TAN The Art Newspaper 23 November 2021

Martin Bailey reports on the classified documents on the sculptures from the Parthenon, compiled in 1991. 

David Miers, became British Ambassador in Athens in 1989 and in 1991 organised a visit to Athens for the then Conservative arts minister Timothy Renton. After this visit, David Miers wrote a report for the Foreign Office which was passed on to the Office of Arts and Libraries (a precursor to the government’s culture department). In this report the UK Ambassador referred to the Parthenon Marbles as an "issue on which we can never win: the best we can do is to keep our heads down as far as possible: and avoid using defensive arguments here in Greece which will sound hollow in Greek ears.”

“For instance I do not think the argument about the trustees of the museum is a very good one for use here. The Greeks know that we could legislate [to allow deaccessioning] if we wanted: the problem for them is that we don’t want [to].” 

A separate letter in the file argues that the Marbles would be safer in London than Athens. A foreign office official wrote that the British government cited “environmental concerns as further reasons for keeping the Marbles in their controlled environment in the British Museum”, in view of “severe air pollution in Athens”.

Then in 2009 the Acropolis Museum opened, and  this year the British Museum has closed Room 18 for maintenance. Reports of the leaking glass roof began in December 2019 and in January and February 2020 heaters where placed in this room whilst in the summer months, the fire exit door was left open for ventilation, underlining the lack of climate controls. This year's closure of Room 18 continues.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Johnson, Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pointed out that Greece still holds the UK government responsible for the continued presence of the Marbles in the British Museum.

To read the full article, please follow the link here.

Telegraph 26 November 2021

The Telegraph article cites The Art Newspaper article quoting the British Ambassador to Greece, Sir David Miers, admitting that the UK would not win the argument on the division of the Parthenon Marbles between Athens and London.

The Telegraph also picks up on a letter written by Johnson in 2012 when he was Mayor of London, where he admits that the sculptures from the Parthenon "should have never been removed from the Acropolis."

Saturday 27 November 2021, TA NEA

UK Correspondent Yannis Andritsopoulos interviews Denis MacShane and writes about the opportunity to reunite the sculptures when Tony Blair became Prime Minister.

Denis MacShane goes on to add that he'd met up with George Osborne at a recent function and the matter of the sculptures was raised, however George Osborne, just into his position as the new Chair of the British Museum, was 'full of contempt'.

George Osborne as part of the establishment will no doubt feel that he can be dismissive on this issue and follow the well rehearsed example of successive British Museum Directors and Chairs of the Trustees.

When Hartwig Fisher described the continued division of the Parrthenon Marbles as 'creative', the media world exploded, and when Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Prime Minister Mitsotakis failing yet again to accept the UK governments responsibility, the media world found more letters and documents to prove that this dismissive attitude by the UK Government is not new. And yet times are changing. Where will the UK stand as more museums are doing their best to return artefacts removed from countries of origin where the voice of that nation, at that time, was not to be heard? History doesn't have to be rewritten for old wrongs to be put right, for there are cases when we can do better than just roll out contempt.

George Osborne made his first official speech during a dinner held at the British Museum by the Trsutee on Wednesday 24 November. And in reading it, one can but conclude that there will be no visionary changes at the British Museum, with the exception of the new Museum in Nigeria to house the Benin Bronzes.This museum is designed by architect David Adjaye.

YouGov Poll published 23 November 2021

The Parthenon Marbles are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures that were removed from the Acropolis in Athens from 1801-12 (when Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Empire) and have been on display in the British Museum since 1817. The Greek government has requested their permanent return, but the British Museum has refused. Where do you believe the Parthenon Marbles belong?

Looking at the breakdown of the 7717 adults surveyed, Scotland tops the poll with 68% in favour,London 63%,the Midlands 59%  the South and North of England equal with 59%. The sample group voting in favour were almost equally divided bewtweeb 62% female and 59% male.The largest age group at 62% were the those aged 50-64, closely follwed at 61% of those over 65 years of age. Those aged to 18-24 accounted for 58% of the votes in favour, closely followed by those aged 25-29 at 57%.

On the political spectrum Labour supporters were way ahead wth 73%, followed by Lib Dem's at 65% and Conservatives at 49%.

