There is currently a campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. (Image: Getty)
There is currently a campaign to get Britain to give the Elgin Marbles back to Greece, prompting some to call for the country to return all its "stolen artefacts".
The Elgin Marbles, taken from the Acropolis in Athens in 1801 by Scottish nobleman Lord Elgin, were previously known as the Parthenon Sculptures.
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Elgin then sold the sculptures to the British government in 1816 for ￡35,000, and they were put in the British Museum, where they remain alongside other controversial artefacts.
About half of the sculptures are left in London, but there are also fragments in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna, and Würzburg.
In 2019, the British Museum was accused of being the world's largest receiver of stolen goods by Geoffrey Roberston, a member of the Queen's Counsel.
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He said: "The trustees of the British Museum have become the world’s largest receivers of stolen property, and the great majority of their loot is not even on public display.
"That these rebel itineraries are allowed is a tribute to the tolerance of this great institution, which would be even greater if it washed its hands of the blood and returned Elgin’s loot."
Greek government spokesman Pavols Marinakis said the "reunification" of the sculptures is an "ongoing request" with the British Museum. A formal request to return them was first made in 1983, and there have been several discussions since.
The British Museum's website features a page titled "contested objects from the collection" with numerous controversial artefacts, including the Elgin Marbles, famous Easter Islands heads, and art stolen by the Nazis.
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The Elgin Marbles are currently in the British Museum. (Image: Getty)
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The section on the sculptures reads: "The Parthenon Sculptures are an integral part of that story and a vital element in this interconnected world collection, particularly in the way in which they convey the influences between Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman cultures.
"We share this collection with the widest possible public, lending objects all over the world and making images and information on over four million objects from the collection available online.
"The approach of the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum are complementary: the Acropolis Museum provides an in-depth view of the ancient history of its city, the British Museum offers a sense of the wider cultural context and sustained interaction with the neighbouring civilisations of Egypt and the Near East which contributed to the unique achievements of ancient Greece."