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Elgin marbles fight intensifies
LONDON, England -- Greece is continuing its diplomatic efforts to see the Elgin Marbles in Athens in time for the 2004 Olympics -- despite a firm "no" from their British owner. Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos is in London on Tuesday to campaign for the return of the marbles, which once adorned the Parthenon. He has offered a selection of Greek treasures on rolling loan to the British Museum in exchange for lending Greece the marbles, and presented proposals for a new Acropolis gallery next to the Parthenon. But museum director Neil MacGregor has insisted the frieze sculptures would not leave Britain. "The trustees position is that the marbles are an integral part of the British Museum and they cannot be leant without damaging the museum's role," he said. "There is no question of putting it back on the Parthenon, you can't recover what's lost, so you can't actually recreate the integrity of the Parthenon as a work of art. "It seems to us that to put the Parthenon sculptures (Elgin Marbles) in the best possible context is to put them in the museum." Venizelos, who was also meeting with his UK counterpart Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, said he was "optimistic" that the marbles would be returned to Greece but added that he was also realistic. "This is our first contact. It's very important for us to organise and to accelerate contacts between the two museums," he said. "I respect very much the British tradition, the British dignity and the British sensitivities about many matters and because of that my proposal is very flexible.
"For us the problem is not the ownership, the historical rights of the British Museum, but the problem is to reunite the marbles -- to present the sculpture as a totality." The British Museum acquired the marbles from Lord Elgin in 1811 and owns about half of the sculpture that once adorned the Parthenon. On Tuesday, Venizelos and the architect and director of the new Acropolis Museum will hold a public meeting in London's Congress House to detail their efforts to provide a fitting home for the marbles in the Greek capital. Two weeks ago, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis raised the return of the marbles with his UK counterpart, Tony Blair, in Downing Street.
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