Matthew Offord Conservative, Hendon

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of returning the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece (a) on loan and (b) permanently.

Stuart Andrew Assistant Whip, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for International Trade) (Minister for Equalities)

The Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum are legally owned by the Trustees of the British Museum, which is operationally independent of Government. Decisions relating to the care and management of the museum's collections are a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum.

The British Museum, along with some other national museums, is prevented by law from deaccessioning objects in its collection. The British Museum has always said that it would consider any request for a loan of the sculptures to Greece – as it would any other object in its collection – as long as its normal conditions for loans are met.

The Government fully supports the position taken by the Trustees of the British Museum and has no plans to change the law.

On the TheyWorkForYou site, there is a;so: Does this answer your question? Replies are just a choice of 'Yes and 'No', to make yours, follow the link here.

Janet Suzman, BCRPM's Chair, voices the wishes of all of the committee members when she suggests that consideration should be given to amending the law so that these specific sculptures may be reunited with the surving sculptures currently in Athens, to be displayed the right way round with direct views to the Parthenon, which still stands.  

The name of these sculptures is derived from the building they were torn from, and the surviving marbles displayed in the Acropolis Museum's top floor, glass-walled Parthenon Gallery, can be celebrated and curated for all of humanity, and for many more generations to appreciate.

Greece request since independence, has been for the reunification of these specific sculptures, and is wholly justified. Grece has never asked for all that was removed from the Acropolis, which is magnanimous, and it would  be equally maganimous to respond respecfully, and by paving the way to do so.

Stop dithering, British Museum – give the 'Elgin Marbles' back.
Why trustees need to act now.

Article by Andrew Marr in The New Statesman, 10 Januay 2023.

And it starts with Andrew writing: 'Give them back. For goodness’ sake, just give them back.'

The point is they are not ours – they are a central part of Greek heritage. Osborne knows this. In June he told me there was “a deal to be done where we can tell both stories in Athens and in London”. When I asked if they could be moved to Greece, at least for a while, he replied “this kind of arrangement” might be suitable. The argument over their repatriation has been heating up ever since. We shouldn’t fool ourselves that when the marbles go home to Greece, they’ll regularly pop back again via Heathrow. But it doesn’t mean our museums will empty of everything not made in Shropshire or Essex. Each case is different. The Parthenon is to Greece what Stonehenge is to England; if Stonehenge was moved to Texas, we’d feel the same. Sending them home, open-heartedly and without conditions, would right an old wrong and do a lot for Britain’s shaky reputation as a reliable European partner. The museum, in short, must get on with it. Give. Them. Back.

Read the full article in The New Statesman. 

A New Statesman reader also sent a letter in response to Andrew Marr's article. The letter was published. We would like to thank John Boaler, of Calne, Wiltshire for the support too :

What’s Moore
While agreeing with Andrew Marr that the Elgin Marbles should be given back to Greece (Culture Notes, 13 January) I question the claim that had they not been accessible in London “there would have been no Henry Moore”. Moore’s work drew on many sources including medieval church carvings and modernist sculptures, and he had a lifelong fascination with the shapes and textures of pebbles and bones. Had the marbles stayed in Greece, Moore would surely still have become a great artist.

John Boaler, Calne, Wiltshire

Nikos Stampolidis, Director of the Acropolis Museum, reviewed Greece's ongoing request for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures by highlighting that this was as much a global wish as it was a national one.

In an interview with Alpha Radio, he emphasized that it is an ethical and fair request on Greece's part. That the issue is intergovernmental and that the return the Parthenon Sculptures to the Acropolis Museum, has always been made for all of humanity.

Commenting on the statements also made by the UK's Minister of Culture, Michelle Donelan, that the UK will not support the return of these sculptures, and that the British Museum cannot divest itself of any of the artefacts it holds without a law change, which she added was not going to happen. Mr. Stampolidis pointed out that such statements made are usually made by those that have a short time in their post.

(*the UK has had many Secretaries of Culture, since 2010, there have been 11 over this 12 year period, and that includes the current Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan)

He also noted the high percentage of British people supporting the return of these sculptures to Greece.

He stressed that the Parthenon's sculptures are a unique case and the monument restorations, because the Parthenon has withstood 2,500 years on the Acropolis.

He then referred to UNESCO's unanimous decisions taken during the ICPRCP meetings in 2021 and 2022. (* Greece has worked tirelessly on this front for over a decade.) He also noted, that those that say "world museums" will be empty should the marbles be returned to Greece, are unable to quantify this claim.

