What are the Elgin Marbles and the way did they find yourself within the British Museum? How the traditional sculptures have been faraway from ruins of Athens’ Parthenon, and the decades-long Greek marketing campaign to get them again

The UK and Greece are entangled in a rising diplomatic row relating to the Elgin Marbles.

Rishi Sunak cancelled a deliberate assembly with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis after he repeated calls for for the marbles to be returned to Greece on Sunday.

Whereas on a go to to the UK, he stated that the present scenario – the place many of the sculptures are within the British Museum and a smaller set are in Athens – was just like the Mona Lisa being ‘minimize in half’.  

Beneath, MailOnline takes a glance into the historic background of the rising row. 

What are the Elgin Marbles and the way did they find yourself in England?

The marbles, also called The Parthenon Sculptures, are a sequence of Historic Greek sculptures created between 447BC and 432BC.

They have been the work of Greek architect Phidias, who additionally created a statue of the traditional god Zeus, which was thought-about one of many seven wonders of the traditional world.  

The artefacts, an ode to the Greek goddess Athena, are made up of 17 figures that adorned the Parthenon in Athens.

After standing for two,000 years, the Acropolis was for probably the most half destroyed because the Ottoman Empire – who on the time dominated Greece – turned embroiled in a battle with Venice. 

The remaining sculptures have been faraway from the ruins of the Parthenon by Lord Elgin and dropped at Britain between 1802 and 1812. 

Throughout this time, Elgin was additionally the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

The British Authorities’s longstanding place has been that Elgin had permission to take the marbles. 

Critics say there are not any surviving paperwork which help this declare. 

However a report printed earlier this yr by main knowledgeable Sir Noel Malcolm insisted this was the case. 

The paper for the Coverage Trade suppose tank additionally highlighted that the removing of the marbles truly saved them from critical harm, dispersal and destruction.  

In 1816, the marbles have been handed over to the care of the British Museum, the place they’ve remained ever since. 

Athens remains to be dwelling to a smaller 164ft (50-metre) part of the sculptures, however the majority – round 260ft – are within the UK.  

Who owns the Elgin Marbles?

The Elgin Marbles are a part of a everlasting assortment within the museum beneath The British Museum Act 1963.

Nonetheless, since Greece established its personal independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832, they’ve sought to get better artworks beforehand faraway from their nation.

The Mediterranean nation’s first notable bid to regain the Elgin Marbles started within the early Nineteen Eighties with Melina Mercouri – who on the time was the Greek minister for tradition.

She demanded their return in a gathering with the director of the British Museum, Dr David Wilson in 1983.

The previous actress continued to press the British authorities in addition to the famed museum to return the Elgin Marbles till her passing in 1994.

In 2009, Greece additional signalled their intent by opening the Acropolis Museum in Athens, within the hope they’d sooner or later home the marbles.

5 years later, in 2014 human rights barrister Amal Clooney – the spouse of Hollywood actor George Clooney – urged Britain to start discussions with Greece relating to the return of the artefacts.

Clooney informed Sky Information: ‘That is an injustice that has endured for too lengthy, and in a world of intractable conflicts.’  

But it surely was solely a yr later in 2015, that Greece opted to not take any authorized motion in opposition to Britain relating to the art work.

The Fagan fragment 

Final yr, an artefact generally known as the Palermo Fragment, or Fagan slab, was returned to Athens completely.

It had been a part of the Acropolis’ japanese frieze and was stated to be a chunk of the foot of an outline of the Greek goddess of battle Artemis.

The Palermo Fragment had additionally been taken by Lord Elgin, however fairly than coming to Britain it was given to the British Consul in Sicily and was later housed on the Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo.

This return additional fuelled the requires the Elgin Marbles to be returned.  

What has the British Museum stated concerning the Elgin Marbles debate?

In December final yr, it emerged that British Museum chairman George Osborne was conducting top-secret negotiations with the Greek prime minister over the switch of the artefacts.

It was understood that the categorised talks between the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Greek PM had been ongoing since November 2021. 

Osborne has advised that the marbles could possibly be loaned to Athens in return for objects which have by no means been seen earlier than within the UK. 

In January 2023, a British Museum spokesperson stated: ‘The British Museum has publicly known as for a brand new Parthenon partnership with Greece and we’ll discuss to anybody, together with the Greek authorities, about the way to take that ahead.

‘Because the chair of trustees stated final month, we function throughout the legislation and we’re not going to dismantle our nice assortment because it tells a singular story of our frequent humanity.

‘However we’re searching for new optimistic, long-term partnerships with nations and communities all over the world, and that after all consists of Greece.’

In accordance with Greek each day newspaper Ta Nea, Mr Osborne and Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis met at a five-star resort in Knightsbridge, west London, to debate the sculptures. 

Labour sources on the time stated that Sir Keir Starmer, whose Holborn and St Pancras constituency is dwelling to the British Museum, wouldn’t ‘stand in the best way’ of a mortgage deal.

A Labour spokesperson stated: ‘Sturdy cultural and historic partnerships between nations are essential to make sure the British Museum, and different UK cultural establishments, can keep their world main standing.

‘The following Labour Authorities will hear the case from the British Museum and its chair on any proposed modifications to the Heritage Act because it stands. We have no present plans to alter it.’ 

Nonetheless, Sir Noel Malcolm stated in his report that any supposedly momentary mortgage would run the numerous threat that the marbles would by no means come again to Britain. 

Any everlasting return would require a change within the legislation, which because it stands bans any switch of objects from the British Museum except the transfer is momentary. 

Downing Avenue’s place has remained defiant. A spokesman stated this week: ‘These have been legally acquired on the time, they’re legally owned by the trustees of the museum.

‘We help that place and there is no plan to alter the legislation which governs it.’