Deputy Minister of Culture Kostas Tzavaras has set up a special advisory committee to coordinate strategy for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles stolen by a British diplomat, Lord Elgin, 200 years ago. The stolen goods are now in the British Museum which refuses to return them.
The committe consists of the President of the Melina Mercouri Foundation Christofors Argyropoulos, archaeologist Elena Korka, lawyer Irene Stamatoudi and representative of the Foreign Ministry Panos Kalogeropoulos.
“The moral rights of Greece to these antiquities are beyond any excuse trying to evade the basic international principle of the repatriation of cultural monuments to the country from which they came,” Tzavaras said, repeating his intention of pursuing the national goal first set by the famed actress Mercouri in 1982 in Mexico during the international conference of Ministers of Culture of the UNESCO.
“This committee consists of prominent figures, who have the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to claim the Marbles back,” the minister added. There are similar committees in a number of countries around the world, including England, but all their efforts have failed to even get attention from the British Museum or British officials who steadfastly maintain the marbles now belong to their country.
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