NEIL MACGREGOR RETIREMENT

The announcement of Neil MacGregor’s impending retirement gives us a welcome opportunity to clarify a possible misconception. The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles has been in open dispute with the British Museum over the retention of their collection of these marbles for the whole of his tenure and for some 20 years before. At no time has it ever been personal to Neil MacGregor or any of his staff.

We acknowledge that the British Museum, with its vast and important collection, is preeminent among the great museums of the world, particularly so for its standards of curation, display, research and education. We question however the concept of the universal/world/encyclopaedic museum and its justification for the continued impairment of one the most magnificent examples of world art.

We acknowledge the importance of cultural diplomacy but question how it squares with the British Museum’s refusal to deal seriously with Greece over the reunification of its national icon. In recent months we have been further concerned at the British Museum’s evident new policy of impairing still further the integrity of the Parthenon marbles by using individual pieces to support the theme of an exhibition and even by sending them abroad on loan.

We shall continue to campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon marbles on cultural and ethical grounds, albeit perhaps this will not now happen on Neil MacGregor’s watch. In the meantime we are pleased to acknowledge the many tributes expressed about Neil MacGregor’ s qualities and achievements during his distinguished tenure as Director of the British Museum. We wish him all success in his future career.

THE PARTHENON MARBLES: RESPONSE TO NEW STATEMENT OF BM TRUSTEES

The trustees of the British Museum have published a new statement of their position on the Parthenon marbles.  It consists mainly of a puzzling list of “common misconceptions”:

“ALL OF THE SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON ARE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM”

This is puzzling given that the whole argument is about the reunification of the sculptures in London and Athens. Also puzzling is the statement that 30% of those that remain are in London and 30% in Athens. These figures of course refer to those which survive, divided approximately 50/50% between London and Athens.

“THE SCULPTURES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM WERE STOLEN”

No one doubts that the British government bought them in good faith from Lord Elgin and entrusted them to the Museum. No one questions that he had certain licence from the Ottoman authorities. The questions hang on whether he exceeded that licence. There is much evidence that he exceeded that licence. For understandable reasons the Greek government will not accept the legality of his actions. However for a complex of legal reasons including the passage of time, the loss of much evidence, the demise of the Ottoman Empire and thus of its legal system, and much else, it is highly unlikely that the legality or otherwise of Lord Elgin’s acquisition of his collection could be conclusively demonstrated in a court of law. A Select Committee of Parliament of course is not a court of law.   Anyway, the case for reunification rests mainly on cultural and ethical arguments.

“THE GREEK GOVERNMENT HAS ASKED FOR A LOAN OF THE SCULPTURES WHICH HAS BEEN TURNED DOWN BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM”

This also is puzzling. Given that the Greek Government (as quoted) “has never acknowledged the legal title of the British Museum to the Parthenon Marbles”, this situation could not arise. Indeed it enables the British Museum to go through the charade of offering a loan in full knowledge that it will be refused, because “loan” implies “ownership”.

“THE BRITISH MUSEUM FEELS THAT THE SCULPTURES  SHOULD REMAIN IN LONDON BECAUSE THERE IS NOWHERE TO HOUSE THEM IN GREECE AND THE GREEK AUTHORITIES CANNOT LOOK AFTER THEM”

They don’t now, but they used to, until both claims were demonstrated to be unsustainable.

THE DIVISION OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES IS A UNIQUE CASE.  THE SCULPTURES CAN ONLY BE APPRECIATED AS A COMPLETE SET.

We accept that many cultural objects....from one “location” have been divided and dispersed.  The trustees cite anonymous altar pieces. However they fail to cite anything remotely comparable with the Parthenon, a fixed monument acknowledged by UNESCO itself to be the most important UNESCO World Heritage Site in Europe.  We continue to argue that its case is incomparable and unique.  We accept that it is not possible to bring together 100% of the original sculptures.  However since when has is not been acceptable to recreate works of art to less than 100% of their original form?  The British Museum exhibits many piece displayed in this state, not least their own collection of Parthenon sculptures. 

