The British Museum has come under fire once more, criticized for not being capable of looking after the Parthenon sculptures following news of yet another incident of water leaking from the roof.

The Museum, which refuses to return the sculptures back to their homeland Greece, was all set to reopen seven galleries of Greek art, including the display of Parthenon sculptures, at the end of July.

However heavy rainfall on July 25, which caused flooding in central London, led to water leaking into one of the museum’s Greek galleries, according to a report in The Art Newspaper.

The publication quoted a British Museum spokeswoman confirming that “there was some water ingress in one of the (Greek) galleries” in July but said she could not identify the specific gallery. 

In January 2020 there was another leak in one of the Assyrian galleries, housed in the same section as the Greek galleries. This followed images shown by Greek television in 2018 of water dripping into the gallery where the Parthenon sculptures are housed.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper Greece, Lina Mendoni, Greece’s minister for culture and sport, says this is not the first time that photographs have been published revealing that the conditions for exhibiting the Parthenon Sculptures at the British Museum are not only inappropriate, but also dangerous. 

“In September 2019, when similar photos were published, we had stressed that these images fully strengthen the legal, ongoing and non-negotiable request from Greece for the reunification of the sculptures. The Parthenon Marbles, one of the greatest monuments of Western civilization, must return to their homeland,” Medoni claimed.