Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Britain's Observer
newspaper on Sunday he was willing to lend important artefacts
to London that "have never left Greece" in return for putting
the marbles on display in Athens in 2021, when the country marks
200 years since the start of its War of Independence.
Athens has repeatedly called for the permanent return of the
2,500-year-old sculptures that Britain's Lord Elgin removed from
the Acropolis temple during a period when Greece was under
Ottoman Turkish rule.
The British Museum, custodian of the marbles, has ruled out
returning them, saying "the sculptures are part of everyone's
shared heritage and transcend cultural boundaries".
"... given the significance of 2021, I will propose to (British
Prime Minister) Boris (Johnson: 'As a first move, loan me the
sculptures for a certain period of time and I will send you very
important artefacts that have never left Greece to be exhibited
in the British Museum," Mitsotakis told the Observer.
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Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni told Skai TV on Tuesday her
ministry would submit an official request to Britain when the
prime minister decides to do so.
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Asked whether such a request for a loan of the marbles implied that
Athens acknowledges that Britain has rights over them, she said the
prime minister's request was clear and that "rights could not arise
from theft".
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"The Greek position has not changed in any way simply because we
cannot accept the theft," she said. "A loan, the prime minister's
proposal to exhibit the sculptures in Athens, is unrelated and does
not change our long-standing demand".
Athens has stepped up its campaign in recent years for the return of
the marbles after opening a new museum in 2009 at the foot of the
Acropolis hill that it hopes will one day house the sculptures.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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