ATHENS – Culture Minister Lina Mendoni on Wednesday expressed her optimism that “the moment when the Parthenon Sculptures will return to their native soil will come”.

Referring to the developments after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London she underlined: “It is the first time that a Greek premier took upon himself the initiative, in other words at the highest level, to seek the return of the Parthenon marbles.” What Mitsotakis expressed was “the national request of our country for the re-unification of the Parthenon Marbles,” she added.

Mendoni also said that currently the Parthenon is a “gaping” monument, which has been plundered, and that Mitstotakis expressed the fact that “ethically and morally, the specific sculptures at the British Museum, as a product of theft on the part of Lord Elgin, should be returned to Athens and reunited”, adding that this was Greece’s standing demand.