Parthenon Marbles held in “insulting and dangerous”

The British Museum has said in a statement that the Greek gallery, where the Parthenon Marbles are on display, was shut to the public for conservation work delayed due to the Pandemic, adding that a strategic masterplan would transform the museum in the future.

Sources however state that heavy rainfall in London on 25 July resulted in flooding, causing the Greek galleries at the British Museum to not open to the public after lockdown. A museum spokesperson told the Art Newspaper that there was some “water ingress” in one of the galleries.

Greece’s Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni on Sunday released a statement concerning the conditions in which the Parthenon Sculptures are exhibited at the British Museum, which she said were “insulting and dangerous”.

She said that “the basic decades-long argument the British used to keep the Parthenon Sculptures in London was that these were exhibited under better conditions at the British Museum than what Greece offered”.

When Greece built the Acropolis Museum 12 years ago, it was immediately rendered to be among the best in the world and is awaiting the return of the Marbles looted by Lord Elgin and damaged in the process. “The British argument has been refuted long ago,” she said.

Neoskosmos.com