Greek PM Rejects British Museum Comparison of Parthenon Marbles and Bayeux Tapestry

In August, British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan told the Financial Times that the Bayeux Tapestry loan from France was “a very compelling example of international partnership,” and a successful, “reciprocal exchange.” That deal, which took years to form, might even pave the way for a Parthenon Marbles loan, he suggested.

But in a provocative opinion piece in today’s The Guardian, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis responded, seizing on Cullinan’s notion of comparing the Bayeux tapestry case to the Parthenon Marbles in the first place, to appeal to British readers who are now experiencing first-hand what it’s like to have their own cherished artifact return to where it was made, in one piece.

“There are striking similarities between the two pieces. Both were conceived as single works, intended to be seen and understood as a whole. In the case of the Parthenon sculptures, that relationship is also architectural: they were created as inseparable elements of the monument itself,” Mitsotakis writes. Yet, “nobody would seriously contemplate cutting what survives of the tapestry in two and displaying half in London and half in Bayeux, and claiming this was an adequate way to understand it. Yet that is exactly what happened to the Parthenon sculptures.”

The Bayeux Tapestry loan generated considerable controversy before arriving in London, as opponents of the exhibition warned that the fragile textile should not undertake such a journey. In his op-ed, Mitsotakis rejected the notion of loaning portions of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, which claims to already own them, in a similar arrangement to the Bayeux Tapestry exchange. He also pointed to what he perceived as an institutional double standard in the treatment of the tapestry and the sculptures, given the care and attention afforded the 1,000-year-old tapestry—a level of care, he argued, that was not shown for the Parthenon Marbles.

He admitted to having been “surprised at the recent suggestion from the [British] Museum that the Bayeux Tapestry loan might provide a template for an agreement over the Parthenon sculptures.” Indeed, he added, any temporary exchange would reaffirm Britain’s ownership of the Greek antiquities, which the latter has contested for decades. “Greece cannot accept any arrangement that would require it to recognize the British Museum’s ownership of the sculptures, or a scheme that would mean we ‘borrow’ parts of our own monument,” he writes.

Polls show that the British public is leaning toward the Greek claim, but UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently backpedaled on his own previous calls for the marbles to return to Greece, and said the decision was now up to the British Museum.

The Parthenon Marbles, made between 447 and 432 B.C.E., depict a series of gods and processions of people in marble relief panels, figures, and friezes, and are seen as “a powerful celebration of Athenian democracy,” per Mitsotakis. They are also called the Elgin Marbles, after the Scottish nobleman Lord Elgin, who removed them from the Acropolis in Athens in 1801 and sold them to the British government, which has housed them in the British Museum for nearly two centuries. British officials continue to reference the British Museum Act 1963, which prohibits deaccessioning items from its collection, as justification for holding onto the ancient artifacts.

Mitsotakis responded to that latter defense as well, stating the Parthenon was an exception, and its “reunification is not an argument for emptying the world’s museums.” He added that the marble’s permanent return was still within reach, given the political desire to do so. He urged British lawmakers to show “political will and courage,” and work in partnership toward the marbles’ “permanent reunification.”

“Together we could create a new model of cultural cooperation between two democratic nations and allies with deeply shared values and ideals,” he said. “That is the prize.”