The British Museum sent a Parthenon sculpture to Russia in 2014 and is now preparing to ship two more marble fragments t...

The British Museum sent a Parthenon sculpture to Russia in 2014 and is now preparing to ship two more marble fragments to Germany for a Frankfurt exhibition. Yet the permanent return of those same sculptures to Athens remains off the table, and one international law expert says that contradiction is impossible to justify. Catharine Titi, Research Professor of International Law at France's National Centre for Scientific Research, told TO VIMA that the loans destroy the museum's main argument. "I don't think anyone can seriously argue that the Sculptures cannot be returned to Greece because they cannot be moved from London," she said. In her view, by lending pieces to Saint Petersburg and Frankfurt, the museum is effectively signaling that Athens has no greater claim to host them than those cities. Titi draws a sharp legal line between a loan and a return. A loan, she argues, is equivalent to renting out property, with ownership staying exactly where it is. She warned that any long-term loan arrangement would actually damage Greece's position, since Greece is asking for permanent return, not a rental agreement with conditions attached. She also pushed back against the idea that the British Museum Act 1963 makes a return impossible. The law bars the museum from permanently parting with collection objects, but Titi said the fix is straightforward: "All it takes is an act of parliament transferring the Parthenon Sculptures from the British Museum to Greece. It's incredibly simple." On who should be negotiating, Titi was direct. She argued the conversation needs to move away from Greece dealing with the museum and toward direct talks between the Greek and British governments. "The museum should not be Greece's interlocutor," she said. She also noted that advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice would not require the United Kingdom's consent, though she described direct government-to-government negotiation as the most promising immediate route. These are Titi's arguments as an independent legal scholar. No deal is on the table, no negotiations are confirmed, and no timeline for a return exists. #ParthenonSculptures #GreeceCulture #British...