The Elgin Marbles

I refer to the letter "The Elgin Marbles" (October 29) which I read with surprise while I was in Malta last week, as director of the 2003 European Course in Neuroradiology.

The question of the return of the marbles is not a legal one, as to who has what and why, but a political one.

Greece renewed a proposal on August 4, 2003 for a joint exhibition with the British Museum that would allow marble sculptures removed from the ancient Parthenon to return for next year's Olympic Games. It is of interest to note that the regional government of Sicily, with which Malta has long standing cultural ties, has accepted to lend Greece, in a very short time and for a very long period, a 34x35-centimetre piece from the 162-metre Parthenon frieze.

The fifth-century-BC fragment, which depicts in relief the foot of the minor goddess Peitho, was bought by the University of Palermo around 1820 from the widow of the local British consul, Robert Fagan. Apart from this, the best argument for the reunification of the sculptures as Pheidias created them is given in the book The Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles that contains pictures worth a thousand words.

Let us hope that reason will prevail, but not at the expense of truth, and that truth is that the Parthenon Marbles' place is near the monument from which Lord Elgin removed them.