Austria says talks under way on returning Parthenon marbles to Greece

A Vienna museum is in talks aimed at lending two marble pieces of the Parthenon to Greece, Austria's foreign minister said on Tuesday, a development his Greek counterpart said he hoped would help in talks with Britain over its much larger hoard.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has a tiny collection of marbles - just two fragments from the Parthenon's northern frieze. But Greece hopes that with each agreement to return pieces to Athens there will be growing "positive momentum" in talks on returning pieces being kept elsewhere.

"I am very pleased that technical discussions are taking place between the Kunsthistorische Museum and the Acropolis Museum on mutual loans of the Parthenon frieze," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told a news conference with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. "I am very hopeful that the talks can move on very quickly...