ON THE OCCASION OF THE REOPENING OF THE ACROPOLIS MUSEUM AND THE CELEBRATION OF ITS 11TH ANNIVERSARY,  EUROPE EXPECTS A NOBLE GESTURE FROM BRITAIN

Saturday, 20 June 2020 marks the 11th anniversary of the magnificent Acropolis Museum, which has just reopened after a long period of closure due to coronavirus. The health and economic crisis has come close to seeing Europe fail, while a second virus, equally contagious, corrodes our democracies and the values on which our European Union is based. At a time when the unity and solidarity of Europeans are being put to the test, it is imperative to restore the integrity of the Parthenon, a major and unique symbol of European democracy and cultural heritage, by reunifying all the surviving Marbles in Athens.

Personally, I have two great dreams: a united Europe and the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. In fact, it is the same vision and a common cause! The Parthenon should be proclaimed a symbol of the EU because it is a European claim and not just a Greek one, as was the case under the leadership of Culture Minister Melina Mercouri. Moreover, at the top of the Acropolis the European flag is missing next to that of the Hellenic Republic.

Upon examination, arguments in favour of keeping the Marbles at the British Museum are invalidated. Unlike the British Museum, which between 1937 and 1938 damaged the Marbles by attempting to clean them with metal brushes and abrasive products, the Acropolis Museum has the most advanced conservation techniques. The Acropolis Museum’s large transparent structure allows the Attic light to uplift the exhibits inside the Museum, illuminating the sculptures in the same way as the Parthenon itself and impressing on the visitor the beauty of the Marbles. What a contrast to the gloomy atmosphere of the Duveen Gallery at the British Museum where these outstanding sculptures are enclosed in a dimly lit room, with virtually no daylight, and exhibited too close to the visitors!

Moreover, it is necessary to remind British, European and world public opinion that instead of preserving the Marbles, as some claim, Lord Elgin mutilated them by sawing the slabs of the frieze in two to facilitate their transport. So how can we say that Elgin saved half of the Parthenon sculptures? The ones we are all lucky enough to be able to admire at the Acropolis Museum are in much better shape!

Unlike the British Museum, which is a universal museum, the Acropolis Museum focuses mainly on the Acropolis and its monuments. It forms a whole with the Sacred Rock, a whole from which more than half of the Marbles have been removed. Since its inauguration in 2009, the Museum has received more than 14.5 million visitors and since 2012 TripAdvisor has awarded it the ‘Travelers Choice Award’ each year, not to mention some twenty international awards of excellence.

In truth, by appropriating half of the Parthenon Marbles, without a valid permit and without regard for the integrity of a monument and these emblematic works of art, Lord Elgin committed one of the most shameful acts of looting and cultural vandalism in history. At a time when all over the world we are rising up against racism and inequality, what better way for Britain, a bastion of democracy, to show that it has broken with the tradition of its colonial past than by returning the Marbles to Athens? It has decided to leave the European Union, but it defends the same fundamental values that underpin our European way of life. The current British Prime Minister, a former Classics student and ardent Hellenophile, is predestined to make a noble gesture towards Greece. In view of the ethical, cultural and aesthetic arguments for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens, I am convinced that the British will act honourably to protect our European cultural heritage.

Prof. Dusan Sidjanski
Chair of the Swiss Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles
www.parthenon-suisse.ch

8 June 2020

Professor Dusan Sidjanski and Patricia van Gene-Saillet of the Swiss Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

This press release was also used in the Tribune de Genève on 01 July 2020, you can view that here, too.

The 11th birthday of the Acropolis Museum, 20 June 2020

On Saturday 20 June 2020 the Acropolis Museum celebrates 11 years and welcomes back its visitors. The Museum  re-open on Monday 15 June and has undertaken all the necessary measures for the protection of  its visitors.

On Saturday, the Museum will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. with a reduced entry (5 euro) to all exhibition areas. Additionally, visitors will have the opportunity to see the temporary exhibition ‘Chisel and Memory'. The contribution of marble craftsmanship to the restoration of the Acropolis monuments’, which will continue until 30 September 2020. The Museum's second floor restaurant will operate until 12 midnight .

Gallery talks held by the Museum’s Archaeologist-Hosts will commence this week. Visitors wishing to participate are required to wear a protective mask (not provided by the Museum) and to use the whisper guide system headsets (provided by the Museum to participants).

