After 200 years of purchasing them, campaigners are now saying the return of the ‘Elgin Marbles’ kept in London to their original home in Athens, could be a diplomatic coup for the UK as it negotiates a Brexit.
According to UK’s Independent newspaper, a cross-party group of MP’s have launched a fresh initiative to return the Marbles to Greece- on the 200th anniversary of the British Government’s decision to purchase them.
This move is thought to help the UK secure a better Brexit deal during their negotiation process with the EU.
About half the remaining sculptures were taken from the Parthenon in Athens by Thomas Bruce (seventh Earl of Elgin), and later bought by the British Government.
The other half remain in their original place at the Acropolis in Athens, where they were taken from.
The Parthenon Sculptures (Return to Greece) Bill will be represented on the anniversary by a Liberal Democrat Mark Williams and 10 other MP’s.
“These magnificent artefacts were improperly dragged and sawn off the remains of the Parthenon. The Bill proposes that the Parliament should annul what it did 200 years ago,” said Williams.
“It’s time we engaged in a gracious act. To put right a 200-year wrong,” he added.
This of course is music to the ears of Greece and international supporters of the reunification of the Parthenon temple’s sculptures.
