CGTN Europe To Premiere Hour-Long Documentary Challenging the British Museum’s Claim to the Parthenon Marbles

New film ‘The Parthenon Marbles: A Great British Theft?’ airs on 18th of April, World Heritage Day

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, April 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The premiere is timed to coincide with World Heritage Day — the UNESCO-recognised International Day for Monuments and Sites, observed globally every 18 April since 1983. The day exists to raise awareness of the vulnerability of the world’s cultural heritage and the urgent need to protect it for future generations. There could scarcely be a more fitting moment to ask who the Parthenon Marbles truly belong to.

CGTN Europe is to premiere The Parthenon Marbles: A Great British Theft? a new hour-long documentary that directly confronts one of the world’s most enduring cultural property disputes. Airing on World Heritage Day, the film presents fresh testimony from historians, lawyers, archaeologists and cultural figures who argue that the removal of the sculptures from the Parthenon in the early 19th century was unlawful - and that they must be returned to Greece.

Produced by CGTN Europe’s award-winning documentary unit and presented by chief anchor Jamie Owen, the film examines how 2,500-year-old sculptures from one of humanity’s greatest architectural achievements ended up in the British Museum - and why, more than two centuries on, the argument over their rightful home remains bitterly unresolved.

Prominent British lawyer Mark Stephens states unequivocally in the film that Lord Elgin “plundered and stole the marbles from the Parthenon,” making them stolen goods still in the possession of the British Museum. Actor Stephen Fry warns that Britain’s continued refusal to return the sculptures is a disaster for the country’s international reputation. Acropolis Museum Director Nikolaos Stampolidis argues the case with striking simplicity: “If I cut your hands and your legs, wouldn’t you like them back?”

The documentary also uncovers the extraordinary personal story behind the marbles’ removal: the role of Elgin’s wealthy wife Mary, whose fortune alone made the entire operation possible; a scandalous divorce triggered by a Napoleonic imprisonment; and a shipwreck off the Greek coast that nearly swallowed part of the collection forever.

Presenter Jamie Owen said: “This is a rip-roaring story that should be better known. We have made a beautiful documentary filmed across Europe and talked to all the main players - it raises urgent questions that the British Museum and the UK Government can no longer avoid.”

The film arrives at a critical moment in the long-running dispute. Despite recent diplomatic efforts by British Museum chairman George Osborne, successive UK governments have refused to amend the 1963 British Museum Act, which legally prevents the institution from permanently deaccessioning any part of its collection. Greece, for its part, will not accept a temporary loan as a substitute for full restitution.

The film will also be available to watch on the CGTN Europe YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/G3sPJHS4uLg

ABOUT CGTN EUROPE

CGTN - China Global Television Network - is an international media platform encompassing TV channels in English and four other languages, reaching over 100 million homes worldwide, alongside a range of digital media assets with more than 500 million users. CGTN has production centres in Beijing, Washington D.C., Nairobi and London, delivering global news and long-form documentary content to audiences across six continents.

Angela Fu
China Global Television Network
+44 20 3926 9503
angela.fu@cgtn.com

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