British Museum Denies Plan to Return Parthenon Pieces

The British Museum denied Friday that it was considering returning fragments of sculptures from the Parthenon to Greece, as suggested by the director of the Acropolis Museum in Athens a day earlier.

The British Museum said it was "open to discussions regarding a short-term loan of some of the objects but not a permanent return.

"The trustees of the British Museum will consider -- subject to the usual considerations of condition and fitness to travel -- any request for any part of the collection to be borrowed and then returned," it said.

On Thursday, Acropolis Museum director Demetrios Pantermalis said that at a UNESCO meeting in June he had proposed the return of small fragments from the famous Parthenon Marbles to Greece, and that talks would be held in Athens in the coming weeks. Read More...