British Museum: Is it time to give it up? Wales joins calls for the return of relics from public institution

And now, it's not just the likes of China and Greece making those calls. They are now tellingly coming from within Britain.

International outcry to thefts that have taken place at the British Museum has now created division within the UK. Welsh nationalists have called for the return of ancient relics from the institution.

Plaid Cymru have joined the Chinese Communist Party and the Greek government in wanting ancient artefacts to be returned to their native homes after 2,000 artefacts were stolen from the museum.

The Telegraph reports that the calls are now included the return of an almost 4,000-year-old cape from the British Museum to be returned to Wales.

The museum boasts a collection of artefacts of which many have been acquired by questionable means and retained in the face of disapproval.

But the symbolic nature of these calls coming from those within another British nation highlights just how much trust has been lost in the British Museum and how many now feel there are safer hands where these items should be kept.

Liz Saville-Roberts, Plaid Cymru's group leader in Westminster, has joined the calls for the British Museum to return the treasure following the theft scandal.

The Welsh MP said: “The argument that the Parthenon Marbles, the Mold Gold cape or the Moel Hebog Shield are more secure in London no longer holds water. The Moel Hebog Shield is not even on display despite the treasure being more than 3,000 years old. The argument used by the British Museum is that it is the most secure location for them.

“For Wales, for Greece and for many countries that were under the control of the British Empire, that argument has been severely undermined by this saga.”

And NationalWorld writer Natalie Dixon - who is Welsh - has weighed in with her thoughts following the latest calls

She said: "I think it makes complete sense that the artefacts should be back on home soil in Wales. Welsh people are proud of their heritage and history so they will be in safe hands.

"Wales has some exceptional museums that will be able to showcase these historical items from exactly where they were originally found. Cymru yn wych (Wales is great)."

This follows Greece restating its claim to the Elgin Marbles and Chinese state media demanding the “return all Chinese cultural relics”.

The calls come amid mounting pressure on the museum after director Hartwig Fischer resigned and his deputy Jonathan Williams stepped back following revelations that warnings about the thefts were not acted upon.

The Mold Gold cape was likely part of some form of religious regalia and is thought to have been buried with a young woman between 1900 and 1600  BC.

It was unearthed in 1833 by a team of workmen quarrying for stone on land near Mold in Flintshire.

John Langford, the owner of the land, sold the cape to the British Museum in 1836, but the new home in London has more recently provoked repeated calls from Plaid Cymru and Labour MPs for its transfer to Wales.