Alberto Costa

Alberto Costa

Conservative — South Leicestershire

Speaking in the House of Commons on 30 April 2025

Debate

Parthenon Marbles: British Museum Act 1963

Contribution

I thank the hon. Member for citing the welcome example of those artefacts, which I have enjoyed viewing on a number of occasions. I want to ensure that every Member of Parliament and, most importantly, our constituents are able to access and see at first hand some of Greece’s most valued treasures. Let me give some examples: the Antikythera mechanism, that ancient Greek clockwork gadget that some have ascribed with a connection to Archimedes—it is basically the world’s first clockwork device, and it could be called a computer; the dazzling treasures of Philip II of Macedon, reputedly the father of Alexander the Great; the bronze statue of Zeus; or indeed the famed golden mask of Agamemnon, which was my introduction to the treasures of Greece when I read the “Collins Children’s Encyclopedia” at the age of six, back in 1977. Greece is replete with superb treasures. Imagine if we had some of those fabulous treasures on rotation in the Leicester Museum to benefit my constituents, or in the National Museum of Scotland or the Ulster Museum.

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