The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis met this morning with UK's Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.

Since Sunday the media frenzy and speculation carried on until today but the meeting between the two leaders was not to arranged to make a statement regarding the on-going talks between Greece and the British Museum for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

A YouGov poll also continues to show those that are undecided with those that do not wish for the sculptures to be returned making up under half of the sample questioned, with 53% supporting to reunite the sculptures. 

The Times today reported:

It is understood that talks over the marbles — which are being led by George Osborne, the museum’s chairman — are focusing on a potential loan deal as part of a wider cultural partnership between the two countries.

Helpfully for the museum, the galleries that contain the marbles are due to close for an extensive refurbishment in the coming years. This may provide the opportunity to return to marbles for Athens, at least temporarily. However, any deal would require the Greek government to accept British ownership of the marbles — something which has been a sticking point in the talks up to now. 

Mitsotakis has made the repatriation of the artworks a priority of his centre-right government. The British Museum would need the backing of the government for any agreement as ministers could impose an export ban, preventing the marbles from being sent back to Greece.

More articles in the The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, First Post, Daily Mail & many more!

On the 15th of June this year BCRPM held a celebration of the Acropolis Museum's 15th anniversary in Room 18 and Chair Janet Suzman, with members Victoria Hislop and George Gabriel delivered a letter to the new director Nicholas Cullinan.

The reply from Nicholas Cullinan arrived just a few days later and did give all at BCRPM a boost of optimism.

Last Friday the Financial Times article by contributing editor Jan Dalley had an encouraging headline - British Museum chief Nicholas Cullinan:‘I start with the idea that everything is possible’. [Music to all of BCRPM's ears]

“If anyone tells me something isn’t possible, I’ll go all the more into making it happen.” Nicholas Cullinan tells Jan Dalley. The huge challenge ahead is that Nicholas Cullinan is overseeing the most ambitious museum reconstruction ever attempted — “a complete holistic transformation, top to bottom, inside out, buildings, collection, visual identity, ” rumoured to cost £1bn.

The startling statistics about Britain’s biggest cultural institution are no exaggeration, though: with around 3,500 rooms and some 8mn objects in its collection, it is, according to former trustee Antony Gormley, “[one of] the last unmodernised great museums in Europe”. Add to that its recent reputational bashing: last year’s scandal over thefts from the collection, perpetual arguments about sources of philanthropy and funding, and the seemingly insoluble conundrum about repatriation, in particular of the Parthenon Marbles.

The the case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is the British Museum's most public and controversial debate is something that all those involved with BCRPM have felt for decades but again the mantra has been 'anything is possible'. Despite certain setbacks, the accomplished efforts by Greece at UNESCO's ICPRCP  over the decades has ensured that hope would not wane.

It was good to hear Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport at the the recent Labour Party conference state that repatriation is on this government's agenda. At last!

Nicholas Cullinan is typically diplomatic, and typically optimistic, writes Jan Dalley, but for us as campaigners that's better than dismissive and superior.. We're still recovering from Hartwig Fisher referring to the division of the sculptures a a 'creative act'!

“I think everyone would like to see a really exciting, innovative solution. No, solution is the wrong word — response. Something outside the usual framework . . . I’m starting with the idea that everything is possible, and we’ll deal with reality as it evolves. Let’s not start with the idea that certain things can’t be done.” Continues Nicholas Cullinan in his conversation with Jan Dalley. “Plans are taking shape." 

No doubt the discussions between Greece and the British Museum are ongoing but we continue to also hope that the UK government will take the lead in this matter by amending the Museum Act. Many have tried before and more will continue to do so.

As UK's PM Sir Kier Starmer continues to travel abroad, looking to establish the UK as a nation of possibilities, nurturing collaborations aimed at securing the UK a brighter future, then let the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles be that fine feather in his cap too. 

This morning, I had the privilege of speaking on Greek TV and radio about the latest progress in the discussions on the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

As a member of the British Committee for the Reunification of Parthenon Marbles, I highlighted the pivotal role of UNESCO’s ICPRCP, whose work over the past decade has garnered global support and influenced key decisions. It is on this international platform that both the British Museum and the UK government faced strong criticism for the time it has taken to begin bilateral discussions with Greece.

This year at UNESCO ICPRCP's 24th session in Paris, it was Zeynep Boz, the delegate from Türkiye, head of the Turkish Culture Ministry’s department for combating trafficking in antiquities that declared there was no firman, no permission granted to Lord Elgin to allow the removal of the sculptures from the Parthenon.   

The return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece feels closer than ever! According to a recent article in The Economist, 2025 could mark significant progress in the ongoing talks between Greece and the UK.

