Nicholas Cullinan, the new director of London’s embattled British Museum, spoke this week of the possibility of an official agreement with Greece on the Parthenon Marbles, providing yet another sign that the institution is far more amenable than it used to be in resolving the longstanding dispute over these sculptures.
“I would hope that some form of partnership is possible and I think definitely something we’ll want to take forward,” Cullinan told the BBC on Thursday, emphasizing that the museum was open to “collaboration.”
But Cullinan ruled out a full-scale return for these sculptures, which were removed from Greece during the early 19th century by a British nobleman and have remained in London ever since.
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Cullinan specifically told the BBC that the 1963 Act of Parliament forbids the museum from permanently giving back the Parthenon Marbles. That law, also known as the British Museum Act 1963, formally prevents the British Museum from getting rid of any artworks in its collection. “We’re not allowed to deaccession,” he said.
The museum’s collection has long been controversial, since it includes many objects that were looted centuries ago from peoples and nations in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere. In recent years, as repatriation has become a topic of more widespread concern, the British Museum has faced louder calls to return pieces like the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes.
Previously, officials in England have justified holding on to these objects by saying they are best cared for by an institution like the British Museum, but some historians have cast doubt on that logic. Others have recently questioned the British Museum’s ability to properly index its collection more broadly after it emerged last year that a senior curator had stolen 2,000 pieces from the institution’s holdings.
Greek officials have been adamant that they want the Parthenon Marbles back, and while the British Museum has long resisted those calls, certain English publications have reported that the institution has held dialogues with Greek politicians about a possible return. Those conversations have proven fraught, however, with former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even canceling one once news of the talk hit the press.
Cullinan told the BBC that the British Museum could try out a “lending library” model, whereby the institution could temporarily allow objects in its collection to travel. He said he wanted to “do something positive” for the institution.