Legal fight over marbles ruled out

11 hours ago

Greece's culture minister said he is not planning to go to court to get back the Elgin Marbles from Britain.

Antonis Samaras says the new Acropolis Museum will boost Greece's bid for the Parthenon sculptures, which British diplomat Lord Elgin took from the site 200 years ago.

Mr Samaras says he will "make the greatest effort possible" to repatriate the 2,500-year-old sculptures but rules out any kind of lawsuit.

He said on Monday that "at this moment I have nothing of the sort in mind".

Originally part of the ancient Parthenon temple, the marbles are in the British Museum, which says it legally owns them and will not give them back.

Greece claims that the sculptures were looted from a work of art so important that its fragments should be shown all together in the new museum, which opened this month.

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