Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis delivered a firm message to the British Museum on the Parthenon Sculptures on Saturday, saying Greece will not accept any agreement that recognizes foreign ownership of the sculptures and will not agree to “borrow” what is its own cultural heritage.
Speaking in Thessaloniki at a ceremony marking the return of historic religious artifacts between Greece and Bulgaria, Mitsotakis used the occasion to restate Greece’s position on the sculptures held by the British Museum in London.
“The Parthenon Sculptures are not lifeless relics of the past,” Mitsotakis said. “When you remove them from the environment that created them, you mutilate the history that gave birth to them.”
He described the Parthenon as a unique case and a universal monument whose surviving sculptural decoration remains divided between Athens and other collections, most notably the British Museum.
Greece rejects recognition of British ownership
Mitsotakis stressed that Greece’s campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures should not be interpreted as a general challenge to museums or their collections around the world.
“The Greek position is not dictated by some vague national claim, nor does it question the mission of museums around the world,” he said.
Instead, he argued that the Parthenon represented an exceptional case because the sculptures were created as integral parts of a single monument.
“The Parthenon constitutes a unique and distinct case,” Mitsotakis said. “It concerns the restoration of a universal monument that remains violently divided.”
The prime minister then addressed one of the most difficult issues in negotiations over the sculptures: ownership.
“My country will not accept arrangements that imply foreign ownership, nor will it supposedly borrow its own treasures,” he said, adding that the issue had reached “the time for truth, reason, justice and morality.”
His remarks reinforce a longstanding obstacle in talks between Athens and the British Museum. Discussions have explored forms of cultural partnership and long-term arrangements, but Greece has rejected formulas that would require it to acknowledge the British Museum as the legal owner of the sculptures before they could be sent to Athens as a loan.
The British Museum, meanwhile, maintains that Lord Elgin removed the sculptures with permission from the Ottoman authorities governing Athens at the time and that his actions were subsequently examined by the British Parliament before the museum acquired the collection. The ownership question therefore remains one of the central points separating the two sides.
Parthenon Marbles at center of long-running dispute
The sculptures were created in the fifth century BC as part of the Parthenon, the temple dedicated to Athena on the Acropolis.
A substantial portion of the surviving decoration was removed in the early nineteenth century by Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, while Greece was under Ottoman occupation and rule. The sculptures were later acquired by the British Museum, where they have been displayed for more than two centuries.
Today, roughly half of the surviving sculptures are in Athens and about half are at the British Museum, according to the museum. Greece has argued for decades that the surviving pieces should be physically reunited, allowing the artistic composition of the Parthenon to be understood as a whole.
The dispute has increasingly centered not simply on whether sculptures could return to Athens for an extended period, but on the legal language that would accompany such an arrangement. Mitsotakis’ latest remarks make clear that Athens continues to reject a loan framework if accepting it would amount to recognizing British ownership.
UNESCO has also remained involved in the issue. In May 2026, its Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property called for intensified efforts by Greece and the United Kingdom concerning the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.
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