The President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos called for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures on Saturday during his opening address at an international conference held at the Acropolis Museum.
Pavlopoulos said that their return is mandatory because "without them the Parthenon, wounded by a sacrilegious act of vandalism and looting that is being covered for over two centuries and wounds the World Cultural Heritage can't symbolise or send to humanity the eternal and unique message that it deserves."
The Conference, entitled “The Parthenon Sculptures: 200 years since their expropriation by the British Museum” was organised by The Athenian’s Society .
The conference objective was to review the results of the latest research and recent developments concerning the Parthenon Sculptures, while also bringing together for the first time in two decades the representatives of the 14 national committees campaigning for the return of the sculptures to Greece.
The President went on to praise the work of Melina Merkouri for bringing the issue to the international forefront and of the International Committees supporting the repatriation of the Parthenon sculptures and stressed that the call for their return is a reasonable and ethical request in the name of World Cultural Heritage.
