British Prime Minister Rules Out Return Of Parthenon Marbles To Greece - UrduPoint

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled out the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece in an interview published Friday, insisting the artefacts were legally acquired by Britain.

"The British government has a firm and long-standing position on the sculptures: they were legally acquired by Lord Elgin, in accordance with the laws in force at the time," Johnson told Greek newspaper Ta Nea.

He insisted that the 2500-year-old sculptures, popularly known as the Elgin Marbles, "have been legally owned by the British Museum's Trustees since their acquisition.

The sculptures are the subject of a long-running dispute between the two countries.

They were stripped from Athens' Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis by Scottish nobleman Thomas Bruce, known as Lord Elgin, in the early 1800s and shipped to Britain.

Elgin sold the marbles to the British government, which in 1817 passed them on to the British Museum where they remain one of its most prized exhibits.

Johnson's assertion that the sculptures belong to Britain comes as Greece readies to commemorate the bicentennial of the country's 1821 revolution on March 25.