Yesterday Saturday June 20th, the Acropolis Museum in Athens celebrated its 11th anniversary, and Athens brought back the issue of the stolen Parthenon marbles, calling the British Museum’s retention of the Parthenon Marbles as, illegal and “contrary to any moral principle”.
The New Acropolis Museum in Athens was built specifically to host the stolen Parthenon marbles. Last year, more than 14.5 million people visited the new Acropolis museum among the most popular cultural institutions globally.
In repeated polls, Britons have voiced support for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles, which were stolen from the Parthenon in 1802 at the behest of Lord Elgin, London’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (Sublime Porte).
Greek culture minister Lina Mendoni told the Greek newspaper Ta Nea
“Since September 2003 when construction work for the Acropolis Museum began, Greece has systematically demanded the return of the sculptures on display in the British Museum because they are the product of theft,”
“The current Greek government – like any Greek government – is not going to stop claiming the stolen sculptures which the British Museum, contrary to any moral principle, continues to hold illegally.”
“It is sad that one of the world’s largest and most important museums is still governed by outdated, colonialist views.”
Greece’s new elected Government by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, ahead of the country’s bicentennial independence celebrations next year, has vowed to step up the campaign to repatriate the stolen Marbles that adorned the frieze of the Parthenon. Government Greek officials have not excluded the EU pressing for the return of the antiquities as part of an overarching Brexit deal.
The controversy over the Marbles erupted again when Hartwig Fischer (director of the British Museum) provocatively described the barbaric cutting of the Parthenon masterpieces with a saw, and the removal from Greece, as “a creative act”.
For the record, half of the 160-metre frieze is in London – 50 metres in Athens, and other pieces are in a eight museums across Europe.
Video below In English – The adventures of the Parthenon – – How Elgin stole and cut the Parthenon masterpieces with a saw
News Source: – Ta Nea – The Guardian – Kathimerini –
Cover Photo by: Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles
Article Photos by: – Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles – Acropolis Museum – Μουσείο Ακρόπολης
By Alex Ammohostianos
