A Guardian columnist is drawing a direct comparison between the Bayeux Tapestry and the Parthenon Sculptures, and the ar...

A Guardian columnist is drawing a direct comparison between the Bayeux Tapestry and the Parthenon Sculptures, and the argument is putting fresh pressure on the British Museum. Simon Jenkins, writing in the Guardian, asks a pointed question: if returning the Bayeux Tapestry to France would be considered the only right thing to do, why does Britain still hold the Parthenon Sculptures? Jenkins argues both were created as unified works of art, meant to be seen and understood as a whole, not divided between institutions across different countries. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the same comparison in his own Guardian piece, reinforcing the case that the two objects share the same logic. British Museum director Nicholas Calinnan described the Tapestry loan deal as a "ray of hope" for a future agreement on the Sculptures. Jenkins takes aim at the British Museum's past leadership, writing that previous directors often behaved like nationalist gatekeepers, treating the institution as a permanent monument to the British Empire. He recalls the infamous clash in the 1980s between then-director Sir David Wilson and Greek Culture Minister Melina Mercouri. Most British people, he notes, now believe the Sculptures should be returned to Greece. The path to any agreement remains blocked by competing legal positions. Greece refuses any arrangement that would require it to formally acknowledge British Museum ownership of the Sculptures, while previous UK governments, including Boris Johnson's and Rishi Sunak's, declined to change the law that prevents the museum from deacquisitioning objects in its collection. Meanwhile, the British Museum is lending two minor Parthenon fragments to a Greek sculpture exhibition opening in November at Frankfurt's Liebieghaus museum. Athens reportedly refused to lend nine of its own fragments to the same show, apparently unwilling to have them displayed alongside the British-held pieces. Jenkins concludes with a direct proposal: Greece should drop its insistence on formal ownership, and London should send its 17 pediment sculptures to Athens on an indefinite loan. That way, he argues, all of Europe could benefit. #ParthenonSc...