Liz Truss rejects prospect of a deal with Greece over Parthenon marbles
The Prime Minister of the UK, Liz Truss, has rejected the prospect that an agreement can be made with Greece over sharing the ancient Parthenon marbles, which have been housed at London’s British Museum since 1817.
Dating back to the fifth century BC, the statues were removed from their home at the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens by the nobleman Lord Elgin, who at the time was the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
There has been mounting pressure from campaign groups, which includes the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon marbles to return the Parthenon Marbles to their rightful place, the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
For a long time, British Museum officials have been dogged in their response to calls for the marbles to be repatriated, maintaining that a 1963 piece of parliament legislation prevents them from deaccessioning the objects. A statement previously posted online by the Museum repeated that the trustees have never been asked for a loan of the marbles by Greece, “only for the permanent removal of all of the sculptures in its care to Athens”.
Now, Liz Truss has weighed into the debate, which sees her take a different stance than former UK Chancellor and the chairman of the British Museum, George Osbourne. He claimed earlier in the year that there’s a “deal to be done” with Greece, which kicked off this new round of debate. However, Truss sees it differently, telling GB News: “I don’t support that.”
Interestingly, the previous UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, moved the debate from his door to that of the trustees of the British Museum after meeting his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in November 2021. Subsequently, a spokesperson for number 10 told the Guardian: “The British Museum operates independently of the government. It is free, rightly, from political interference… Any question about the location for the Parthenon sculptures is a matter for them.”
Currently, Mitsotakis is set to ask Truss to reconsider returning the marbles at a meeting scheduled for late in the year. He told the Sunday Times: “At a time when Truss will be looking to build her credibility and when the UK is sort of cornered in terms of its overall image after the [Queen’s] funeral it will be a fantastic gesture, and that’s what I’ll tell her”.
The Greek Prime Minister also revealed that he believes King Charles may support his efforts elsewhere.
