Talks over returning Elgin Marbles to Greece ‘collapse’
Por Bryony Gooch — – World RSS Feed
Talks over returning Elgin Marbles to Greece ‘collapse’
Greece’s prime minister said country would not accept ‘any arrangement that would require it to recognise the British Museum’s ownership of the sculptures’
Bryony Gooch Thursday 24 September 2026 08:42 BST
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Talks between Greece and the British Museum over the Elgin Marbles have collapsed, it has been reported.
Five years worth of negotiations between the nation and the museum have ended over frustration from Greece about a lack of progress, with reportedly no plans for them to resume.
The breakdown in communications comes from a disagreement over whether a long-term loan would be acceptable to Greece as the British Museum has claimed it can only lend the marbles in line with the law, according to the Telegraph.
Greece entered negotiations with the British Museum in 2021 as part of an effort to repatriate the Marbles back to Athens.
The ancient sculptures from the Parthenon were brought to the UK in the early 19th century by the seventh Earl of Elgin, who claimed he removed them with permission from Ottoman officials who had authority in Athens at the time. He then sold them to the British government.
open image in galleryThe legality of Elgin’s actions has been disputed ever since, with the Greek government formally asking for the return of the sculptures in 1983.
A dispute was lodged with UNESCO at the time, who offered to mediate. The British government and British Museum declined the offer. UNESCO called on the British government to resolve the issue at an intergovernmental level in 2021.
Former chancellor George Osborne, chair of the British Museum, said in 2023 that he hoped to reach an agreement with Greece.
“An agreement that enables these great sculptures to be seen in Athens, as well as London,” he said. “An agreement that allows other treasures from Greece, some that have never left those shores, to be seen here at the British Museum.
“As trustees we look for a partnership with our Greek friends that requires no one to relinquish their claims, asks for no changes to laws which are not ours to write, but which finds a practical, pragmatic and rational way forward.”
open image in galleryAny loan deal would require Greece to accept that the British Museum is the legal owner of the Parthenon sculptures, but they have maintained they were stolen by Elgin.
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that his country would not accept “any arrangement that would require it to recognise the British Museum’s ownership of the sculptures, or a scheme that would mean we ‘borrow’ parts of our own monument.”
He also rejected any loan in the style of the Bayeux tapestry’s visit from France, weeks after British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan told the Financial Times that the 10-month loan could provide a model for a deal as an example of successful international partnership.
He wrote in The Guardian: “Nobody would seriously contemplate cutting what survives of the tapestry in two and displaying half in London and half in Bayeux, and claiming this was an adequate way to understand it. Yet that is exactly what happened to the Parthenon sculptures. A single masterpiece was divided, and its surviving parts are now principally split between London and Athens.”
The Independent has contacted the British Museum for comment.
More about
Elgin MarblesGreeceUNESCOGeorge OsborneKyriakos MitsotakisBayeux TapestryBritish governmentParthenon
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