“Britain would not dismember the Bayeux Tapestry. Let us seize this moment and reunite the Parthenon Marbles in Greece,” is the title of an intervention article by Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the Guardian, one day after the report that the talks with the British Museum collapsed.
As Kyriakos Mitsotakis points out: “For the first time in almost 1,000 years, the Bayeux Tapestry is once again in Britain. Its arrival is a significant cultural event and reminds us that, in an age when screens are ubiquitous, historical objects continue to capture the public imagination.
The British Museum describes the Tapestry as one of the ‘wonders of the medieval world’. Yet the museum already houses many wondrous works, among them one that is instantly recognizable: the Parthenon Marbles, which were unlawfully removed and transported from Athens to Britain more than two centuries ago by Lord Elgin.
There are striking similarities between the two works. Both were conceived as unified works, to be seen and understood as a whole. In the case of the Parthenon Marbles, this relationship is also architectural: they were carved as integral elements of the monument itself. No one would seriously contemplate cutting the surviving part of the Tapestry in two and displaying one half in London and the other half in Bayeux, claiming that this is an appropriate way to understand it. Yet this is exactly what happened to the Parthenon Marbles. A unified masterpiece was dismembered, and its surviving parts are now separated, mainly in London and Athens.
The Marbles tell a story of unique historical significance. Not only of gods and heroes, but also of the everyday life of citizens in ancient Athens. They gave visual expression, rendered in marble, to the religious, civic and political identity of 5th-century BC Athens. The Parthenon frieze, in particular, remains one of the world’s most compelling representations of the collective life of the city from which democracy emerged. It is a striking celebration of Athenian democracy.
Unlike the Marbles, the Bayeux Tapestry survives as a unified work nearly 70 meters long. It too tells a story, beginning with the events that preceded the Norman conquest and reaching as far as the Battle of Hastings and the death of Harold. What is remarkable about the work lies not only in the individual scenes, but in the way one experiences them as a whole, as something unified.
The case for reunification does not constitute an argument for emptying the world’s museums. The Parthenon is a specific and exceptional case. The issue is not simply about possession or legal title. It is about restoring the physical, aesthetic and conceptual integrity of a dismembered monument of exceptional global value.
The surviving Marbles must be displayed to the public together, at the same time, with visual contact with the monument for which they were created. The Acropolis Museum was designed specifically to make this possible.
Greece cannot accept any arrangement that would oblige it to recognize the British Museum’s ownership of the Marbles, nor a plan that would mean we are “borrowing” parts of our own monument. And the British public is increasingly siding with Greece. A nationally representative poll published last year showed that the majority supports the return of the Marbles to Greece. Even more striking is the fact that 72% agreed that the Marbles are better understood as part of a unified whole with the Parthenon.
Greece has been in dialogue with Britain for decades to achieve this goal. In recent years, my government held detailed discussions with the leadership of the British Museum on how the reunification of the Marbles could be achieved. That is why I was surprised by the Museum’s recent suggestion that the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry could serve as a model for an agreement regarding the Parthenon Marbles. I do not believe it can.
France lent the Tapestry as a unified work and as a unified work it will be returned to France. In the case of the Parthenon, the opposite applies: integral parts of the monument were forcibly removed and scattered. Our aim is their permanent reunification. UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee has repeatedly called on the United Kingdom to enter into a good-faith dialogue with Greece on this issue.
Reunification could form the foundation of a broad and lasting cultural cooperation between our countries, opening up new possibilities for exhibitions, scientific research, conservation of works of art and exchanges between Greek and British museums. Together we could shape a new model of cultural cooperation between two democratic states, allies who share deeply rooted values and ideals. This is what we seek.
In 2023, before becoming Prime Minister, Andy Burnham had called for the Marbles to be returned “without conditions,” adding: “Let us use culture to change Britain’s image around the world.” I could not agree more.
At a time when democratic principles are being tested across the world, restoring the unity of a monument so closely linked to the birth of democracy itself would send a powerful message. Greece remains ready. What is needed now is the political will and the courage for the decisive step: the reunification of the Marbles and the transformation of a long-running disagreement into a unique act of cultural friendship.”