'We'll keep pushing': George Clooney continues campaign for Elgin Marbles to return to Greece
18 May 2025, 22:34 | Updated: 18 May 2025, 22:35
The American actor is campaigning for the ownership of the Elgin Marbles to return to Greece.
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The Oscar winner, alongside his wife Amal, continues to campaign for the ownership of the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Greece from the British Museum.
Clooney told the Greek newspaper Ta Nea: “They’re going to come back. I know they are.
"My wife and I both have worked to get the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece. We’ll keep pushing until it happens. There’s no question about it.”
This comes as Museum chairman George Osborne is engaged in ongoing talks with the Greek government.
The Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, were removed by Lord Elgin from occupied Athens in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
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They are part of friezes that adorned the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis and have been displayed at the British Museum in London for more than 200 years.
UNESCO concluded in 2022 that Britain has an obligation to return the artefacts.
Clooney has supported the Greek cause since 2014 - describing the return as "the right thing to do" to Greek reporters while promoting The Monuments Men.
Amal Clooney said it was a "powerful cry for justice". That same year she visited Athens to meet with the Greek government to advise on the legalities around the marbles issue.
The lawyer published a book Who Owns History? which sets out the moral and legal arguments of the debate.
Clooney made his remarks while starring on Broadway in Good Night, and Good Luck, a historical drama he directed and co-wrote in 2005.
In 2014, Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London, quipped "“someone urgently needs to restore George Clooney’s marbles”.
He's "advocating nothing less than the Hitlerian agenda for London’s cultural treasures," the politician added.
Clooney responded to Johnson's comments as "too much hyperbole washed down with a few whiskies".
In 2022, UK Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said: "I can sympathise with some of the arguments, but I do think that is a very dangerous and slippy road to embark down."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister over his remarks about the statues.
Clooney has support from actors Stephen Fry and Liam Neeson.
