Greece is prepared to send ancient artifacts to the British Museum periodically in return for the Parthenon Marbles, the Culture Minister told the Guardian.
Lina Mendoni promised that the London institution’s revered Greek galleries would never go empty.
“Our position is clear,” she said. “Should the sculptures be reunited in Athens, Greece is prepared to organize rotating exhibitions of important antiquities that would fill the void.”
Asked if particular works had been requested by London, the minister – a classical archaeologist by training – insisted continuing discussions had not extended to “specific artifacts”.
Antiquities sent to the UK “would fill the void” of Parthenon Marbles
The Guardian notes that for the first time, she gave a glimpse of how far Athens was willing to go to compensate the British Museum for relinquishing the sculpture saying any antiquities sent to the UK would also be crowd-pullers.
“[They] would fill the void, maintain, and constantly renew, international visitor interest in the Greek galleries of the British Museum,” Mendoni told the British newspaper, though she cautioned that “any agreement and all its particulars, would have to be by the Greek law on cultural heritage.”
Mendoni, who has repeatedly said Greece cannot discuss borrowing treasures that were plundered in the first place, added: “The Parthenon, a World Heritage monument, with its universal importance … demands its integrity in the place [where the sculptures were carved] and for the reasons that created it.”
She denied that the idea of establishing a branch of the British Museum at the Acropolis Museum, purpose-built to display the statues, was back on the cards. “There’s been no such discussion,” she said.
British Museum chairman George Osborne last month pledged to continue working on an exchange deal to allow the Elgin Marbles to be displayed in Greece, despite a diplomatic fallout sparked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The former chancellor has more than once this year hinted that a compromise settlement could be in the offing.
The British Museum insisted the diplomatic feud that erupted between Sunak and Mitsotakis in recent days wouldn’t stop long-running talks over the future of the Parthenon Marbles.
Osborne said talks can continue “whether or not [British Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak meets the Greek prime minister or not,” said in early December.
In the podcast, he said the British Museum has been exploring a deal “ whereby they spend part of their time in Athens and part of their time in London – and we have Greek treasures coming our way in return. And that is, I think, something worth exploring.”
Related: US Reps Call on the UK to Return Parthenon Marbles to Greece