The British Lend the Parthenon Marbles, But Not to Greece

A part of the Parthenon Marbles exhibited at the British Museum will travel for the first time ever, but not to its place of origin. The marble sculpture will be loaned to Russia’s State Hermitage Museum from this Saturday until January 18, 2015.

The British Museum has loaned the sculpture of river god Ilissos, a reclining male figure, to the St. Petersburg museum for the celebration of the Russian museum’s 250th anniversary.

The Parthenon sculptures were taken from Greece by British diplomat Lord Elgin in 1803, when the country was still under Ottoman rule. The sculptures have never left the British Museum since. Despite continuous efforts of Greek governments in the past thirty years to repatriate the sculptures, the British Museum refuses to return them on the grounds that the British Museum has more visitors from all over the world to admire the famous marble sculptures.

“The duty of the trustees is to allow citizens in as many countries as possible to share in their common inheritance,” said the chairman of the British Museum trustees, Richard Lambert. “The trustees are delighted that this beautiful object will be enjoyed by the people of Russia.”

Greece has started a campaign for the repatriation of the Parthenon marbles in 1983, when Melina Merkouri was Minister of Culture. The Greek side claims the sculptures were stolen. The British side insists that the marbles were taken to Britain by permission of the Ottoman rulers and they were removed from the Parthenon in order to be protected.

The repatriation efforts were rekindled recently by the Greek government with the aid of lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney. Greece is waiting for the talks between UNESCO and Great Britain on the issue. Meanwhile, Athens has started an opinion poll for passengers of the Athens International Airport asking them to vote on a special electronic machine if they believe the sculptures should be returned to Greece or not.