THE SCULPTURES COULD NOT BE REUNITED ON THE PARTHENON

We do not advocate this.  We accept that for reasons of conservation it is no longer possible.  However it is common practice now for sites of fixed monuments to have museum annexes which display perishable parts removed for protection.  The Parthenon is arguably better served in this way than any other monument.  The whole area of the Acropolis and its environs is a pedestrianised archaeological park.  It is possible to visit the Parthenon in its full context and in the same visit go the Acropolis Museum to view the sculptures in full context and correct configuration, in a glass walled roof gallery in full simultaneous view of the Parthenon itself.

THE MATTER COULD BE SOLVED BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM SETTING UP AN OUTPOST IN ATHENS

This is not a misconception.  We firmly believe it is possible.  It is rejected on the ground that the Parthenon sculptures “need” to continue to be seen within the context of the world collection of the British Museum in order to deepen our understanding of their significance within world history.  Elsewhere in the statement this is described as “vital”.  Not so. Of course the role they play is important.   How could such magnificent works of art not be important to any collection?  But in the end their role is contingent on the fact that, by an accident of history, viz the divorce of Lord Elgin and his consequent bankruptcy, they have ended up in the British Museum.  If they weren’t there the British Museum surely has adequate alternate exemplars in its collection to make the same point in their world narrative.  And if not, the Greek Government has a standing offer of a rolling programme of alternative exemplars to do the job. 

In the end, we can accept that these sculptures play an important but not an indispensable role in the British Museum’s world narrative.  However the price of this is the compromise of the integrity of a  pre-eminent work of art (pace now sadly incomplete), the monument to which they belong, and the museum to whose narrative they ARE INDISPENSABLE as long as they exist. 

Surely given the possibilities of modern technology, the establishment of an outpost in Athens is not only possible but a small price to escape the status quo, in which public opinion increasingly sees the stance of the British Museum as a vanity project and the Parthenon marbles as trophies in it.

Thursday, 26 March 2015

The British Museum, British Government (Department for Culture Media and Sport) and Foreign & Commonwealth Office have declined UNESCO's invitation for mediation of a peerless work of art - the fragmented sculptures from the Parthenon. Disappointing for most, it was predictable and disheartening. For many the hope for dialogue to find a way forward, and to reunite the sculptures, might continue between the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum.

Read the salient parts of the letters, and the reaction in Parliament.

Chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, Eddie O'Hara commented:

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles deeply regrets the decision of the British Museum to reject the invitation to submit to its mediation process the long running dispute over the reunification of its collection of sculptures from the Parthenon with those displayed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Their formal response contains a number of familiar canards:

- "The marbles are distributed throughout a number of "European museums" disguises the fact that approximately half are in Athens and approximately half are in London. Apart from one metope and about a metre of frieze, these are miscellaneous fragments with little context in a handful of other museums.

- "6 million visitors..." - to the British Museum, yes, but to the Parthenon Gallery? And anyway, is this an appropriate criterion?

- The British Museum insists on the distinction between itself and the government - and in the next breath states its legal obligations imposed by the government and modifiable by that same government.

- "The totality cannot be reassembled and placed on the Parthenon". But the totality has been reassembled in the Acropolis Museum, with ghostly spectres occupying the places of those in the British Museum. And since when has it been a rule that a work of art cannot be displayed unless it is complete? As for their replacement on the Parthenon, since the advent of acid rain the world is replete with sites on which removable parts of fixed monuments have been brought indoors for protection. In the case of the Parthenon the Acropolis Museum is located, aligned and constructed to enable a simultaneous view of both the sculptures and the building.

Eddie is also quoted on the BBC News site, you can read that article here.

The publishing of the letter is coordinated with the opening of the exhibition "Defining Beauty - the Body in Ancient Greek Art", unsurprisingly, because as previous arguments have been variously discredited this exhibition marks a new line of defence of the status quo. The visit of Ilissos to St Petersburg was a preview. The BCRPM congratulates the museum on this exhibition which will predictably have magnificent and merited success.   But the inclusion of pieces from the sculptures of the Parthenon was not necessary and ignores an important principle. The campaign for reunification is based on the insistence that those in Athens and those in London are together an artistic unity. Hitherto the British Museum has at least displayed its collection as an integral subset. Hitherto the criticism has been of their refusal to restore the integrity of the whole. Now it appears that they no longer respect the integrity of their subset but regard it as a quarry from which to extract exemplars to support an exhibition in which many if not most of the pieces are Roman copies of Greek originals. Quite unnecessarily. In return for restitution the Greek Government has a standing offer of a rolling programme of originals.

