British Museum Makes First Ever Elgin-Marble Loan to Russia

The British Museum sent one of its most precious artifacts for display in Russia, in a gesture of diplomacy amid the biggest rift in relations between the government in Moscow and NATO countries since the Cold War.

The sculpture of the river-god Illissos from the Parthenon in Athens -- one of the so-called Elgin Marbles -- is going on show in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It’s the first time any of the Marbles has left the U.K. since 1816. The artifacts, removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, are the subject of a long-running dispute between the U.K. and Greece, which demands their return. Greece’s prime minister attacked the loan today.