‘The lost statue of Athena Parthenos’

The Acropolis Museum brings to life, digitally, the statue of Athena Parthenos. Made of gold and ivory, this masterpiece was designed by Phidias for the Parthenon. The Museum invites  visitors on a walk of knowledge to find out more about its construction materials and techniques, its myths and allegories, its radiance and its adventures.
Greek: Every Friday at 1 p.m.
English: Every Friday at 11 a.m.
Duration: 50 minutes
Participation: Limited to 10 visitors per session. For registration, please refer to the Information Desk at the Museum entrance on the same day. First-in first-served.
Price: The general admission fee (€10) to the Museum  will cover this experience.

‘A walk through the Museum with an archaeologist’
Visitors have the opportunity to participate in evening walks through the Museum exhibition galleries, making unanticipated stops and various discussions, together with an Archaeologist-Host.
Greek: every Friday, at 8 p.m.
English: every Friday, at 6 p.m.
Duration: 60 minutes
Participation: Limited to 10 visitors per session. For registration, please refer to the Information Desk at the Museum entrance on the same day. First-in first-served.
Price: The general admission fee (€10) to the Museum will cover this walk and talk.

‘Walking in the ancient neighborhood of the Acropolis Museum’

Visitors are given the opportunity to wander through the archaeological excavation which stretches underneath the Museum, like a giant exhibit. They will be able to walk on the ancient neighborhood’s streets, take a closer look at the houses with their courtyards and wells, enter the heart of the impressive mansions with the private baths, examine the workshops with the water reservoirs, take a magical stroll through time and the daily life of the people who lived in the shadow of the Acropolis’ rock for over 4,500 years.
Greek: every Saturday & Sunday, at 1 p.m.
English: every Saturday & Sunday, at 11 a.m.
Duration: 45 minutes
Participation: Limited to 10 visitors per session. For registration, please refer to the Information Desk at the Museum entrance on the same day. First-in first-served.
Price: The general admission fee (€10) to the Museum is required (on Saturday 20/6 the general admission fee will be reduced to €5).

“It is with a great sense of pleasure I learned that the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports Dr. L Mendoni has announced the reopening of all museums in Greece from June 15, said Emanuel J Comino AM, founder, and Chairman of the International Organising Committee – Australia – for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles.

“The timing is auspicious as on June 20, a mere five days later, we celebrate the eleventh anniversary of the opening of the Acropolis Museum.

The Acropolis Museum is rated one of the 10 best museums in the world. The reason why is obvious as soon as anyone steps inside. It’s a place deeply and dynamically connected with the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

Every time I visit, I’m not only moved by its superb design and the beautiful presentation of the remaining Parthenon Marbles, but I’m touched with a little sadness. I’m reminded of Elgin’s vandalism, and the Parthenon Marbles now kept in the British Museum. This strengthens my commitment to the campaign for their return.

The Parthenon Marbles kept in the British Museum must be returned to Athens and placed in the Acropolis Museum. This is the only place where the people of the world can begin to appreciate the fullness of their beauty and their contribution to the modern world. Only when they are together can people understand what they are telling us about more than 2000 years of glorious Greek history.

I have long recognised that the British Nation and its people strongly espouse and believe in justice, freedom and friendship. They have demonstrated this over the years, wherever these such values are threatened anywhere around the world.

So, it was with interest I also noted comments from Hartwig Fischer, British Museum Director, this week, he said:

“We stand with everyone who is denied equal rights and protection from violence in the fullest sense of these terms. These are challenges that we as a society must address, injustices that must be overcome.” 

These are sentiments that accord with my understanding of Britain as a country that espouses justice, freedom, and friendship.

Mr. Fischer added:

“We will continue to research, acknowledge and address the colonial history of Britain and its impact on our institution in exhibitions like Collecting Histories and Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific perspectives from 2019. But there is much more to do.”

“Yes Mr Fischer, there is much more to do. The Parthenon Marbles were taken while Greece was under Ottoman occupation, and Britain was an expanding colonial power in the eastern Mediterranean. They were never given to Britain.

Let us hope your comments are not just empty words. It is time to act.”

