Greece Will Not Take Legal Action Against British Museum to Get Parthenon Marbles Back

The Greek Government has no intention of taking legal action against the British Museum for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens, Alternate Culture Minister Nikos Xydakis said on Wednesday.

“The way for the return of the Marbles is through diplomacy and politics,” Mr. Xydakis said during an interview on Greece’s Mega Channel. The minister noted that the recent legal memo, sent to the culture ministry by the London-based lawyers representing Greece, was just one of the suggestions made for the matter.

“You can not just go to trial for any issue and in international courts the outcome is uncertain, things are not so easy”, he added.

The three London-based lawyers that are representing Greece — Amal Alamuddin, Geoffrey Robertson and Norman Palmer — recently sent a 10-page memo identifying the three basic considerations before the Greek government takes action: what court of law should address the issue, at what cost and the chances of success.

For over three decades, Greece has repeatedly called on the British Museum to return the 2,500-year-old marble sculptures that once adorned the Parthenon and have been the subject of dispute since they were illegally removed and taken out of the country by the Earl of Elgin in 1803, later to be housed in the British Museum.