Since Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, removed half of the Parthenon's surviving sculptures in the early 19th Century, the Elgin Marbles have been on display in the British Museum in London, nearly 2,400 kilometres from their intended place on the Acropolis of Athens. Niko Stampolidis, the director of the Acropolis Museum, insists that their return to Greece is "morally right", and that should the United Kingdom's House of Commons wish it, the sculptures could be back at the Acropolis "tomorrow".