To see the poll on the YouGov site, follow the link.

25 November 2021 

Sometimes fairy tales come true: I never thought to see the stunning coverage given to the Marbles by two leading right-wing newspapers, The Mail and The Telegraph. But see how one can be so wrongfooted: The Mail quotes the Greek Prime Minister’s eloquent case for the return in full, and the Telegraph offers a huge, unmissable, two-page spread offering the pros and cons of a return.

The tall dark and handsome stranger has ridden into the enemy camp bearing a white flag of peace and bounty; PM Mitsotakis covers every relevant point about the continuing stubborn possession by the British of the world’s finest pieces of ancient sculpture, while appealing warmly to the better nature of the man in No 10. Neither he nor the nation knows whether that man even has a better nature, but we must hope that he has.

A good sign - albeit a tiny one - is that PM Johnson told PM Mitsotakis that it is not a governmental issue but one for the British Museum to attend to. This is nonsense because it is indeed an inter-governmental issue, but it at once moves the matter to a more arms length distance from his office. Hopefully it even might allow Johnson’s entitled heart to become assailed by thoughts of a more classical nature while he properly assesses Greece’s just case and gives the green light to grown-up debates and discussions, and eventually to the repeal of certain Acts.

The time has come for the British and its fabulous Museum to return what was sneakily taken from an occupied country two hundred years ago. The behaviour of Elgin and his henchmen is not divulged to the public who come to admire these figures; the BM avers they were ‘legally acquired’ and leaves it at that. It does not recount to the visitor the briberies and corruptions over many years that Elgin indulged in. Nor does it tell of the brutally rough choppings and sawings of pieces of magnificence from the building the figures adorned. The sense of British fair play surely cannot be dead? If the public were told the full story they could not possibly approve.

Recent polls suggest public opinion is growing in favour of return, due largely to a greater historical awareness of colonial misdemeanours and a questioning of a dead empire’s right to imagine itself unassailably in the right. The BM is behind the curve on this. It has a reputation to save and must go about saving it right now.

I cannot think of a single argument in favour of keeping the legacy of Greece locked in Bloomsbury, and certainly not the one of a precedent which could lead to the emptying of museums worldwide. There’s no sign of a deluge of requests. Certain things must be returned and that’s that; Benin will be celebrating long before Athens. The millions of other objects which delight and educate will stay where they are.

I was told by the former President of Greece, a government ago, that Greece only wants what was taken unlawfully by Elgin from the Parthenon, and is in fact happy that many museums possess prized parts of classical Greece. The BM has other rooms chocca with Greek treasures, but in return for those still sitting in Room 18, we could gaze on loans that have never before left Greece. Who does not wish to gaze on the golden face of Agamemnon, and other Mycenean treasures? Me for one. You?

Dame Janet Suzman
Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM)

This was also published in eKathimerini

THE GUARDIAN 16 November 2021

On Tuesday, 16 November 2021 in the Guardian Peter Walker and Helena Smith wrote that it has long been the official UK position that any return is a matter for the British Museum.

The wider debate about museums returning artefacts taken from other countries during colonial times, has so far been resisted by the UK with the mantra of “retain and explain”. And that the British Museum’s consistent view is that the sculptures were acquired legally, with Elgin receiving formal consent from the Ottoman empire to remove the section of sculptures. “His actions were thoroughly investigated by a parliamentary select committee in 1816 and found to be entirely legal, prior to the sculptures entering the collection of the British Museum by act of parliament,” the museum says on its website.

BCRPM Vice-Chair Paul Cartledge was quoted in the same Guardian article saying that this amounted to “a sleight of hand”.

“It’s a nonsense,” he added. “Even if the trustees agreed to relinquish them, the final decision to rescind the act of 1816 which declared the Elgin Collection to be owned by the nation would legally have to go through the British parliament. There is no doubt that the pressure is building up for genuine, post-imperial reconciliation in the cultural sphere and Johnson is trying to evade it.”

To read thst article in full, follow the link here.

THE TIMES

  Josh Glancey of The Times tweeted on the same day about the British Museum's website statement:

And BCRPM member Benjamin Ramm replied 

Variations in the British Museum's statements, half truths on the information provided in Room 18, have left generations questioning what really happened bewtween 1801-1805 for Greece to have lost to another country half of its surviving Parthenon Marbles, with the Parthenon itself still in Athens.

