Greece's Culture and Sports Minister Myrsini Zorba said c were 'born' in Greece and their "natural place" was in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, in response to an interview with British Museum Director Hartwig Fischer who told Ta Nea that they Marbles do not legitimately belong to Greece.
"Greece is the birthplace of the Parthenon Marbles, Athens is their city, and the Acropolis and its Museum their natural place.
Mr Fischer’s comments about a “ legitimate owner” exhibit a narrow and cynical managerial mindset," the minister said in the statement issued on Saturday evening, after the publication of the interview.
"It is regrettable to hear this by the director of the British Museum and a well-known art historian. His remarks downgrade cultural heritage from an invaluable universal value to a mere exchange sale. Such views are diametrically opposed to the prevailing perceptions in the international field of culture. They are remnants of colonialism and ignore the international debate and UNESCO declarations, all the more when they involve a mutilated monument, a timeless symbol of Greece, which deserves to be reunified and restored according to the basic principle of 'integrity', as required by the 1972 UNESCO Convention," Zorba added in her statement.