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One from the group of ancient sculptures known as the Parthenon Marbles, photographed on display at the British Museum in August 2006. George Osborne, chair of the museum, said there had been “constructive” talks with the Greek government on a deal that would arrange to display the marbles in Athens and London. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Urban. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

Proposal in works for London and Athens to share Parthenon Marbles

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
One from the group of ancient sculptures known as the Parthenon Marbles, photographed on display at the British Museum in August 2006. George Osborne, chair of the museum, said there had been “constructive” talks with the Greek government on a deal that would arrange to display the marbles in Athens and London. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Urban. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
One from the group of sculptures known as the Parthenon Marbles, or Elgin Marbles, photographed on display at the British Museum in August 2006. George Osborne, chair of the museum, said there had been “constructive” talks with the Greek government on a deal that would arrange to display the marbles in Athens and London. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Urban. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

LONDON (AP) – The chair of the British Museum said February 16 that the U.K. and Greece are working on a deal that would see his institution’s Parthenon Marbles displayed in both London and Athens. George Osborne said talks with the Greek government had been “constructive.”

“I think there is a way forward where these sculptures … could be seen both in London and in Athens, and that will be a win-win for Greece and for us,” he told the BBC.

The antiquities, also known as the Elgin Marbles, mostly consist of the remnants of a frieze that ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens.

Carved in the 5th century BC, they were taken in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin and ended up in the British Museum, which for decades rebuffed Greek demands for their return.

Athens argues the sculptures were taken illegally when Greece was under Ottoman Turkish occupation and should be returned for permanent display beside the other surviving Parthenon sculptures that are in the Greek capital’s Acropolis Museum.

Part of the group of ancient Greek sculptures known as the Elgin Marbles, aka the Parthenon Sculptures, photographed on display at the British Museum in May 2014. On December 3, a Greek newspaper claimed that museum officials and the Greek prime minister had conducted secret talks regarding the possible return of the sculptures. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Carole Raddato. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Part of the group of ancient Greek sculptures known as the Parthenon Marbles, or Elgin Marbles, photographed on display at the British Museum in May 2014. On December 3, 2022, a Greek newspaper claimed that museum officials and the Greek prime minister had conducted secret talks regarding the possible return of the sculptures. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Carole Raddato. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

The British Museum insists it will not break up its collection, but there has been a change of tone recently as museums around the world seek to address concerns about the way ancient artifacts were acquired during periods of imperial domination and colonial expansion.

The museum has said it wants a “Parthenon partnership” with Greece.

Osborne, a former U.K. Treasury chief, said he was “reasonably optimistic” about striking a deal, but cautioned that “it may well not come to anything.”

“It’s a very hard problem to solve but I think there is a way forward,” he said.

In December, Pope Francis said he would send back to Greece three smaller fragments of sculptures from the Parthenon that the Vatican Museums have held for two centuries.

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