President Prokopis Pavlopoulos today demanded the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum and blasted Lord Elgin’s hacking off of the magnificent sculptures as an act of cultural vandalism.
Addressing an international seminar in Athens entitled “Re-unification of the Parthenon Sculptures”, Pavlopoulos told the conference, which was organised by the Greek Presidency, that the ultra-modern Acropolis Museum in Athens robs the British Museum of the key argument over several decades that Greece lacks a suitable place to house the sublime sculptures.
«It is universally acknowledged that these sculptures belong rightfully and culturally to the Parthenon and its monuments,» the Greek President said.
«This is because without these Sculptures the Parthenon is deeply wounded by an act of vandalism which was concealed for over two centuries under the guise of a supposed ‘love of antiquity’.”
