The Elgin Marbles could be seen in both Greece and the UK as part of a new deal being negotiated, George Osborne has suggested.
The chairman of the British Museum has revealed he is “optimistic” that negotiations he is leading with the Greek government will result in a “win-win” arrangement for both sides.
Mr Osborne has confirmed that the Museum is working with Greece to devise a deal that could see the contested Marbles shared between London and Athens without imposing “impossible” demands on either side in the long-running dispute.
His comments come after Greek sources told the Telegraph that a “hybrid” arrangement would be necessary to avoid breaching UK law – which prevents the British Museum handing over artefacts – while also respecting Greece’s total rejection of a “loan deal”.
Mr Osborne said: “It’s a very hard problem to solve. But I think there is a way forward where these sculptures, the Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon Sculptures, could be seen both in London and in Athens, and that will be a win-win for Greece and for us.”
Speaking on the Today programme he added: “We’re talking to the Greek government about that, about a new arrangement and what I didn’t want to do is force the Greeks to accept things that they find impossible, and equally they can’t force on us things that we would find impossible.”
Mr Osborne has said his hands are tied with regard to simply handing over the 2,500-year-old Marbles, as the British Museum Act prevents artefacts held for the public being given away, commenting that changing this law is “beyond my authority”.
It is also something the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has consistently rejected, leading Greek negotiators to seek a new kind of deal which would respect this law, while also attempting to see the Marbles returned to Athens.
A loan has been offered in the past, but this would require Greece to accept the British Museum’s legal ownership of the Marbles, something its government totally rejects as its position is that the artefacts were stolen by Lord Elgin in the early 18th century and therefore are not legally owned by the Museum.
Sources close to the Greek government have previously told the Telegraph that the British Museum and Greece are seeking to “invent” a new kind of deal which could sidestep this stalemate.
Hybrid deal
It is hoped that ongoing talks will produce “a hybrid form that would not include certain demands”, and therefore not cross either party’s “red lines”, and offer something approaching a “permanent” solution to the row which has raged since Greece gained independence in 1832.
It has been suggested by sources that this “hybrid” deal could involve essentially ignoring issues of ownership, with neither party forced to accept the other’s claims to the Marbles, and the British Museum allowing them to leave its Bloomsbury base without the usual guarantees.
Instead, artefacts shipped from Greece to London as part of this potential arrangement could “act as a kind of legal collateral”, with the British Museum holding a rotating array of Ancient Greek treasures as a security against its handover of the Elgin pieces.
The Parthenon and its surrounding complex are the focus of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, where Greek officials hope to reunite the Elgin pieces with the artworks which were left behind.
In September 2022, The Telegraph revealed that a new “Parthenon Project” had been established by Greek plastics magnate John Lefas, which aimed to fly British politicians to Athens and persuade them of the Greek cause and the merits of shipping the artefacts to the Acropolis Museum.
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