Lord Vaizey, the former Conservative Culture Minister, will chair the renewed talks with Greek representatives for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Lord Vaizey, the former Conservative Culture Minister from 2010-2016, says he is confident about the talks with a new body and believes that a deal can be reached within a short span of time.
A debate is to be held today, the 40th anniversary of the 1983 Heritage Act, which restricts museums from disposing of their collections, in the House of Lords.
The talks are happening when Prime Minister Liz Truss came out in favour of returning the Elgin marbles home to Greece, despite facing criticism from George Osbourne, the Chairman of the British Museum and the former Chancellor of Troy, saying that there was already a “deal” in place to “share” the infamous marbles.
The sculptures were part of a ferize that decorated the 2500 year old Parthenon, Acropolis, in Athens and were taken by Lord Elgin, then British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. They were removed from their original place in the early years of the 19th century. The object has been in controversy over its display since the second half of the 20th century.
The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsokis, has repeatedly requested the return of the marbles and has gone so far as to offer some of Greece’s national treasures to be loaned to the British Museum in their place.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, he said that he intends to bring up the topic again during his visit to London to meet with Mrs. Truss later this year.
A statement from the British Museum says that they always believed that only the government could decide the marble’s fate and that the problem was with one of its trustees.
The new body that decides the marble’s fate includes two other Conservatives, apart from Lord Vaizey, who are Lord Dobbs and Baroness Meyer. They are also joined by actor Stephen Fry and journalist Sarah Baxter.
In a poll conducted, about 19% of the Britons believe that the marble sculptures should stay in the British Museum, while 54% of them believe that they should be returned to Greece, their rightful home, as they belong to them.
The British Museum says that their hands are tied as they cannot return any items present in their valuable collection as they are bound by the British Museum Act of 1963, which has similar terms and conditions as the Heritage Act of 1983, when they were asked to return the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria.
However, several other museums, which are not bound by these laws, have successfully returned many objects in their collection, such as London’s Horniman Museum, which returned bronzes that were taken away by British soldiers from Benin in the late years of the 19th century, and Glasgow Museum, which has decided to return several stolen objects to India.
On asking about the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to actor Stephen Fry, he said that he truly believes that now there is a chance to make a deal that benefits both Greece and Britain mutually.
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