British Museum director says "No" to return of Parthenon Sculptures

Disputed: The Parthenon Sculptures, which reside

in the British Museum [Credit: TOC]

TANN

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MacGregor said that the efforts of the Greek government to claim the return of the Elgin marbles is not going to bear any fruitful results.In a very provocative way, the Director of the British Museum in London, Neil MacGregor reiterated today to British media that there is absolutely no intention from the British side to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.Speaking today, “he repeated the museum's long-held position that the acquisition of the famous sculptures by Lord Elgin at the start of the 19th century was legal and that there was 'maximum public benefit' in them remaining in London where they were seen in the context of world culture,” the Evening Standard, a British newspaper reports According to the newspaper, MacGregor said that the efforts of the Greek government to claim the return of the Elgin marbles is not going to bear any fruitful results.“Yet the museum is coming under the most sustained attack for decades from the Greek government whose call for the works to be repatriated is now being fought by a team including the lawyers Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Clooney,” it mentions.The newspaper further mentions that approximately one third of the marbles from the Parthenon marbles is in London, while about the same number remains in Greece."Quite a lot of them no longer exist. So there's no possibility of recovering an artistic entity and even less of putting them back in the ruined building from which they came," he said.