A helpful video can be found on the Acropolis Museum web site.

GBNews 18 November 2021

On Friday vening BCRPM's member Professor John Tasioulas joined GBNews and took a pragmatic approach on the issue too.

Today, Saturday 20 November, Simon Jenkins wrote in the Guardian and the article headline reads: 'Give the Parthenon marbles back to Greece – tech advances mean there are no more excuses. To read the full article follow the link here. 

THE GUARDIAN 20 November 2021

Simon Jenkins pragmatic approach concludes: 'This issue, so important to the Greeks but not to the British, could be sorted out with goodwill in an instant. Precisely such a negotiation on the marbles was demanded in September by UNESCO, and rejected by Britain. If it requires a “perpetual loan” or an act of parliament, then get on with it. If money is required, raise it. Johnson is being feeble in fobbing off Athens’ request as not being under his purview. The museum is a state institution. Instead of keeping his promise and doing the right thing by the marbles, he has performed another U-turn and funked it.'

THE DAILY MAIL 20 November 2021 

Prime Minister Mitsotakis wrote in the Daily Mail and adds: "Now, given the Prime Minister has told me he would not stand in the way of Greece establishing a formal dialogue with the British Museum over the future of the marbles, I can only assume things will be different – that he will not obstruct any future agreement and, instead, the Prime Minister would seek to amend the relevant legislation to allow the sculptures’ return."

THE TELEGRAPH 20 November 2021

The Telegraph published a double page spread in the main section of Saturday's paper, witten by Gordon Raynor, with the headline questioning:'Could we be on course to lose 'our' Marbles?'

BCRPM's Chair Janet Suzman is quoted:"The British Museum is demonstrably behind the curve.Other world-class institutions have started returning items, so it's a bit smug for the British Museum to refuse to engage. It just keeps trotting out the same mantra it has clung on for the past 200 years. It's terribly impolite for them to just stay silent on this."

The British Museum's reasons for keeping the Marbles in London and divided from their surviving half in Athens is that: " there is a positive advantage and public benefit in having the sculptures divided bewtween two great museums, because in Athens they are seen against the backdrop of Athenian history and in London visitors gain insight into how ancient Greece influenced other civilisations."

Janet adds that this is just "childish, finders keepers stuff. They were forcibly removed, they were brought to Britain, they have excited the western world and classical scholarship went up. They have done their job and it's time for them to go home. It is a moral obligation.

She continues:" Anyone who goes to the museum in Athens can see, that is where they should be displayed. In the British Museum the experience is quite depressing."

To read the full article, visit the Telegraph.

More on this also in the Greek Reporter.

Tuesday, 16 November began with Prime Minister Mitsotakis on ITV's Good Morning Britain.

Greece's Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about his nation's handling of the pandemic and on going measures; the challenges and risks facing migrants and refugees; explained that it is the long and respectful cooperation between Greece and the UK which he hopes will catapult the UK into enganing in bi-lateral talks to find a solution for the reuification of the Parthenon Marbles.

"Where there's a will", Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis added, the continued division of the sculptures from the Parthenon would be resolved.

BCRPM have campaigned for nearly 4 decades and continue to do so reinforcing that this is about reuniting a peerless collection of sculptures that belong to the Parthenon, which still stands. A magnanimous gesture from the UK to Greece in this special year, the 200th year of Greek independence would be hugely welcomed. Sentiments echoed by Prime Minister Mitsotakis.

The meeting at No 10, which followed on the same day was also covered by most of the media, you can read the summary from UK Government portal here. The concluding paragraph reads:

Prime Minister Mitsotakis raised the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures. The Prime Minister ( The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP) said that he understood the strength of feeling of the Greek people on this issue, but reiterated the UK’s longstanding position that this matter is one for the trustees of the British Museum. 

