The Greek prime minister has said that the continued presence of the Elgin marbles in the British Museum is like cutting the “Mona Lisa in half”.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said relocating the sculptures to Athens would allow them to be appreciated “in their original setting”, a day before he is due to raise the issue in meetings with Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
The Labour leader is reported to support a loan deal that would see the antiquities return to where they were carved 2,500 years ago.
A proposed deal is being discussed between the Greek government and George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, although Mr Mitsotakis said not as much progress has been made as he would have liked.
He did appear to suggest a way through the impasse, however, by hinting that the ownership of the marbles, a key source of controversy for decades, was not at stake.
Instead, he said was what important was where they should be viewed.
Asked where what are now officially known as the Parthenon marbles would look better, Mr Mitsotakis told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I think the answer is very clear. They do look better in the Acropolis Museum, a state-of-the-art museum that was built for that purpose.”
He went on: “This is not in my mind an ownership question, this is a reunification argument, where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument?
“I mean, it’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum, do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way?
“Well, this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures and that is why we keep lobbying for a deal that would essentially be a partnership between Greece and the British Museum but would allow us to return the sculptures to Greece and have people appreciate them in their original setting.”
He said he would “persist” in discussions to return them to Athens.
“We have not made as much progress as I would like in the negotiations, but again, I’m a patient man and we’ve waited for hundreds of years and I will persist in these discussions.”
Asked if it could be done within his time as prime minister, he said: “I would hope so,” but added that he was “just elected”.
