Greece prepared to offer British Museum major treasures in return for Elgin Marbles to 'fill void'

28 December 2023, 14:01 | Updated: 28 December 2023, 14:03

Greece is willing to "compensate" the British Museum if it returns the Elgin Marbles.

The country will lend the museum some of its most "important antiquities" to "fill the void", culture minister Lina Mendoni said.

She suggested “rotating exhibitions” that featured some of Greece’s most celebrated antiquities could help resolve the cultural dispute.

"Our position is clear. Should the sculptures be reunited in Athens, Greece is prepared to organise rotating exhibitions of important antiquities that would fill the void," Ms Mendoni told the Guardian.

She explained that "[they] would fill the void, maintain, and constantly renew, international visitor interest in the Greek galleries of the British Museum".

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But Ms Mendoni warned that "any agreement and all its particulars, would have to be in accordance with the Greek law on cultural heritage".

It comes after British Museum chairman George Osborne last month pledged to continue working on an exchange deal to allow the Elgin Marbles to be displayed in Greece, despite a diplomatic fallout sparked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Mr Sunak ditched a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after accusing him of grandstanding about the return of the ancient sculptures.

Greece has long demanded the return of the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, which were removed by Lord Elgin from occupied Athens in the early 19th century, when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

They were purchased by Parliament from Lord Elgin in 1816.

Part of friezes that adorned the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis, the Elgin Marbles have been displayed at the British Museum in London for more than 200 years.

Most of the remaining sculptures are in a purpose-built museum in Athens.