Will the Parthenon Marbles Reunite?

This just in from the Athens News Agency, regarding the flurry of premature excitement over the supposed softening of the position of British Museum director Neil MacGregor on the question of whether the Parthenon marbles might be temporarily reunited in the nearly completed Acropolis Museum:

[Greek] Culture Minister George Voulgarakis on Thursday commented..., "I read with great interest the statement by Mr. MacGregor, but there is nothing official at this moment apart from the pre-determined meeting in London, under the auspices of UNESCO, on May 4, with representatives of the Greek and British Culture Ministries and of the British Museum on the issue of the exhibition of the Marbles in Athens."

My guess is that the Greeks will never formally affirm the British Museum's ownership, and that the legally trained MacGregor will be loath to lend without an ironclad stipulation of ownership. The fear is that once the marbles are installed near the Parthenon, the Greeks will never let them leave. Imagine the protests on moving day.

The renewed speculation about the marbles was prompted by Martin Gayford's recent report on Bloomberg that MacGregor had revealed he might be willing to lend the marbles, if Greece would explicitly acknowledge his museum's ownership.

The Greeks have previously expressed willingness to disregard the question of who owns what, as long as the British dispatched their portion for longterm display in Greece.

My 2002 NY Times Op-Ed piece, Reassembling Sundered Antiquities, says what I think should happen---"alternating long-term displays of the reunited marbles at each venue."

But don't hold your breath.