George Osborne – former UK chancellor and now chair of trustees at the British Museum – is reported to have negotiated the repatriation of the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles to Athens.
The deal, struck with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is not yet finalised. But it is thought that the sculptures will leave London “sooner rather than later” and it is planned that the British Museum will receive some ancient artefacts in return.
Early in the 19th century, the marbles were removed from the Parthenon by employees of Lord Elgin, then the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire. There is evidence that he wanted them to decorate Broomhall House, his estate in Scotland.
