Elgin Marbles 'here to stay'

The British Museum has ruled out any chance of the Elgin Marbles being returned to Greece, it emerged today.

Robert Anderson, the museum's director, dismissed the argument for their return to Athens and says the Marbles are now "where they will remain, in the museum's own purpose-built gallery".

He says the museum's trustees have no legal right to dispose of any exhibits even if they wanted to.

The return of the 2,500-year-old marbles, removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin between 1803 and 1812, has long been demanded by Greece.

Writing in The Times, Mr Anderson says there has been speculation that the British Museum might agree to lend the sculptures for exhibition in Athens in the Olympic year of 2004. "It is normal courtesy that such requests are addressed first to the museum director, but so far no such request has been reached," he says.

Instead, Mr Anderson suggests Greece might make a more appropriate symbolic gesture for 2004 if it could properly display the many Parthenon sculptures that it currently has "lumbered in storerooms".

Mr Anderson says Greece has given up previous attempts to challenge the British Museum's legal ownership of the Marbles, which he describes as "unassailable". Instead, he says, Athens is seeking possession of them by trying to pressure the museum into agreeing to a loan, something which it has no power to grant.

Greece claims Lord Elgin illegally removed the stones after bribing Ottoman officials, while the museum insists he had proper documentation.

Comment: Keep the marbles