Why it’s time to return the Parthenon sculptures to Greece

By Baroness Debbonaire and Lord Frost

An abridged version of this article was first published in The Times (10 June)

Civilisations are famously hard to define or draw clear lines around. They shift, evolve, and blur at the edges.

But when we look to the roots of European civilisation, and search for what binds the peoples of this continent, part of its grounding is certainly in ancient Greece, where the foundations of democracy, civic life, and philosophy were first laid.

And no monument is more recognisably associated with that shared European inheritance than the Parthenon – the temple that rises in perfect geometric harmony from the rugged natural rock of the Athenian Acropolis.

Our own Parliament’s work here in Westminster is deeply inspired by the traditions of freedom and self-government first forged in Athens.

Inside that Parliament, we are not normally political allies. One of us sits on the Labour benches, the other on the Opposition side. One of us campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union; the other negotiated our departure.

But we agree on this: whether we are part of the EU or not, Britain is fully part of European civilisation and culture. We have the responsibility to show what kind of nation we want to be. We can choose to act. And we can choose to lead.

That’s why both of us believe it is time to return the Parthenon sculptures to Athens.

Four years ago, talks between the Greek Government and George Osborne, the newly appointed chairman of the British Museum, began but the initiative got caught up in pre-election campaigning and stalled after a diplomatic spat when Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister. We now have an opportunity to put things back on track and overcome for good this stumbling block.

The arguments over the sculptures – brought to Britain by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century and now housed in the British Museum – are well rehearsed. They are framed in the language of legality, of ownership and blame, and – all too often – of anxiety about whether conceding any of these arguments may threaten the integrity of the collections of our world-leading museums.

The British Museum is embarking on a £1 billion reimagination and renovation programme which centers on the Western Range galleries where the sculptures are currently housed. This gives us a once in a lifetime opportunity to apply ambition and fresh thinking to this age-old debate. It is a moment that demands confidence, imagination and leadership. Instead of only debating history, we can now be making it.

The sculptures which adorned the Parthenon were designed as one, “a poem in stone that was carved as a unity”, as the late Christopher Hitchens put it. Now they are separated. The right place for them to be is back together, where they were intended to be – in Athens. The beautiful Acropolis Museum is a living repudiation of the claim that Greece is not a secure home for this collection. It offers a setting where they can once again be observed in dialogue with the Parthenon itself, viewed and celebrated as they were intended to be.

Some have argued that returning these sculptures is a ‘slippery slope’ – that any such repatriation opens the door to unending debate and demands for scores of museums and galleries to return historic treasures taken during colonial times. We reject that risk. This is a unique case. Athens was never part of a British colony. Britain supported and fought for Greek freedom whenever it had the chance. Debates about Greek cultural assets are entirely different to the wider argument about restitution.

Some say Lord Elgin saved the marbles from Ottoman bombs. Others argue he plundered them. But what is clear either way is that Britain has been a good
custodian of this European icon. Now it is time to move on. Returning the Marbles to Greece is an opportunity to create new, long-term cultural collaboration between our countries.

This is the moment for the British Museum to seize that opportunity as part of its longer-term ambition to reimagine itself for the 21 st century. It appears talks have been reignited and are heading in the right direction but details over the exchange mechanism are still not agreed. The Parthenon Project offers a roadmap for a “win win” deal, within the framework of the British Museum Act: an ambitious, world-leading cultural partnership which agrees to disagree on the past and looks to the future and which paves the way for a broader and deeper relationship securing funding for research, co-curation, scholarship and education, and which brings great cultural artifacts from Greece to be seen in London, by a different audience, for the first time.

In a time of growing instability and uncertainty about what the future holds, strengthening our bilateral ties with democratic allies is good diplomacy. The ties between Greece and Britain run deep, both historical – as heirs to a shared cultural and philosophical legacy – and in the present day, across education, science and defence.

The ancient Greeks taught us that power comes not only from force, but from craftmanship. Hephaestus, the god of fire and the forge, shaped the tools and
armour of the gods – quietly essential to every heroic act. That spirit of creation, of building, of confidence in strength, is the model we need today.

A cultural partnership on these terms need not be a matter of party politics. Offering it would not diminish Britain. Rather, it would enhance our standing, reflecting a nation that is secure in its identity and unafraid to move forward with confidence. That is the nation we are, and that is the face we should show to the world.