Only two months ago it was UNESCO's ICPRCP that concluded at the 22nd session, which ended on the 29th of September evening, the Committee issued (due to the countless efforts of Greece and the invaluable support of Zambia, Egypt, and other countries-members of the ICPRCP) for the first time, a Decision concerning specially the issue of the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. The Committee urged, through the Decision, the United Kingdom to reconsider its position and to negotiate with Greece, in bona fide, acknowledging that the matter is intergovernmental - contrary to the British side's claim that the case concerns exclusively the Trustees of the British Museum - and that Greece is claiming rightly and legally the Return of the Sculptures. This new Decision, is an important development in the recognition of the legality and intergovernmental character of Greece’s just claim.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis went on to visit London's Science Museum for the opening of the exhibition, entitled ANCIENT GREEKS: SCIENCE AND WISDOM. Prime Minister Mitsotakis addressed the gathering and said: "The exhibition "Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom" highlights how modern scientific innovation helps to reveal more than ever about ancient Greece - allowing us to travel back in time, to an ancient civilization." He then added:"We want to work with the UK government and the British Museum to find a solution so that the Parthenon Sculptures can be seen in their entirety in Athens, where they belong. This way they can be better appreciated."

"Undoubtedly, they are best viewed in situ, and in context. That they are connected visually to the very monument which lends the sculptures their global significance, really matters. Which is why we want to work with the UK government and the British Museum on a solution that will allow for the Parthenon Sculptures to be viewed as one, in Athens.I raised the issue with Prime Minister Johnson today and I very much intend to continue working hard until the Parthenon sculptures have been returned permanently to the Acropolis Museum." To read Prime Minister Mitsotakis' full speech, please follow the link, here.

The exhibition 'Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom' at the Science Museum runs from 17 November 2021 to 05 June 2022.

We also believe, ladies and gentlemen, in the countless possibilities offered by science and technology. Earlier this week, at Olympia, that power of technology was on display with the launch of Ancient Olympia : Commons Grounds, a unique collaboration with Microsoft that is harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence and opening up a completely new way of expressing what our cultural heritage is all about.

The scale and depth of Olympia’s past can now be experienced on the site itself or remotely anywhere in the world, using cutting edge augmented reality tools.

This is about using innovation to deliver a new frontier in the preservation and public understanding of our cultural heritage – a mission all the more critical given the changing times we face.

Because climate change, pollution and international conflicts affect our present and shape our future. But they also have serious implications on our past.

Our changing environment and extreme weather events pose a direct and growing threat to great monuments of civilization. It is that threat that persuaded us of the need for action, which is why we launched what we considered to be an important initiative called “Addressing climate change impacts on cultural and natural heritage”.

I would like to thank UNESCO for its invaluable support in that initiative. Of course, it is impossible to overstate the importance of, and our commitment to, the third pillar of UNESCO: CULTURE.

There cannot be dialogue between nations, without dialogue amongst cultures. Something which presupposes respect for the history, heritage, and identity of each nation. To my mind that means that emblematic monuments, inherently connected to the very identity of a nation, should be a matter of that nation.

Take the Parthenon Sculptures, which make up a hugely significant piece of the world’s cultural heritage and are perhaps the most important symbolic link between modern Greeks and their ancestors.

Most of that collection can be found on display in the Acropolis Museum, a few hundred meters from the Parthenon. That they can be seen in situ, in their birthplace, connected visually to the monument which lends the sculptures their global significance, that really matters.

However, while a part of that collection remains exiled in London that impact can never be fully appreciated. That is why I believe it is essential that the Parthenon marbles in London should be reunited with the majority of the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens.

Last September a pivotal step was taken by UNESCOs Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property.

For the first time, it unanimously adopted a decision recognising that “the case has an intergovernmental character and, therefore, the obligation to return the Parthenon Sculptures lies squarely on the UK Government”.

The UK should move to a bona fide dialogue with Greece. And I urge them to do so. After all, this year marks the 200th anniversary of Greece’s War of Independence. There could be no better time than now, in which to reunite the missing section of the Parthenon Sculptures – in their birthplace – in Greece.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis

12 November 2021, Paris, UNESCO’s 75th Anniversary celebration

Publications that carried more on this include: 

Reuters 

eKathemerini

The Telegraph 

And on Saturday 13 November 2021:

The Independent

The Guardian

The Belfast Telegraph

The Metro

To Vima

And on Sunday 14 November 2021:

Parkiaki