A total of 20 countries formally announced their support over the weekend for Greece’s request for the permanent return of the famed Parthenon Sculptures, currently on display at the British Museum, during the 25th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Return of Cultural Property to Countries of Origin (ICPRCP).
The countries included a majority of the ICPRCP’s member states, including Italy, Colombia, Brazil, Azerbaijan, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Poland, Guatemala, Burkina Faso, Libya, Iran, and Zambia, as well as the observer states of Cyprus, Turkey, Bahrain, Nigeria, Lebanon, Mexico, and Mauritania.
The Parthenon Sculptures are a collection of ancient Greek sculptures taken from the Parthenon and other temples from the Acropolis by the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Thomas Bruce, commonly known also as Lord Elgin.
Most of the Sculptures date to the fifth century BCE and were created under the direction of the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, who designed the Statue of Zeus at Olympia (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) and the Athena Parthenos, which stood within the Parthenon itself.
Between 1801 and 1812, Elgin and his team removed the collection Statues from Greece and brought them to England. The matter of the Statues’ repatriation and legal ownership have been the subject of much debate ever sinced.
Within the ICPRCP, the subject has been on committee’s agenda since 1984.
Was Britain's acquisition of the Statues legal?
The Greek Culture Ministry explained that the Greek delegation to the ICPRCP presented during the meeting a detailed and comprehensive historical account of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Greece’s arguments focused on several matters, including Elgin’s acquisition of the Statues, the “destructive consequences” that the removal had on the Statues’ preservation, and the lack of respect the British Museum has shown the pieces.
Further, the delegation said that after being returned to their home country, the Statues would be put on display at the Acropolis Museum, alongside other Parthenon artifacts.
According to the Greek delegation, Elgin had no firman (a royal decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state) or relevant Ottoman documents permissing him to remove the artifacts from the Greece.
In response, the UK reiterated its established position on the matter, claiming that Elgin had indeed received a firman and that the removal of the Statues was entirely lawful, pointing to an 1816 investigation into Elgin’s conduct which ruled his actions legal.
Turkey, from its position as an observer state, stressed that no document legitimizing the removal of the Sculptures and their acquisition by Elgin existed, and called on the UK to “stop using the existence of such a firman as an argument in international intergovernmental forums.”
Greece refuses to 'loan' Statues from UK
Additionally, the Greek delegation informed the committee of the country’s ongoing efforts to find a solution to the matter, noting that progress has been hindered by the British insistence that it is unable to permanently return the Statues as current legislation prohibits such a move, but rather proposed lending the artifacts to Greece as it has similarly done with many other countries.
Loaning artifacts from the British Museum, however, requires a precondition Greece refuses to adhere to.
Before the museum’s Trustees consider a loan request, the borrower – in this case, Greece – must acknowledge the British Museum’s ownership of the object.
Both the policy and the museum’s willingness to consider lending artifacts to Greece has been “made clear to the Greek government, but successive Greek governments have refused to consider borrowing or to acknowledge the Trustees ownership of the Parthenon sculptures in their care,” the Trustees said in a statement regarding the Pantheon Statues.
The Greek refusal, on the grounds that the Statues are objects of both vital to the country's cultural heritage and identity, has made “any meaningful discussion on the issue virtually impossible,” according to the Trustees.
“The Acropolis Museum allows the Parthenon sculptures that are in Athens (about half of what survives from the ancient world) to be appreciated against the backdrop of Athenian history,” the Trustees said in their statement. “The Parthenon sculptures in London are an important representation of ancient Athenian civilization in the context of world history.”
During the ICPRCP’s meeting, the UK claimed a similar matter, adding that being displayed at the British Museum makes them accessible to millions of visitors each year.
At the meeting’s close, the ICPRCP adopted a new Recommendation regarding the Statues.
In addition to continue previous Recommendations and Decisions, the committee noted that Greece called on the UK to cooperate in the repatriation of the artifacts, recognized the Statues for the first time as an integral part of Greek identity, and called on both countries to intensify efforts to resolve the dispute.
The committee also expressed deep concern that the matter has remained in the "pending" status for as long as it has, and decided to include it in the agenda for its 26th session.