He went on to point out during his interview that Italy returned the Fagan fragment without any conditions, passing the ownerships entirely to the Greek state. The same is happening with the fragments that were in the possession of the Vatican Museums, expected to join the rest of the sculptures of the Parthenon at the Acropolis Museum this spring.

When asked if he has personally spoken with the Chair of the British Museum, Mr. Osborne (the director is Hartwig Fisher), Nikos Stampolidis pointed out that a great deal of what had been reported in the Greek and other nations media had not properly informed readers, that news had been turned into propaganda.

In concluding the interview Nikos Stampolidis said that the Parthenon Sculptures will be able to return to Greece.

(*we sincerely support that thought)

Lord Frost, adds his support for the reunification of the Parhenon Marbles, article by Yannis Andritsopoulos in today's TA NEA, Weekend. The article is in Greek and a translation can be read here.

Yannis writes: 'For the Sculptures to be returned "the law will have to be changed, which I think most British MPs would consent to," notes Lord Frost.

In an article in "Telegraph" last week, the leading Tory politician surprised readers by advocating the reunification of the Sculptures. "I have been supporting this privately since I was studying in Greece," he comments today, revealing that he decided to take a public stand when "TA NEA" brought to light the secret Osborne - Mitsotakis negotiations.'

We welcome Lord Frost's support for the reunification. It is a pity that UK Ministers speak out after they are not obliged to follow Government guidelines on this issue. Today's article in Ta Nea follows on from Michelle Donelan, UK Culture Secretary's announcement on Wednesday 11 January, on BBC News that the UK government has no intention of amending the law or allowng the sculprures removed in questionable circumstances by Lord Elgin at the start of the 19th century to be returned to Greece, because they are part of British culture.

We sincerely hope that these voices, such as those of Lord Frost and former Culture Secretary Ed Vaizey, now speaking out in support for the reunification are doing so as they also acknowledge UNESCO's recommendations and decisions, that the reunification of these specific sculptures is an intergovernmental matter.

Here's to seeing the relentless efforts of Greece answered, a cultural request that is wholly justified, and a UK brave enough to embrace international relations of the cultural kind, facilitating the long awaited reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

Respect for the Parthenon, and these fragmented sculptures, and their display in the top floor, glass-walled Parthenon Gallery of the Acropolis Museum would celebrate this reunification as a 21st century achievement in cultural heritage dispute resolutions. A celebration for both UK and Greece, and the world as a whole.

To watch the 23rd session of UNESCO's ICPRCP meeting in Paris, 18 May 2022, and the presentations made by both Greece and the UK, follow the link here, staring at 3:20:00, item 6, the Parthenon Sculptures.

In a new article, published by the widely-read centre-right news and comment website ConservativeHome, committee member and political philosopher Dr Rebecca Lowe sets out a moral argument and an aesthetic argument for the return of the sculptures, in the hope of appealing specifically to those of a conservative disposition. The first of these arguments focuses on why democrats should respect "the importance of the marbles to Greece”. The second argument focuses on the aesthetic costs of the separation of the sculptures, and the way in which, as parts of an art object, they “belong together, as well as with the rest of the building”.

To read the full article, click the link here.

Dr Lowe concludes: "if you claim to support democracy, respect for the kind of attachment or belonging that derives from the ‘individuated nature of nations’, or even just the value of tradition, then ask yourself: why Britain, and not Greece?”.

With dialogue happening, we were hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel in the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. Dialogue that rightly started behind closed doors, and had been ongoing for over 13 months between Greek PM Mitsotakis and the British Museum's George Osborne. Might it had been more prudent to have kept  the priceless dialogue behind closed doors, a bit longer? January has seen a relentless media frenzy in both UK and in Greece.

Huge elation felt when PM Mitsotakis announced at the LSE last November, and reported by Yannis Andritsopoulos in Ta Nea, that dialogue was at last happening, was short lived as on Wednesday 11 January, hopes were shattered. In a news bulletin, a report on the BBC, the UK's Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan speaking with Katie Razzell, the BBC's Culture and Media Editor, dismissed any possibility for the reunification of the sculptures. The 'slippery slope' and 'can of worms' excuses, antiquated in 2023, made a forceful come back.

The report with UK's Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan that made the main BBC News on Wednesday 11 January,  can be viewed here.

Tragically, there seems to be no epiphany for those still in charge of keeping the sculptures divided, and so Sisyphus carries on.