The British Museum, which houses the stolen Parthenon Marbles, says they’ll never be returned to Greece, but a lot of voices are being heard to overturn that, including now from Australia.
Jumping into the battle is David Hill, former chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and head of the Australians for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures Committee.
The group is a committee of Australian-based Hellenes and Philhellenes that was formed in 2002 to lobby and campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures to the Acropolis Museum, built to house them.
They were taken off the Parthenon 200 years ago by a Scottish diplomat thief, Lord Elgin, who said he had permission from the occupying Turks, who didn’t own them but nevertheless allowed them be taken, the argument the British Museum uses for keeping the stolen goods.
Hill spoke with radio host Michael McLaren about the effort that has seen Greece repeatedly use failed diplomacy and persuasion techniques as well as give up legal fights all the while insisting the return of the marbles is a priority.