Next year will be the 200th anniversary of the purchase of Lord Elgin's collection. The demand for reunification will predictably escalate in volume. This sophisticated diversionary tactic will not deflect it.

The Parthenon Gallery in the British Museum, London, holds over half the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon, removed from the Acropolis in the 19th century by Lord Elgin, when Greece was occupied by the Ottomans. These were shipped to England, destined to decorate Lord Elgin's home in Scotland. Due to finances, Lord Elgin was forced to sell them to the British government and this is how, for nearly two centuries, theses halves have became part of the displays in the British Museum. Greece has requested their return since their independence, a few decades after Lord Elgin removed them.This request has been repeated many more times since that time -but to no avail.

The Parthenon Gallery in the Acropolis Museum, Athens displays the remaining half of the sculptures from the Parthenon with casts for the missing pieces, still on display in London. These casts were made by the British Museum and paid for by Greece.

Chris Price, outstandingly educated among parliamentarians, and at the same time sympathetic and universally liked as a man, has died at the age of 83.   From the moment of the British Committee’s foundation, now over thirty years ago, he was an active member. What made him irreplaceable, both as member and later as Deputy Chair, was his deep understanding of not merely the political, but the constitutional issues that arise in connection with the Parthenon Marbles.

This enabled him to see through, at best obscurity at worst frustration, between the roles, rights and responsibilities of the government, parliament and the Trustees of the British Museum. More than that, he was personally acquainted with and highly respected by a series of ministers in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, most of them first elected to Parliament after his own time.   Privately, at least, some of them were ready to acknowledge that, in the endless efforts to hold the ‘official line’, the voice of the British public was effectively being drowned.

His other great contribution, in later years, was in promoting the idea of ‘cultural mobility’, of free discussion, between cultural institutions, of the cases where cooperation and the acknowledgment of interdependence could take the place of stone-walling, non-communication and downright triumphalism.

After his first heart attack on New Year’s Day 2010, things were never quite the same again but, thanks in no small degree to his wife Annie’s untiring care, he rallied and participated actively for at least another couple of years. We too shall miss him sorely.

Anthony Snodgrass

Chair, British Committee, 2002-2010

Athony Snodgrass, Eleni Cubitt and Chris Price in Athens June 2009 for the opening of the Acropolis Museum

Chris Price's contribution to the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon marbles was distinguished. It was also distinctive.  His commitment was grounded in a rare combination of attributes.

Many classical scholars trace their first engagement with the issue from their education.  Many were fired by early student experience in Greece.  Many have been motivated by moral and cultural considerations.  Many have had the gift of eloquent and persuasive argument by pen or tongue.  Many have devoted long years to the cause.  All this can be said of Chris.  But he was also a politician, not tribal - that was perhaps a drawback - but deeply committed and able in the "art of the possible".  He was one of that cohort of able Labour MPs who lost the opportunity of a distinguished career in government, quite likely with ministerial responsibility, during the Labour Party's long, lost years after 1979. He did however have the opportunity to show what might have been when appointed to Chair the Select Committee on Education,  Science and the Arts, as it was then called. What if he had had the opportunity to serve as Secretary of State with that portfolio?  Might we have seen a response to the issue of the marbles based not only good political sense but also on deep understanding and empathy?  We'll never know, but we certainly lost the opportunity to find out when Chris went into opposition and then lost his seat.  Nevertheless we do have much for which to thank him, we mourn his passing and we offer condolences to Annie and their whole family.

Eddie O'Hara, Chairman

Chris Price with Professor Pandermalis, Acropolis Museum 2009

Christopher Price's struggle for the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles was invaluable and will be missed. We offer our condolences to his family at this sad time.

The Board of Directors of the Melina Mercouri Foundation

To read the story on the Marbles Reunited's web site, please click here

"Chris Price was for many a years a champion of the cause to have the Parthenon Sculptures returned from Britain to Greece. He was a brilliant and passionate man and enriched the lives of all of us who were lucky enough to have known him." David Hill, Chairman, International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

The American Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures extended their deepest sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues of Chris Price. Michael Reppas wrote: "Chris was a positive force in the campaign and his dedication toward the cause should always be remembered. It was an honor to have worked with him and we are all saddened by his loss."