On 15 June, BCRPM's Chair Janet Suzman with members Victoria Hislop and George Gabriel plus supporters gathered in the BM's Room 18 to mark the Acropolis Museum's 15th anniversary. They also delivered a letter to Director of the British Museum, Nicholas Cullinan and shortly afterwards Nicholas Cullinan responded to Janet Suzman, BCRPM's Chair saying that “creating a new relationship with Greece regarding the Marbles will be a clear priority.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, last November also said that if a mutually acceptable agreement is reached between the UK and Greece, the British government “will not stand in the way.”

Avgoustinos Galiassos on Greek TV and radio 

BCRPM marking the 13th, 14th and 15th anniversary of the Acropolis Museum in the British Museum

Ghosts of the British Museum is a newly published narrative non-fiction book based on testimony gathered from scores of current and former museum workers, from senior curators to overnight security staff, who tell of unquiet artefacts, holy plunder and restless human remains inside world’s oldest national museum. Through these ghost narratives, Noah Angell guides the reader through The British Museum’s galleries, corridors and vast, labyrinthian storage chambers, disclosing the spectral and material traces of colonial acquisition, and the profound psychic unrest at the core of one of Britain’s most popular tourist attractions.

Chapter six, “Songs of a Murky Prison” focuses on the Greek and Turkish galleries, particularly on the internal lore surrounding the Nereid Monument, the “Lost” Caryatid, and the Parthenon Sculptures. As Angell writes, “Today the display of the Parthenon sculptures at the British Museum is marred by the eyesore of their prolonged exile.” Ghosts of the British Museum reframes the well trod repatriation debate – perhaps it’s not merely the Greek people moaning about the reunification of their heritage – rather it is the sculptures themselves, crying out for home, to assume their place in the land where they rightfully belong.

You can hear Noah talk about his book on Thursday 21 November, 18:30-20:00 in London's Shepherd's Bush Market, W12 8DF. To find out more and attend follow the link here.

On the ongoing negotiations to reunite the Parthenon Sculptures, the British Museum told ERTNews that "Discussions with Greece on the Parthenon partnership are ongoing and constructive." 

And continues:

"We believe that this type of long-term partnership will strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we have in the museum."

At the same day the Economist published an article saying that the Marbles status negotiations could take a big step forward.

"In 2025, the marbles may finally be moved - or at least negotiations over their status may take a big step forward." This is the thesis of the Economist article, which gives a detailed account of the situation and the issue of cultural heritage restitution, as the return of antiquities involving "less prominent objects" puts less pressure on museums. 

The article states that "a deal with Greece would be the culmination of a wave of restitution that has taken place in the shadow of the Marbles". 

"Many arguments against their return have been overturned. The idea that the British Museum is the only competent custodian for the marbles has always seemed slightly spurious, even more so after one of its staff was accused of pilfering almost 2,000 antiquities and selling them on eBay," writes The Economist's culture correspondent. The columnist cites sources from different authors who wrote books on this subject to conclude that a "return is no longer a dirty word".

The facts and the speculation

As the Economist article makes clear, there is nothing concrete other than the acknowledgement that discussions are underway and that the possible reunification of the sculptures faces favourable circumstances. Senior diplomatic sources explicitly told ERT that they "do not confirm" the reports, in which details of the alleged agreement are given.

This is because they do not even know if there will be an agreement in the end let alone what exactly an alleged agreement will contain. 

In particular, another diplomatic source told ERT that "nothing has been agreed unless everything has been agreed". We are watching a diplomatic negotiation of the highest level where the two sides talk behind closed doors for the best outcome they can conclude.

The Parthenon Project campaign, funded by multi-millionaire John Lefas, is 'keeping a low profile', while the long-established British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) claims they do not have knowledge of the details of the negotiations. 

What we do know is that the Greek government has been talking to the British Museum and the British government for years, by their own admission. The draft of the agreement though has not been finalised. Everything that is published is a "product of fantasy", according to an ERT diplomatic source.

It could also be a "framework agreement" and the details will be worked out later. 

Greek and British journalists are chasing the story on the occasion of the arrival of the Greek Foreign Minister in London and the rumoured subsequent visit of Prime Minister Mitsotakis to London in early December.

But given the puzzling silence on the negotiations for a possible agreement to reunite the sculptures, from both the British Museum and the Greek side, what remains is what we know: that discussions are continuing, that these may take place at many levels and in many ways, and that it is by no means certain that Kyriakos Mitsotakis who will (possibly) travel to London in early December, will sign an agreement.

The British Museum is in the final stages of awarding a competition for an architectural proposal for the renovation of the museum. From the beginning of the new year, many of the British Museum's Western Rooms will be gradually closed, including the galleries housing the Greek antiquities including the Parthenon Sculptures in Room 18. These sculptures will have to be moved... somewhere. This will certainly increase the chances of the British Museum agreeing to an exchange, but we must not forget that these treasures are in the UK's most important institution, and it is also a matter of national pride for the British as well as the Greeks, and certainly for the museum's board.

The article was written originally in Greek by Evdoxia Lymperi - UK correspondent for ERT (Greek Broadcasting Corp.) it was first published in ertnews.gr