What are the Elgin Marbles and why are they so controversial?
“Cutting the Mona Lisa in half”. “Removing the Eiffel Tower from Paris”. “Removing Stonehenge from Salisbury”.
These are just some of the ways in which the removal of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, from Athens to the British museum in the early 19th century has been described.
The sculptures have been at the centre of a contentious century-long debate between the countries, which this week reignited after Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister at short notice.
During a BBC interview on Sunday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated his country’s longstanding desire for the antiquities to be reunited with the other sculptures in Athens’ Acropolis museum, saying their division between the two countries was akin to “cutting the Mona Lisa in half”.
It seems that his remarks
