The newspaper “sees” moves by the British Museum that will calm one of the longest cultural disputes with new ways of cooperation.
It wasn’t long before a British newspaper took up the matter of reuniting the Parthenon Sculptures.
So today it was the turn of the Sunday Times, which hosted the issue on their front page under the title “The museum opens the door for the return of the Elgin Marbles through the ‘Parthenon Collusion'”.
In its exclusive report, the newspaper hosts Jonathan Williams, a high-ranking official of the British Museum, who for the first time calls “Greek partners and friends for a ‘parthenon partnership'” as, as he emphasizes, “he strongly believes that there is room for a a new dynamic and positive discussion, which will find new ways of cooperation”.
The paper’s editor, Sarah Baxter, adds after this statement the feature, “unscramble this diplomatic language as there is a new message: let’s make a deal.”
Nevertheless, the text returns to the great disagreement and friction between the two countries on the subject, that is, to the word “loan” invoked by Britain and the term “property” which Greece wants.
The opinion polls want Greece
After all, it is not easy to escape from it as the interviewee Jonathan Williams points out, repeating the word “lending”. “The sculptures are an indisputably integral part of the Museum.” “There are a lot of wonderful things that we would be thrilled to either lend or borrow. It’s what we do,” he says.
At the same time, he did not leave room for proposals that include faithful copies, as he scathingly asked “people visit the British Museum to see the original, don’t they?”
These statements, by a top British official like Mr Williams, come in addition to the view of George Osborne, the former head of the museum’s administration who pointed out completely unexpectedly a month ago that “there is a deal to be done”.
Of particular interest is the live poll published today on the newspaper’s online text page. 78% of visitors think they should return them Sculptures in Athens, compared to 22% who are against. The percentages are not negligible as by noon almost 7,000 people had participated.
Deutsche Welle
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