Greece prepares for historic talks with United Kingdom over Parthenon Sculptures

Greece and the United Kingdom are to set dates through diplomatic channels for their historic deliberations over the Parthenon Sculptures confirmed Greek Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni in an interview with Athens-Macedonian News Agency, on Sunday.

The Minister explained that Greece “is totally prepared” for a positive outcome while she referred to the reasons that the Greek claim is touching the world.

“The international community is entitled to see the masterpiece in its whole, reunited, here at the Acropolis Museum and not divided between Athens and London”.

Last September, a UNESCO advisory board called on the U.K. to “reconsider its stand and proceed to a bona fide dialogue with Greece.”

British Parliament has said that because the museum operates independently of the British government and can make decisions relating to the works in its collections, it should decide the fate of the Parthenon Marbles.

In a statement following the suggestion from UNESCO, Greece’s culture minister, Lina Mendoni, said the issue “is of an intergovernmental nature—in contrast to claims from the British side that it is a matter for the British Museum—and mainly that Greece has a valid and legal claim to demand the return of the sculptures to their place of birth.”

The UK’s minister for arts, Stephen Parkinson, proposed the meeting to Greece on April 29. UNESCO announced the landmark agreement on May 17 ahead of International Museum Day.