Greece’s Culture Minister, Lina Mendoni, has rejected a recent claim by the British Museum that many of the Parthenon Marbles removed by Lord Elgin’s agents in the early 19th century were found “in the rubble” around the monument.
The assertion was made by the London museum’s deputy director, Dr Jonathan Williams, at a UNESCO meeting last week.
“Much of the frieze was in fact removed from the rubble around the Parthenon… These objects were not all hacked from the building as has been suggested,” Dr Williams was quoted as saying during the meeting.
In a statement to The Guardian on Sunday, the Greek Culture Minister rebuffed this claim, while accusing Lord Elgin, then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, of committing serial theft.
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“Over the years, Greek authorities and the international scientific community have demonstrated with unshakeable arguments the true events surrounding the removal of the Parthenon sculptures,” Mendoni said in her statement.
“Lord Elgin used illicit and inequitable means to seize and export the Parthenon sculptures, without real legal permission to do so, in a blatant act of serial theft.”
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Campaigners, citing witnesses at the time, have long contended that the sculptures were violently detached from the Parthenon with the aid of marble saws and other machinery in the full knowledge of Elgin.
This latest spat comes just days after news emerged the UK was willing to hold talks with Greece over the possible return of the treasures to Athens.
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Source: The Guardian.
