“Mona Lisa” cut in half: the Greek prime minister demanded the return of the Parthenon marble

The Greek Prime Minister laments the lack of progress on the return of the British Parthenon marble. Greek government chief Kyriakos Mitsotakis will raise the issue of “reuniting” the sculptures at a meeting with Rishi Sunak this week.

Negotiations over the possible return of the Parthenon marbles from the British Museum to Greece are not moving fast enough, the Hellas prime minister said ahead of his meeting with Rishi Sunak this week.

According to The Guardian, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis compared the British Museum’s ownership of the sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, to the Mona Lisa being cut in half, saying it was not a matter of ownership but of “reunification”.

“We haven’t made as much progress in the negotiations as I would have liked. I am a patient person and we have waited for hundreds of years and I will persist in these discussions,” the Greek Prime Minister said in an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program.

“In my opinion, this is not a question of ownership, this is an argument for reunification – where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument? – Mitsotakis noted. “It’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half and have half of it in the Louvre and half in the British Museum, do you think your audience would appreciate the beauty of the painting in that way?” Well, that’s exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures.”

Athens has long campaigned for the return of marble decorations removed from the ruins of the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece, in the early 19th century.

Greece built the Acropolis Museum in 2009 to house the sculptures that remained in the country, along with other artifacts, and it is where Mitsotakis wants the sculptures returned.

“We believe that the sculptures belong to Greece and that they were essentially stolen,” Mitsotakis said. – I think the answer is very clear. They really look better in the Acropolis Museum, a modern museum that was built for this purpose.”

Prime Minister Mitsotakis said he would raise the issue with Sunak on Tuesday, a day after meeting Labor leader Keir Starmer.

The Financial Times reported that Keir Starmer, who represents the Holborn and St Pancras constituency where the British Museum is located, would not block a “mutually acceptable” loan deal for the sculptures.

In March, Sunak ruled out making any changes to the law, which prevents the British Museum from returning marbles to Greece on a permanent basis, but the legislation does not prohibit lending.

George Osborne, the former chancellor who is chairman of the museum’s board of trustees, this month said he hoped for a deal that would allow the sculptures “to be seen in Athens.”

A British Museum spokesman said: “Discussions with Greece about the Parthenon partnership are ongoing and constructive. We believe this type of long-term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest artifacts with audiences around the world while maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we have at the museum.”