Temples

Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia and Sasha were given a private, nighttime tour of the Acropolis and its museum on Wednesday night, as the former US president visits Greece for an event of the Obama Foundation Leaders program.

A moot court is aspiring to test legal arguments, and become a model for future legal actions, on the issue of the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures and the fact that Lord Elgin did not pay customs taxes for the import of the Parthenon Sculptures.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ruled out changing a law which prohibits the British Museum handing the Parthenon marbles permanently back to Greece.

Sunak said there are no plans to amend the legislation, which states the museum can only dispose of objects within its collection in limited circumstances. However, the museum could still arrange a loan of the sculptures.

In the last few months there have been encouraging signs that what Cavafy might have termed "mia kapoia lysis" to the vexed question of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens might be found.

Greece will continue to demand the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens and their reunification with the Parthenon, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said on Friday, responding to recent comments by her British counterpart that returning the sculptures would "open a can of worms."

Politics is, as they say, the art of the possible. Nevertheless, sometimes politicians turn their backs on the attainable, especially if it does not help them politically and gives points to their opponents.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has expressed his confidence that the Parthenon Sculptures, currently exhibited at the British Museum, will be returned to Athens.

The architectural designed for the new National Archaeological Museum (NAM) in Athens is an opportunity to take stock of the fact that many cultural and creative forces in Greece are still being held back.

Negotiations for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures are ongoing, government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said on Monday.

In an apparent reference to the return from the Vatican of fragments of the temple's decorations, Oikonomou said the "partial return of the Parthenon Sculptures" has already begun and underlined the "radical shift in public opinion in the UK."

What is all this business with the Parthenon Sculptures all of a sudden? Is it the barrage of foreign reports, each presenting its own version of developments and inside information? Is it the secret meetings between the Greek prime minister and the head of the British Museum, George Osborne? Is it the announcements by the government and those from the opposition?