The Greek prime minister, deploying the strongest language yet for the return to Greece of the Parthenon marbles, on Thursday said that Britain had run out of "feeble excuses" to retain the treasures.
At a ceremony to mark the return to Athens of two art works Greece has long claimed from the Getty Museum -- and the imminent completion of a US$184.5 million Acropolis museum -- Costas Karamanlis said it was only a matter of time before the sculptures' repatriation.
"The universal demand for uniting the marbles of the Parthenon is gaining in strength and reach," he said as the 4th century BC golden wreath and marble statue were unveiled at Athens' National Archaeological Museum.
"This and the completion of a new, super-modern museum ... will foil all the feeble excuses that are put forward for their non-return. It is our urgent priority to reclaim every ancient artefact that was illegally exported to museums and collectors abroad," Karamanlis said.
The 5th century BC marbles were removed from the Acropolis by Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, in 1801. They were bought by the British government from Lord Elgin for ?35,000 (US$68,700), after a parliamentary vote in 1816 in favor of acquiring them for the nation, and vested "in perpetuity" in the trustees of the British Museum.
Over the past year the Greeks have been emboldened by the return to Athens of a host of treasures, including artefacts from the Acropolis that ended up in Germany and Sweden. The Greeks have also taken heart from polls that have shown the majority of Britons supporting the marbles' return.
However, Hannah Boulton, a spokeswoman for the British Museum, said yesterday that while the museum recognized the 1970 UNESCO convention deploring illicit trade in antiquities, the Parthenon sculptures could not be seen in the same light.
"They were acquired lawfully after detailed parliamentary scrutiny at the time, and have been on public display for free for 200 years," she said.
Meanwhile Pope Benedict has decided to turn down a request from Greece's religious leader to hand back pieces of the Parthenon housed in the Vatican museums, the Italian news agency Ansa reported yesterday. Quoting Vatican sources, the agency said the Holy See's rejection would soon be communicated officially.
The Orthodox archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Christodoulos, asked for the sculpture fragments to be returned at a meeting with the pope last December. The Vatican has in the past refused a similar petition from the Greek government.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including