Greece denies German museum's bid for Parthenon Sculptures amid British Museum ownership fight

The Central Archaeological Council of Greece recently advised against the temporary loan of 12 Parthenon Sculptures to the Liebieghaus Sculpture Collection in Frankfurt, Germany. The council voted against the request on September 1, citing concerns that the sculptures would be displayed alongside two that were loaned from the British Museum. The exhibition, titled "Athena, the Stage is Yours: The Parthenon Puzzle," is scheduled to open in November and focuses on the pediment sculptures of the Parthenon.

The Parthenon Sculptures have been a source of dispute between Greece and the British Museum for decades. In 1801, Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and his team removed the sculptures from Greece and transported them to England. Since then, the repatriation and legal ownership of the sculptures have been a contentious issue.

Greek law treats the Parthenon Sculptures as a single entity, not individual pieces, and therefore, allowing them to be loaned out as separate artifacts would contradict the government's stance. The Acropolis Museum and the British Museum are both participating in the Liebieghaus exhibition, though the specific sculptures on display have not been disclosed.

In an interview with Le Monde, British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan revealed that the difficulty in permanently returning the sculptures to Greece stems from the British Museum Act of 1963, which prevents national museums from disposing of their collections. The current political climate, Cullinan explained, makes revising this law unlikely in the near future, potentially requiring a decade or more.