Passions around the symbol

The return of the Olympic Games to Greece in 2004 gave its residents hope that the same fate awaited the famous “Elgin Marbles” - sculptures of the frieze of the Athenian Parthenon, which are kept in the British Museum. Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Papandreou arrived in London to testify in the House of Commons in a case involving illegal trade in antiquities. Commenting on this event, the director of the British Museum, Robert Anderson, once again recalled that Britain received these treasures in a completely legal way: at the beginning of the 19th century, when Lord Elgin was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (which included Greece), he exported the Parthenon frieze by agreement with the then rulers of the empire. According to Anderson, "The British Museum is one of the largest cultural institutions, visited by people from all over the world," and therefore the frieze should remain there. The Greeks have a different opinion.