A fashion show organized the day before yesterday in front of the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum, as part of London Fashion Week, sparked the anger of the Greek authorities, who have been demanding for decades the return of these famous artifacts.
Fashion designer, Erdem Moralioglu, chose the majestic setting of the showroom of these antiquities in the British Museum, to display his fashion collection for fall and winter 2024, inspired by the Greek opera singer Maria Callas, particularly inspired by her performance of the opera Medea in 1953.
Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, said: “British Museum officials not only insult and belittle the value of the archaeological landmark, but also the universal values it carries.”
Greece has been demanding, for decades, the return of the 75-meter-long marbles, which constitute one of the most prominent exhibits of the British Museum.
London confirms that the British diplomat Lord Elgin “obtained it legally” in 1802, and resold it to the British Museum, while Greece says it was “plundered” while the country was under Ottoman rule.
At the beginning of the 19th century, workers extracted entire marbles from the temple, on the orders of the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin, who sold the marble pieces to the British government and transferred them in 1817 to the British Museum.
A recent opinion poll conducted by the YouGov Institute showed that 53% of Britons support returning the marbles to Greece.
