Elgin Marbles: What are they and how did they end up in the British Museum?

The Elgin Marbles could soon return to Greece - more than 200 years after they were shipped out of the country to Britain.

Greece has made repeated requests for the sculptures to be returned after they were controversially removed from one of the world's most historic monuments.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was due to meet with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday, but Downing Street has cancelled the arrangement, sending deputy PM Oliver Dowden instead.

Chairman of the British Museum, former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, is pushing for a temporary loan back to Greece - and is believed to have drawn up an agreement.

But both Mr Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer say they would not support a change to the British Museum Act that currently prevents them from being returned. The museum has said it continues to have "constructive discussions" over their possible return.

What are the Elgin Marbles?

They are 17 sculptures which are 2,500 years old.

The marbles were part of a frieze that decorated the ancient Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

The marbles made up around half of the 160-metre frieze at the Parthenon, which is regarded as one of the world's greatest cultural monuments.

The sculptures are seen as symbols of freedom in Greece, where they are known as the Parthenon Marbles.

How did they end up in Britain?

British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the sculptures from the imposing Parthenon temple in the early 19th century.

At the time, he was the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece.

Beginning in 1801, Lord Elgin is said to have overseen the removal and shipping to the UK of the marbles in 170 crates.

He is said to have claimed he had been given permission by the Ottoman Empire for the transfer of the marbles - but despite the vast documentation from that period, nothing has been found to support his actions.

In the UK, Lord Elgin received support and criticism.

He sold them to the UK government in 1816 before the marbles were passed into the trusteeship of the British Museum.

When did the dispute begin - and how did it unfold?

The controversy can be traced back to when the marbles first arrived in Britain due to the criticism of their removal.

Then in 1832, Greece gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire before it set about trying to recover the sculptures and other artworks which had been taken from the country.

In the early 1980s, actress and then Greek minister for culture, Melina Mercouri, reignited the campaign when she made it her mission to secure the return of the marbles.

In 1983, she met the director of the British Museum, Dr David Wilson, in London demanding the sculptures be returned.

She continued to put pressure on the museum and the British government up until her death in 1994.

Despite other requests and high-profile media coverage, no deal was reached in the years that followed.

Then in 2009, Greece stepped up its campaign for the return of the marbles after opening a new museum at the foot of the Acropolis hill that it hopes will one day house them.

In 2014, human rights barris