Boris Johnson refuses to return Greek sculptures

Boris Johnson again denies Greece’s request for the famous Parthenon sculptures to be returned. This was stated by the British prime minister in an interview in the Greek newspaper Ta Nea on Friday.

In the early 19th century, Lord Elgin, a British diplomat from the then Ottoman Empire, removed the sculptures from the Parthenon Temple on the rock of the Acropolis in Athens. When the temple was built around 2,500 years ago, it was adorned with marble sculptures by the famous artist Phidias. Of what remains of the sculptural frieze, about 50 meters remain in Athens and 80 meters in the British Museum in London.

Greece has long demanded to recover the works, more or less since the British diplomat dismantled them. But Britain is unmolested: Johnson claimed in Friday’s interview that the sculptures should be kept on British soil because Lord Elgin legally acquired them at the time.

“I understand the strong feelings of the Greek people and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the matter,” Johnson told the Greek newspaper.

At the same time, he claimed that the British Museum is the rightful owner of parts of the famous frieze, which in Britain is known as the “Elgin Marbles”.

From the stream of Greece The government came to power in 2019, the conflict over the sculptures has intensified. Shortly after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis took office, he proposed a change. He was willing to lend valuable ancient artifacts to London if Greece recovered the sculptures by 2021, when the country celebrates 200 years of independence, Reuters reports. The exchange would be temporary, with the ultimate goal of moving the sculptures to Athens permanently.

– I do not believe that Great Britain should fight a battle that it will lose. In the end, they will lose. The pressure will mount, Mitsotakis said at the time.

He believed that the sculptures should be returned to their original place of origin, so that the cultural heritage would be unified.

Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni previously called Elgin a “serial thief” and claimed that Johnson appears to be unaware of the historical evidence that the diplomat did not legally purchase the sculptures, The Guardian reports.

“For Greece, the British Museum is not the rightful owner of the sculptures,” Mendoni said.