Ministry Maintains Stance On Return Of Marbles

“The permanent return of the Parthenon marbles to the new Acropolis Museum remains the steadfast demand of the Greek state and of the Culture Ministry,” a Culture and Tourism Ministry spokesman told the Greek media last month while rejecting a report of UK newspaper “The Times” that suggested Greece was dropping its claim over the Parthenon marbles.

The ministry’s spokesman told the Greek media that Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos never referred to the issue of the marbles’ ownership in his meeting with the reporter of the British newspaper, Michael Binyon.

According to the article, “Greece is trying to break decades of stalemate with Britain over the Elgin Marbles by dropping its long-standing claim to ownership of the sculptures in return for the British Museum sending the Acropolis artifacts back to Athens on a long-term loan.”

The article, entitled “Greece offers to drop claim to Elgin Marbles,” said that in return, Greece would offer the British Museum a selection of its best classical art, carvings and sculptures from ancient Greece.

On its part, the British Museum told the British press that it had not received any formal approach from Greece detailing the offer.