Chris Price with Michael Reppas, President of ACRPS

Obituaries in UK newspapers:

The Guardian

The Telegraph

The Independent

Christopher Price on the sculptures from the Parthenon:

"The only thing British about them is the fact that one of our ambassadors filched them."

And more comments by Christopher:

http://bit.ly/1GaOnwH

http://bit.ly/1M3CPvO

Eleni Cubitt, Chris Price and Anthony Snodgrass, Ambassadors of Hellenism

The Marbles Campaign: Where do we go from here?

Christopher Price, 31 May, 2010

Over the past two or three decades, the campaign to re-unite the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens has received global publicity.  It is now important, however, for us to consider how to put the issue in a wider international “cultural mobility” context.

“Cultural mobility” is become a common phase among those who want to see an atmosphere of cooperation supplant arguments in the past. A recent conference in Ohio put it like this: Globalization is now one of the most common terms to describe how we interact with other countries in the 21st century. Perhaps a better term is “interdependence.” Interdependence helps us understand how we can have shared opportunities to participate and enjoy a genuine sense of belonging. Collaboration and cooperation are becoming the approaches of choice, replacing the pursuit of short-term exchange.   In this context, it is only a period of genuine cooperation between all sorts of institutions – governments, museums and international bodies – that will be able to find solutions.

A wider, even worldwide, discussion about the appropriate location of cultural objects might help begin a genuine bipartite discussion between the UK and Greece about the integrity of classical sculptures currently in the British Museum.

It follows that another priority for campaigning organisations and the UK parliament is to make sure that the respective powers and influence of the Trustees of the British Museum, the British government and the British Parliament are balanced in such a way that there can be a public discussion about how to take this issue forward. The British Museum was established by the British Parliament and not by the British Government; the Trustees hold their office in trust for the people of Britain but yet have made little effort to explain to the people the current position and arguments over the location of the marbles. The Government and Parliament have a similar duty. This is particularly important at a time when the Trustees will soon be seeking a new Director for the Museum. The current director, Neil MacGregor, is a superb communicator. If the Marbles issue is to be solved, his successor will need to be a superb negotiator.

Both the marketing of cultural relics and arguments about their ‘ownership’ are as old as the hills. We now need a new regime of discussions – open to all citizens of the world – which can take the place of insoluble haggling over history, location, ownership and legal status. This will require not so much recourse to national and international courts of law; instead we need a global environment of museums and nations cooperating with one another in which the mobility of cultural objects and agreements about their location and preservation can be discussed without pre-conditions.

The Parthenon Gallery in the Acropolis Museum, is the one place on earth where it is possible to experience simultaneously the Parthenon and its lost sculptures.

It is not a matter of who owns them, it is a matter of where they should be.

Vigil held on Sunday 18 January 2015, at the Acropolis Museum is one of many more to come.

Eddie O'Hara, Chairman for the British Committee adds "the case for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures rests on the fact that those in the British Museum are part of an artistic unity with those in the Acropolis Museum and together they are part of a unity with the Parthenon. Separated, their artistic integrity is impaired."

The song 'Never Again' was composed by Cypriot guitarist Marinos Neofytou and goes to the roots of ethnic jazz. Inspired by the Greek-sounding melody, jazz singer Sarah Fenwick wrote lyrics about reuniting the beautiful Parthenon Marbles in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, from where they were taken by Lord Elgin in the 19th Century.

Sarah and Marinos were moved by the plight of these marbles. Sarah commented " these marbles considered a work of art belonging to ancient Greek civilisation, and as such, their sad separation from the warmth of Greece is a long-running theme in the art world."

The song is part of the duet's new CD 'Jazz Origins', which seeks to show the various and diverse roots of jazz, with original songs from the Blues, Ethnic, Latin, and Lullaby traditions, which form the great foundations of this amazing music genre.

"Inspiring the song was a suggestion from campaigners at the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parrthenon Marbles, whose work on behalf of the cause of reuniting the Parthenon Marbles has brought life to the possibility that they will be returned to Greece" added Sarah Fenwick.

You can listen to 'Never Again' on you tube.