British Museum director Hartwig Fischer ruled out the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece after the Greek government demanded open negotiations on the issue.
In an interview with Greece’s daily newspaper, Ta Nea, Mr Fischer said that the Trustees of the British Museum felt obligated “to preserve the collection in its entirety, so that things that are part of its collection remain part of its collection.”
He understood the Greek people’s “special and passionate relationship with this part of their cultural heritage” and the reasoning behind Greece’s formal requests and threats of legal action for the return of the marbles. The marbles were sold to the British government by Lord Elgin and have been a prized possession of the museum since 1816.
Greeks state that Lord Elgin had the permission of officials of the Ottoman Empire to take the sculptures, and that as a foreign force, the Ottomans had no right to let the marbles go.
British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to return the marbles to Greece if he became prime minister, however Mr Fischer said that this is Mr Corbyn’s personal view and not the view of the Trustees.