasures with UK

People view examples of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London, Britain, Nov 29, 2023. [Photo/Agencies]

Greece would be willing to send some of its rarest ancient treasures to the United Kingdom, if the British government returns the so-called Parthenon marbles to Athens.

The statues, which adorned the Acropolis in the Greek capital from the 5th century BC until they were removed and sent to the UK in the early 1800s, have long been a divisive issue between the two nations.

Greece has repeatedly called for their return from the British Museum, while London has insisted they were bought legally and now belong in the UK.

Lina Mendoni, Greece's culture minister, has now attempted to break the deadlock by telling The Guardian newspaper her country is willing to send artifacts to the British Museum to take the place of the sculptures that the museum bought in 1816 from the bankrupt Lord Elgin, who had previously been an ambassador to the Ottoman empire and who had acquired the marbles from that empire, which had colonized Greece at the time.

"Our position is clear," she told the paper. "Should the sculptures be reunited in Athens, Greece is prepared to organize rotating exhibitions of important antiquities that would fill the void."

Mendoni, who trained as a classical archaeologist, said discussions with London about the Parthenon marbles were ongoing, but had not yet got down to specifics such as which treasures were on the table.

"(They) would fill the void, maintain, and constantly renew international visitor interest in the Greek galleries of the British Museum," she said.

George Osborne, the British Museum's chair, has also expressed interest in the idea of an exchange of treasures between the nations that would effectively end the rift with a win-win deal.

In October, he told lawmakers on the UK's culture, media and sport committee: "We want to create a proper partnership that would mean objects from Greece coming here, objects that have potentially never left Greece before and certainly never been seen before, and objects from the Parthenon collection potentially travelling to Greece."

The idea of Greece sending items to London to compensate for the return of the marbles was first talked about seriously after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his center-right New Democracy party came to power in 2019.

But while optimistic noises seem to be emanating from both the UK and Greece, the Parthenon marbles remain a thorny issue and were the reason why UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused at the last moment to meet Mitsotakis when he was on an official visit to the UK in November.

The wording of any agreement to exchange treasures would need to be carefully crafted. Mendoni has said Greece could never agree to "borrow" items it believes were plundered in the first place.

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