ATHENS (Reuters) – Britain is the legitimate owner of the Parthenon marbles, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a Greek newspaper, rejecting Greece’s permanent request to return the 2,500-year-old sculptures.
Since independence in 1832, Greece has repeatedly called for the repatriation of the treasures – known in Britain as the Elgin marbles – that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th century, when Greece was under Ottoman rule.
But the British Museum in London refused to return the sculptures, about half of a 160-meter (525-foot) frieze that adorned the 5th century BC monument, saying they were acquired by Elgin under a legal contract with the Ottoman Empire and they are part of everyone’s “shared heritage”.
In an interview with the newspaper Ta Nea released on Friday, Johnson, a former student of the Classics very much given to quote Latin and Greek, reiterated that the British Museum was the legitimate owner of the marbles.
He said he understood the feelings of many Greeks on the subject, but said that Britain had a “firm and lasting” position on sculptures. “They were acquired legally by Lord Elgin, according to the laws that were in force at the time,” he said.
Greece’s conservative government has stepped up pressure for the return of the marbles since it came to power in 2019, a campaign it said would be stepped up with the UK leaving the European Union.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, who previously referred to Elgin as a “serial thief”, said Johnson appeared to be unaware of recent historical evidence showing that the ex-envoy had not legitimately acquired the marbles.
“For Greece, the British Museum has no legitimate ownership or possession of the sculptures,” she said in a statement.
In 2019, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would be willing to lend important artifacts to London in exchange for displaying the marbles in Athens in 2021, when Greece marks the 200th anniversary of its independence.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Paul Simao and Hugh Lawson)