April 30, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Guardian Calls For Immediate Return Of Parthenon Sculptures To Greece

British public opinion supports the return of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece, as reflected in the British Telegraph article. And the Guardian today published an author’s article calling on the British government to immediately return the unique sculptures to Athens.

A few days after the Greek prime minister’s official appeal to his British counterpart about the return of the sculptures, The Telegraph reports on the results of the YouGov poll: among respondents, the majority (56%) believe that the sculptures should return to Greece, and only 20% said that they should stay in the UK.

The article was signed by Gordon Reiner, associate editor of the newspaper, who last weekend signed an interview with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The British public was interviewed ahead of his visit to London.

The Telegraph says that pressure comes not only from the Greek side, but also from UNESCO, which sharply criticizes the conditions for keeping the sculptures in the British Museum. Recently, a UN division ruled that the issue of restoring Greece’s national treasure was transnational in nature, “undermining Boris Johnson’s ready-made excuse that the marble belongs to the British Museum and the government cannot intervene.”

The position of Greece is strengthening, writes the British edition, by a growing trend in favor of returning antiquities and artifacts brought from third countries to the largest European museums. The author of the book “Restitution: The Return of Cultural Artifacts” Alexander German told the Telegraph:

“There is no doubt that there is a shift in this direction, museums in Europe and other countries are changing their attitude towards repatriation. The trend has indeed intensified over the past five years, and other countries with a colonial past such as Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are supporting it. ”

Actress Janet Suzman says:

“The British Museum is clearly behind the scenes. His arguments no longer correspond to reality and resemble childish logic: I have found, and this is now mine. Anyone who visits a museum in Athens can see that the sculptures should be there. “

Simon Jenkins, a resident columnist for the Guardian, notes:

“Someday the British government will return the Parthenon sculptures to Greece. Paris returns stolen artifacts from Southeast Asia and Senegal. Benin’s bronze treasures were returned to Nigeria from Cambridge, Aberdeen, Germany and France. If Londoners want to see the aesthetic temptations of Greek sculpture, they have the opportunity, technology can copy them, as they copy famous statues all over Europe. But do not interfere with the return of the sculptures. “





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