The BCRPM concurs with our Australian colleagues in their eloquent plea to the Director of the British Museum and would add: “Yes, Mr Fischer, as you say, indeed there is much more to do. The movement unleashed in the world today needs to force those who have profited from peoples deprived of their selfhood by force majeure, to acknowledge that fact, and make restitution.” Dame Janet Suzman Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

Dame Janet Suzman with Emanuel J Comino AM, Sunday 14 April 2019 at the Acropolis Museum 

23 May 2020, Athens, Greece

Greece's  Minister of Culture and Sport,  Lina Mendoni restated the long-standing request for the British Museum to return the Parthenon Marbles, ahead of the 11th anniversary of the Acropolis Museum.

The British Museum in London continues to refuse to return the Parthenon Marbles. The 2,500-year-old sculptures were forcibly removed from the Parthenon, by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when Greece was under Ottoman Turkish rule.

Prior to the opening of the Acropolis Museum on 20 June 2009,  the British Museum had argued that Greece had 'no where to display' the Parthenn Marbles. Now nearly 11 years since the purpose-built Acropolis Museum was opened  to house the antiquities from the Acropolis, the British Museum continues to argue that the sculptures in London are best viewed in London as they can be seen in the context of world cultures.

On 24 January 2019, Ioannis Andritsopoulos, Ta Nea's UK correspondent , interviewed British Mumseum Director, Hartwig Fischer who said: "since the beginning of the 19th century, the monument’s history is enriched by the fact that some (parts of it) are in Athens and some are in London where six million people see them every year. In each of these two locations they highlight different aspects of an incredibly rich, layered and complex history."

"People go to some places to encounter cultural heritage that was created for that site. They go to other places to see cultural heritage which has been moved and offers a different way to engage with that heritage. The British Museum is such a place, it offers opportunities to engage with the objects differently and ask different questions because they are placed in a new context. We should cherish that opportunity." Concluded Dr Fischer.

On Sunday 23 February 2020,  the then Deputy Editor of the Sunday Times, Sarah Baxter wrote her modest proposal for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, aptly entitled: "The sane move is to give Greece back its Elgin marbles".

The first 'modet proposal' was written by Christopher Hitchens (pages 104 to 106) in the third edition of 'The Parthenon, The Case for Reunification' published by Verso in May 2008 and launched at Chatham House, London by the BCRPM. The second was written by Stephen Fry in 2011, you can read that here too.

Dr Fischer responded to Sarah Baxter's article with a letter to the Sunday Times, which was publish Sunday 01 March 2020:

Greeks should be glad we have the marbles

Sarah Baxter’s column on the Parthenon sculptures asks us to imagine how we would feel if Big Ben had been transplanted to Athens (“The sane move is to give Greece back its marbles”, Comment, last week). This is to ignore the many buildings and artworks that have been reused, reshaped and often moved across borders, such as Duccio’s altarpiece the Maesta, elements of which have been removed from Siena cathedral and are held in museums across Europe and America.

The Parthenon sculptures are fragments of a lost whole that cannot be put back together. Only about 50% of the original sculptures survive from antiquity. The Parthenon has become a European monument precisely because its sculptures can be seen not only in Athens but in London and other European cities. The public benefit of this distribution and what it means for our shared cultural inheritance is self-evident, and something to celebrate.

Minister of Culture for Greece, Dr Lina Mendoni  responded by saying that Dr Fischer's letter was as “unfortunate, if not outright unacceptable.” To read one of the article's quoting Dr Mendoni, follow the link here.

As expected, this was not well received by most, not just in the UK but elsewhere too. Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper, wrote an article following on from Dr Fischer's letter to the Sunday Times, quoting a number of BCRPM members including Janet Suzman, Alex Benakis, Dr Peter Thonemann and Professor John Tasioulas.

Dr Mendoni insists that “it is time for the British Museum to reconsider its stance ahead of the Acropolis Museum’s next birthday, which is on 20 June 2020. Does it want to be a museum that meets and will continue to meet modern requirements and speak to the soul of the people, or will it remain a colonial museum which intends to hold treasures of world cultural heritage that do not belong to it?” Smilar words were used by Dame Janet Suzman during her participation in the Cambridge Union debate on 25 April 2019. You can read Janet's speech here.

Minister Mendoni urged the International Committees (IARPS) to continue to support this long standing request as they also continue to support the Greek government in their quest for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

Greek Minister of Culture and Sport, Lina Mendoni updated the media on the Acropolis upgrades.

