A German university today returned a small sculpture taken from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon – a gesture the government said would bolster efforts to regain the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.

The 3-by-5 inch relief sculpture of a man’s foot was handed back to Greece by the University of Heidelberg, in Germany, which Greek Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis visited yesterday.

“This is a major symbolic gesture … a new page in the previously deadlocked debate for the return of all (Parthenon) sculptures from museums abroad,” Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis said.

Greece is seeking the return of a much larger collection of Parthenon sculptures, known as the Elgin Marbles, from the British Museum in London, arguing that they are an integral part of a temple on the Acropolis hill.

The marbles were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.