Moves to return Elgin Marbles

A NEW campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece was launched yesterday but was met with indifference by the British Government.

Organisers of the Marbles Reunited campaign want to see the 2,500-year-old treasures returned in time for this year's Olympic Games in Athens.

However, the British Museum, home to the disputed marbles for the past 200 years, said it has no intention of handing them over.

And the government said it did not support the latest attempt to have them returned.

Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1803 and 1812, took the marbles from the Parthenon and started a row which has rumbled on ever since. The British Government has repeatedly resisted Greek requests to return them.

Marbles Reunited, an umbrella organisation which includes British and Greek campaigners, has put together a set of proposals which it hopes will provide a breakthrough. It wants the British Museum to hand over the marbles "on loan" in time for the Olympics in August.

An ambitious new museum is under construction at the foot of the Acropolis to house the treasures. Under the plans, the British Museum will retain ownership of the marbles. It will also be responsible for their conservation the Greeks have been accused of failing to protect their half of the stones from pollution.