“It is our priority for all eight projects planned for the Acropolis to proceed without hindrance so that we may upgrade the archaeological site’s image and the services it offers. Once completed, it can live up to visitors’ expectations,” Minister Mendoni commented, following a briefing on the progress of the work.

The Acropolis, which receives some 1.5 million visitors a year, and all other archaeological sites and museums in Greece have been closed since March 13, when the government ordered a lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Currently there are 8 individual projects being implemented at the Acropolis Archaeological Site, aimed at protecting and upgrading the space and quality of services for visitors.

Two of these are aimed at helping wheelchair users to visit the ancient citadel, with the installation of a new lift, access ramps and paths. Improvements will also be made to the lighting on the Acropolis, both for making it safer for pedestrians and for showing the Parthenon in the best light. These are expected to be installed in August and completed by next July. The new lighting system will use less power and fewer bulbs than the current one. The improved lighting is being supported by the Onassis Foundation.

The former Acropolis museum will be used to enhance visitors’ outlook with a new interactive experience to be added. This follows on from an international tender for this museums relaunch.

Ticket sales system will also be made more efficient and the gift shops stocked with more attractive souvenirs.

13 April 2020

Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper commemorates the extraordinary life of Mrs Eleni Cubitt.

Photos courtesy of Nana Varvelopulou, Eleni Cubitt at the British Museum July 2009 

Life and Style Magazine 2009

Eleni Cubitt was the heart and soul of the international movement for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures; the unsung hero of the campaign launched by Melina Mercouri 38 years ago; and the person who persuaded dozens of British politicians - including two Labour leaders - academics, artists and journalists of the need to right a ‘very old wrong’, as she called it, in the face of the intransigence of the British Museum and successive British governments.

Eleni Cubitt, a London campaigner, activist, filmmaker and protagonist against the Greek military junta, passed away last Wednesday at the age of 95.

She was born in Thessaloniki in 1925. Her family later moved to Athens where Eleni attended the American College for Girls.

At the age of 23, she married English diplomat Douglas Collard, then British consul in Patras, with whom he had five children. In 1964, having already lived in seven countries with her husband, she got divorced and settled in London, where she founded a film production company.

According to her son Paul, it was the Scottish Laird Sir Amer Maxwell who suggested to Eleni the idea of being a film producer, an activity in which he was actively involved at that time.

She later met French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard in Paris and persuaded him to make a film in Britain. 'Sympathy for the Devil', starring the Rolling Stones and produced by Cubitt, was released in 1968.

She also produced several documentaries on Ancient Greece. Her most recent film was 'The War That Never Ends' in 1991 for which she was the executive producer.

In 1968 Eleni married the distinguished British architect James Cubitt. Between 1975 and 1982, she was in charge of cultural affairs at the Greek Embassy's press office in London.

In 1982, during a meeting with Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri, whom she had known since the 1960s, Eleni and James decided to set up a lobby group for the return of the Marbles.

The British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles was founded in 1983, later renamed British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. Eleni became the Committee’s secretary, a post she held for 29 years.

Her husband died shortly afterwards but Eleni continued their work and dedicated her life to the Marbles’ reunification, working tirelessly to raise awareness of the cause.

She used her connections with the arts and business worlds, set up campaigns to inform the British public, organised protests, and mobilised journalists and MPs, among them Labour Party leaders Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock. Unfortunately for the cause, neither became prime minister.

“Family was very important to Eleni and, despite the many calls on her time professionally, it was always her first priority. The sound of the phone ringing, as it did constantly, was always followed by her call: ‘Tell them I am out, unless it is one of the children.’ She was also always happy to share her professional life with any of her children and grandchildren who were interested”, her children said in a statement.

“As children, we were expected to participate actively and to varying degrees, in the many causes she took on, not least the return of the Parthenon marbles. Because of her huge energy, she would prioritise finding the time for her children as they negotiated the many crises of growing up. Eleni loved to tell us stories, whether about the past, Greek myths or her daily experiences. In her later years, when her professional life was less demanding, she embraced her role as grandmother and great grandmother with the same enthusiasm, interest and energy and was much adored by all her 11 grandchildren and 2 great-granddaughters,” her children added.

Eleni was a member of the Honorary Committee of the Melina Mercouri Foundation and received awards from the Prefecture of Athens in 2009 (Ambassador of Hellenism) and the American College of Greece in 2011 (Maria West Lifetime Achievement Award).

