Greece open to exchange of treasures with Britain

Greece would be willing to send some of its rarest ancient treasures to the United Kingdom, if the British government returned the so-called Parthenon marbles to Athens.

The statues, which adorned the Acropolis in the Greek capital from the 5th century BC until they were removed and sent to the UK in the early 1800s, have long been a divisive issue between the two nations.

Greece has repeatedly called for their return from the British Museum, while London has insisted they were bought legally and now belong in the UK.

Lina Mendoni, Greece's culture minister, has now attempted to break the deadlock by telling The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday that her country is willing to send artifacts to the British Museum to take the place of the sculptures the museum bought in 1816 from the bankrupt Lord Elgin, who had previously been an ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. He had acquired the marbles from that empire, which had colonized Greece at the time.

"Our position is clear," she told the paper. "Should the sculptures be reunited in Athens, Greece is prepared to organize rotating exhibitions of important antiquities that would fill the void."

Mendoni, who trained as a classical archaeologist, said discussions with London about the Parthenon marbles were ongoing, but had not yet got down to specifics such as which treasures were on the table.

George Osborne, the British Museum's chair, has also expressed interest in the idea of an exchange of treasures.

But while optimistic noises seem to be emanating from both the UK and Greece, the Parthenon marbles remain a thorny issue and were the reason why UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused at the last moment to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis when he was on an official visit to the UK in November.