Greece has opened a state-of-the-art museum to house the Parthenon sculptures, just steps from their original home on the Acropolis Hill. However, only half of these important sculptures, inscriptions and architectural columns were placed in the museum. Due to a series of unfortunate events, including an explosion in the 1600s, the marble sculptures and structures remained in disrepair for over 200 years. In 1816, an English gentleman named Lord Elgin purchased them from the ruling Ottoman Empire and brought them back to London where they were exhibited at the British Museum. Although it saved them from further damage and ruin in the 1800s and 1900s, Greece is now ready to take them back, embracing their ancient, all-important identity. Antonis Samaras, the Greek Minister of Culture, said this in 2009: "All those in the world who believe in the values ​​and ideas that emerged on the slopes of the Acropolis (should)...join our quest to bring home the missing Parthenon marbles." Speaking in English, he said their “kidnapping” and “forced exile” was an injustice to the Greek people. Evangelos Venizelos, another Greek Minister of Culture from 2002, places emphasis on the sculptures and the building as a whole: "The sculptures of the Parthenon are not a single element... ...but are part of a single monument, the Parthenon. The Parthenon is a building. The marbles are part of this existing building. For me, the main thing is not a legal problem or the ownership of the marbles but the fact of the return, the fact of the restoration of the integrity, of the unity of the monument. » (Godwin 2013). Thanks to the efforts of the Greek people and their government, the New Acropolis Museum became an ideal home, tailor-made for...... middle of paper ...... where was The Parthenon Marbles must be reunified with the museum (Godwin 2013).And finally, an argument in favor of keeping the Marbles in London, returning these cultural and historical objects to their country of origin would "open the floodgates". Europe and North America would be emptied because the returned objects are not justified. Only collections acquired illegally, by force or through the victimization of these other cultures would be concerned. There are agreed codes and rules, such as the 1970 UNESCO Convention, which govern and organize them. Thanks to organizations like UNESCO, the return of cultural objects to their countries of origin is happening slowly but surely. The British have an obligation, not to Greece but to the cultural heritage of the entire world, to restore its symbol. , the Parthenon.(Godwin 2013).