ATHENS, Greece — Museums in Austria and Greece are discussing the potential return to Athens of two historical Greek sculptures, a transfer which may have a knock-on impact for the world’s thorniest cultural heritage dispute: the destiny of the British Museum’s Parthenon Sculptures.
The talks introduced by Austria’s overseas minister on Tuesday concern two small items of the two,500-year-old marble works from the Acropolis. The sculptures are actually held in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
If a deal for his or her return is struck, it could be Greece’s third in a couple of months with the handful of European museums that personal little bits of the Parthenon Sculptures.
That may enhance strain on the British Museum to return its personal, a lot bigger assortment, among the many international debate on cultural restitution.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg mentioned the problem along with his visiting Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, in Vienna, the overseas ministry mentioned.
Schallenberg mentioned that “technical talks are currently under way” between the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens “about the possibility of a loan,” in keeping with Austrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Antonia Praun.
Sounding optimistic, Dendias voiced “deep satisfaction” on the improvement, however didn’t present any particulars on the phrases being mentioned. The two museums didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
“This will add to a series of highly symbolic gestures that may create a positive momentum” for the return of the sculptures from the British Museum, Dendias mentioned after assembly with Schallenberg.
In January, the Vatican Museums – in a “donation” from Pope Francis – returned their three small elements of the sculptures, shortly after a museum in Palermo, Sicily, despatched again its one piece.
“So, (Vienna’s) will be the third one,” Dendias mentioned. “And this, for us, is of huge importance.”
In February, the chair of the British Museum mentioned the U.Ok. and Greece have been engaged on a deal that might see his establishment’s Parthenon Marbles displayed in each London and Athens. Nothing has been introduced since.
The two reduction sculptures in Vienna measure 26 by 29 centimeters (10 by 11 inches) and 36 by 35 centimeters. The one depicts two bearded males, and the opposite two younger riders and the pinnacle of a horse. They have been a part of the 160-meter-long (520-foot) frieze that ran across the outer partitions of the Parthenon, devoted to Athena, goddess of knowledge.
Carved between 447-432 BC, the frieze and different sculptures remained largely intact till the temple – utilized by the Turkish garrison as a gunpowder retailer – was blown up throughout a siege in 1687. About half the surviving works have been eliminated by British diplomat Lord Elgin within the early nineteenth century, whereas Athens was nonetheless below Ottoman Turkish rule. Since 1816 they’ve been a key a part of the British Museum’s collections.
Greece claims they have been illegally acquired throughout a interval of overseas occupation. British officers have rebuffed repeated calls for for his or her return to Athens.
Most of the opposite works are within the Acropolis Museum, with scattered fragments in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich and Wuerzburg in Germany, and Vienna.
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