Greece - The Culture Minister, Mr Evangelos Venizelos, said international pressure would mount in the years remaining before Athens hosts the 2004 Olympics for Britain to return the sculptures taken in the 19th century by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The marbles, a 160-metre frieze consisting of 17 figures that decorated the Parthenon in Athens, are in the British Museum. Britain has for decades said the artifacts belong to the museum and rejected demands they be returned.
"Their legal status is indifferent for us, let the marbles come even in the form of a long-term loan," said Mr Venizelos.
