Athens loan would undermine Greek legal claim to Elgin Marbles
GREECE would be forced to reject any “Parthenon partnership” loan deal with the British Museum over the Elgin Marbles, or risk compromising its claim to the cultural treasures, sources have told The Daily Telegraph.
The museum has stated that it “will loan the sculptures” to those who wish to display them, after the institution’s deputy director, Jonathan Williams, suggested a new relationship with authorities in Athens could resolve the diplomatic row over the ancient artworks.
However, the British Museum’s “active Parthenon partnership” is unlikely to end the decades-long wrangle over the sculptures, it is understood, as Greece would be forced to reject any loan deal or risk losing its “non-negotiable” legal claim to the Elgin Marbles.
Sources have indicated that accepting a loan deal would mean tacitly accepting that the British Museum legally owns the artworks, which Greek authorities have always maintained were “stolen” from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin in the early 19th-century.
This acceptance would involve an unacceptable pivot from Greece’s longheld position, it is understood, and could significantly weaken any future moral and legal claim to the Marbles after any loan period came to an end.
Signs of a continued stalemate over the Marbles come after British Museum executive Mr Williams announced the institution is calling for “an active ‘Parthenon partnership’ with our friends and colleagues in Greece”, telling The Sunday Times: “There is space for a really dynamic and positive conversation within which new ways of working together can be found.”
Mr Williams did not suggest what new ways would be looked at, but a statement from the British Museum on the issue said: “We believe sharing them with the public in as rich a range of contexts as possible should lie at the heart of these conversations.
“The public is failed when conversations are limited to a legalistic and adversarial context,” it added. “We will loan the sculptures, as we do many other objects, to those who wish to display them to other public around the world, provided they will look after them and return them.”
Discussions about a loan agreement for the Marbles follow the suggestion by British Museum chairman, George Osborne, that there is a “deal to be done” over the 2,500-year-old sculpture and friezes.
The museum maintains that it cannot legally give away objects held on behalf of the British public without the Government changing legislation, while the Government has said the law will not be changed.
The Greek camp indicates that nothing less than a full reparation to Greece would be acceptable.
The artworks, created under the direction of Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, comprise statues, metopes and sections of frieze mainly depicting various battles between civilised man and mythical enemies. The British Museum has always maintained it legally acquired and so legally owns the pieces.