George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum, has expressed optimism about reaching an agreement with Greece to share the Parthenon Sculptures between Athens and London, despite a diplomatic dispute that has lasted for nearly two centuries.
Speaking to reporters in Athens on Tuesday, Osborne said both sides needed to accept compromise if they wanted to reach an agreement.
“I’m still optimistic that we can reach an agreement,” Osborne said. “If everyone enters into it with the spirit of we’re not going to get everything we want, as is always the case with a successful agreement, then there’s a deal to be done.”
Greece has sought the sculptures’ return since gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832, arguing that Lord Elgin had no legal grounds to remove them. British officials, meanwhile, have cited the British Museum Act 1963, which prohibits the institution from permanently disposing of objects in its collection, to justify retaining the sculptures.
Tensions have intensified in recent years, particularly following the opening of the Acropolis Museum in Athens and reports of leaks and other preservation concerns in the British Museum’s galleries.
Osborne said he hoped the two sides could reach an arrangement that would allow visitors in Athens to see the sculptures while ensuring they remained part of a sharing agreement.
“I very much hope we can come to some arrangement whereby the Parthenon sculptures that are in London can be seen in Athens but they have to be shared,” he said.
Osborne acknowledged that not everyone in Greece supports this approach but said the British Museum would need to work within that framework to make progress.
His comments follow an opinion article published by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in The Guardian in September. Mitsotakis challenged British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan’s comparison between the Parthenon Sculptures dispute and France’s planned loan of the Bayeux Tapestry.
Cullinan had described the French loan as “a very compelling example of international partnership” and suggested that a similar model of reciprocal exchange could apply to the Parthenon Sculptures.
Mitsotakis rejected the comparison, arguing that dividing a cultural artefact between two countries would undermine its integrity.
“Nobody would seriously contemplate cutting what survives of the tapestry in two and displaying half in London and half in Bayeux, and claiming this was an adequate way to understand it,” he wrote. “Yet that is exactly what happened to the Parthenon sculptures.”
Previous negotiations failed to produce a deal
Osborne, a former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, has played a central role in discussions between the British Museum and Greece.
In 2023, the London institution confirmed that it had held talks with the Acropolis Museum and was close to finalising an agreement under which the sculptures would return to Greece over time as part of a cultural exchange. However, the proposed deal never materialised.
Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni subsequently said Greece would not accept an agreement that affirmed the United Kingdom’s ownership claim. She instead proposed an exchange that would allow important Greek antiquities, including objects of comparable prestige, to go on display in London.
Parthenon Sculptures dispute may feature in EU-UK talks
World leaders are due to meet at the EU-UK summit in Brussels next month, with the dispute potentially featuring in discussions between the two sides.
Speaking at a conference at the University of Athens on 6 October, Mitsotakis said the Parthenon Sculptures issue extended beyond Greece’s bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom.
“The Parthenon sculptures will be part of this debate. This is not just an issue for Greece, it’s an issue for Europe,” he said.
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