Ambassadors of Hellenism: Eleni Cubitt, Christopher Price and Professor Anthony Snodgrass

From 2012, she took a less active role and four years ago she moved from her Islington home to a care home.

“Eleni Cubitt - mischievous and classy and ever so Greek despite her very British associations. I remember she simply charmed me into joining the great Melina’s crusade, which of course I instantly wanted to do. It seemed such an attractive and important thing to try to put before ignorant eyes,” Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), told Ta Nea.

“I suppose Eleni felt drawn to another, half this and half that as she was, and we became friends. Besides being an actress and bit politically voluble and full of all the usual ingredients to help push this thing along, I happily fell in on the Greek side of things - long before my son took up with one so that I now have two half-Greek grandchildren. Isn’t life wonderful? Vanessa Redgrave, much more charismatic and activist and blonder was also hauled in to push. At the centre of it all, the hurricane of Melina, both beautiful and eloquent, drew us all along in her furious wake.

“But hey, much good did it do - here we are years and years after Melina’s tour of office as Minister of Culture, and even with a fabulous new Acropolis Museum duly built (thanks to Eleni and numerous others) we all sit here waiting...and waiting. Yet it won’t go away; around the whole world, many fervent Hellenophiles are busy making waves, exercising great patience with an intransigent British Museum pretending to be unaware of how old hat and unpleasant is its stance.

“But, dear electric, charming, voluble Eleni, your dream of the Marbles returning home to the land of your birth will one day be a reality. So for now we all salute you and your amazing life. You will be missed by all of us and most of all by those who loved you, of which I am one,” Dame Janet added.

Her friendship with Melina

Photo from the archives of  Victoria Solomonidis. From left to right: Melina Mercouri, Eleni Cubitt, Graham Binns in the British Museum's Duveen Gallery June 1986

Eleni Cubitt constantly supported Melina Mercouri, Greece’s then Culture minister, in her fight over the marbles. They became friends and worked closely together for several years.

"Melina's vision, enthusiasm and glow pushed me to get involved in the cause," she told Ta Nea in 2000.

In May 22, 1983, Mercouri delivered the Herbert Read Memorial Lecture at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. She later came face to face with the then director of the British Museum David Wilson.

Mercouri’s and Wilson’s showdown was widely seen as a PR disaster for the British Museum. It is a little-known fact that Mercouri had travelled to London thanks to Eleni who had managed to persuade the ICA to invite her.

“Cultural heritage should refer to those objects which are of central significance and vital importance to the sense of identity and dignity of a human group and whose removal by force or deception or even ignorance could cause great sorrow, pain and outrage to people who believe such objects belong to them as an integral and essential part of their history and their heritage,” Eleni said.

According to Nikandros Bouras’ book Greeks of London (London, 2013), Cubitt played a key role in the birth of the reunification campaign.

After Mercouri’s death, Eleni collaborated with successive Greek Culture Ministers on this issue.

"During my 25 years as Cultural Counsellor at the Embassy of Greece in London, I have had the pleasure and luck to work closely with Eleni. Tireless, inspired and always on the front line, she was a great friend and generous adviser. She was my great teacher. The thought that she is now joining Melina and Jules is a source of comfort," concludes Victoria Solomonidis, a member of the Board of the Melina Mercouri Foundation.

 Victoria and Eleni at the New Acropolis Museum for the official opening in June 2009 from BCRPM's archives

To read the article in Ta Nea, please follow the link here.

The pdf is also here.

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles wishes to thank Ta Nea for covering this Committee's work from the very start and as early as 1983 (the year BCRPM was founded) and thanks also to the paper's UK correspondent, Yannis Andritsopoulos for allowing family and friends a few days to come to terms with the loss of Mrs Cubitt. Ta Nea respected this time and during these extraordinarily challenging times with news reported instantly, it has meant a great deal. Thank you Ta Nea.

The BCRPM was a lifetime's work and dedication for Eleni. Honorary President Anthony Snodgrass, Chair Janet Suzman and Vice Chair Paul Cartledge plus the thirteen members will continue to support all the initiatives that Eleni had put in place, not least this web site and we thank many more individuals, organisations and campaigners here in the UK, in Greece and elsewhere all over the globe. 

Over the course of the next days and weeks, we will add messages we receive and wish to sincerely thank each and everyone for making time to write, remembering the exceptional and much loved Eleni.