{"id":793978,"date":"2026-10-06T18:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793978\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:22:09","slug":"greek-prime-minister-vows-to-ramp-up-efforts-to-regain-parthenon-marbles-parthenon-marbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793978\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek prime minister vows to \u2018ramp up\u2019 efforts to regain Parthenon marbles | Parthenon marbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Greek prime minister has vowed to \u201cramp up\u201d his country\u2019s claims to get back the Parthenon marbles<\/a> from the British Museum, emphasising that his UK counterpart, Andy Burnham, was hugely supportive of restitution efforts before he moved into Downing Street.<\/p>\n

Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would raise the issue in the strongest of terms when he met Burnham, who was culture secretary in a previous Labour government.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately they have not progressed,\u201d he told a conference in Athens when asked about talks with London over a muted \u201chybrid\u201d deal to repatriate the fifth-century BC marbles in return for a treasure trove of other antiquities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will very clearly ramp up the intensity of our claims, not just with the British Museum<\/a>, but also with the British government. I would also like to remind the audience that the new prime minister of the UK, unequivocally, was supportive of the return of the Parthenon sculptures before he became prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyriakos Mitsotakis said there was room for a \u2018win-win\u2019 solution. Photograph: Stelios Misinas\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Mitsotakis also conceded, for the first time, that negotiations with the British Museum, under the aegis of its chair, George Osborne, had failed to make headway.<\/p>\n

Upping the ante, he suggested the fate of the artworks was also connected to Burnham\u2019s stated desire for the UK to have closer ties with the EU<\/a>. Sculpted to adorn a monumental frieze that embellished the Parthenon, the carvings have been split between Athens and London since their controversial removal at the behest of Lord Elgin, Britain\u2019s ambassador to the Ottoman empire, more than 200 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of us who were saddened to see the United Kingdom leave the European family, we took great interest in the comments made by the UK PM,\u201d said the Greek leader, citing the possibility of \u201ca stronger relationship between the UK and Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Parthenon sculptures will be part of this debate, this is not just an issue for Greece<\/a>. It\u2019s an issue for Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The combative remarks come amid thinly disguised disdain in Athens for Burnham\u2019s seeming about-turn on the sculptures. In private, Greek officials have voiced dismay that within days of assuming office, he should so publicly reverse his position, stating in one of his first interviews that the dispute was \u201can issue for the British Museum\u201d to resolve.<\/p>\n

Long seen as an advocate of repatriation, Burnham\u2019s support for the antiquities to be returned to Athens dates back 25 years with Greek officials seeing his elevation as the best hope yet of finally ending the row.<\/p>\n

In 2023, as mayor of Greater Manchester, he appeared to go further than ever before, posting on social media: \u201cSend them back, no strings. And let\u2019s use culture to change how Britain is seen around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis change in stance caused great disappointment,\u201d said one well-placed Greek heritage expert who has legally advised successive governments on the issue. \u201cThere was more than an element of perfidious Albion about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parthenon sculptures at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The British Museum has been home to about 160 metres of the frieze since 1816, when a bankrupt Elgin was forced to sell the marbles in what, even then, was viewed as a controversial acquisition by the British government.<\/p>\n

Mitsotakis, whose centre-right administration has sought to refocus the campaign on the idea of reunifying the masterpieces within view of the Acropolis, said on Tuesday that changing attitudes in Britain could not be dismissed.<\/p>\n

There was, he said, still room for a \u201cwin-win\u201d solution with the imminent closure and renovation of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens allowing gems that had never been seen outside Greece to be sent to the UK in exchange for the sculptures.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The marbles] reunification in Athens would also set a precedent for a unique cultural partnership between Greece and the UK, and in particular between Greece and the British Museum,\u201d he said. \u201cI will certainly make the case very forcibly to the British PM when I meet him. I think the time has come. British public opinion supports reunification of the sculptures and I do believe that now is the time to push in this direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Greek prime minister has vowed to \u201cramp up\u201d his country\u2019s claims to get back the Parthenon marbles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-793978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}