Janet Suzman wrote to the Horniman Museum to congratulate Nick Merriman and his team for returning 72 Benin Bronzes. 

Yesterday, Monday 28 November saw the start of a new chapter in the history of the Benin bronzes in South East London too, and was celebrated by many.

These cultural artefacts were  looted from West Africa by British soldiers in 1897. London’s Horniman museum consulted its public, a wide range of people from museum members, and school children to the Nigerian community, and then announced this summer that it would be returning its Benin Bronzes. London’s Horniman museum signed over 72 of the bronzes yesterday and Janet Suzman wrote to the museum to say how elated the BCRPM was with this act of respect for the bronzes.

The news story was covered by many outlets including Channerl 4 News.  It was good to hear Nick Merriman, Director of the Horniman reflecting on the ease with which school children reacted immediately to the fairness of retuning the bronzes. And to also hear Ngaire Blankenberg, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, explain that there is more to embrace than returning these objects, that we need to look at power imbalances and everything that we do, as museums and institutions develop more collaborative relationships.

On Monday 28 November, Greece's Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, met with King Charles III in the Windsor Castle, accompanied by his wife Mareva Grabowski Mitsotaki.

The PM then went onto to the LSE to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hellenic Observatory. In conversation with LSE’s Kevin Featherstone, they discussed the challenges facing Greece and Europe.

Is Greece on the path to a sustained economic recovery? How substantive have the reforms been? With elections due next year, and with recent controversies, political stability seems at a premium. What vision does the PM have for Greece? And, how are the geopolitics of the region changing? Where does Greece stand on the new issues facing a changing Europe?

Kyriakos Mitsotakis was elected Prime Minister of Greece in 2019. Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies, Professor in European Politics and Director of the Hellenic Observatory.

Watch the live event by following the link here.

The first question asked by Professor Featherstone was one that his wife had requested he put to the Greek PM: "If the British were to give the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece, would you be willing to be PM of the UK?"

PM Mitsoakis smiled graciously and answered by saying that he was delighted to be at the LSE and to congratulate the Hellenic Observatory on its very successful 25th anniversary as these years had made a great contribution to the study of modern Greece. PM Mitosotakis also remembered his days at the LSE, 35 years ago when he was in London as an exchange student from Harvard University. He went on to add that the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures is close to his heart and that it is a cause that all Greeks would like their government to work towards achieving.

Professor Featherstone asked:"Is it doable?"

PM Mitsotakis replied instantly:"Potentially, yes!"

He went onto explain that he did not wish to speak publicly about the discussions Greece is having and went onto to say that he felt that there is a better sense of understanding, and that a solution can be found that would result in the reunification. He also mentions the support of British public opinion, ( that has been there for sometime and the result of the years dedicated to this cause by many not just in Greece and the UK but globally too). The PM also stressed the word reunification, and the will to see the surviving sculptures in situ next to the Acropolis, in the superlative Acropolis Museum.    

A great initiative between the Ministry of Tourism, the Municipality of Athens, and Google has landed and it is promoting Athens as a year-round, sustainable destination.

This new experience is aptly called “Athens. The city is the museum”. Who would want to disagree that Athens is indeed a living, breathing “museum”? We certainly concur that Athens is indeed a living, breathing 'museum'! No matter how often so many of us visit, there's always something both old and new to discover, explore and enjoy.

The series of experiential audio tours invite Athenians as well as visitors, to discover Athens’ street art scene, enjoy its tasteful culinary experiences, immerse themselves in magical music events, look up awesome architecture, and more. The well documented city spots and those located in the lesser-known neighborhoods provide both the old and new aspects of this city that are well worth enjoying, by day and by night.

Athens, through its inhabitants and its rich historical, and cultural identity, itself becomes the museum. It is easily accessible from all over the globe and worth discovering 365 days of the year. 

Visit athens.withgoogle.com to access the campaign video and audio walks. When in Athens, once you selects an audio walk from the webpage (athens.withgoogle.com), a map appears where walk stops are marked with a numbered ‘pin’ as part of a recommended walking route. A dotted line will show you how to make your way to the start of the walk, but at the same time, have the flexibility to select any stop along the route and automatically be re-routed to get there directly. On each stop on the walk, you'll be able to hear stories, interviews, and audio installations connected to the actual place.

Happy visit to Athens!

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Permanent Delegation of Greece to UNESCO in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre organised an international Conference in Delphi (Greece) on 16 -18 November 2022, entitled: 'The Next 50 - The future of World Heritage in challenging times enhancing resilience and sustainability'.

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage as an international conference brought together several dozen experts from all over the world for two days on the site of Delphi.

Alongside representatives of UNESCO and the States Parties serving on the World Heritage Committee, the experts took stock of the Convention’s achievement and examined the challenges it faces in the 21st century.

The event  was  opened on Thursday 17 November at 11am by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece. To watch the proceedings folow the link here.

The Director-General of UNESCO announced a three-pronged action plan to make World Heritage more representative, accessible and sustainable over the coming decades.

Representativeness
Fifty years after its creation, the World Heritage Convention has been ratified by 194 States Parties, giving it a truly universal scope. It has paved the way for the inscription of 1,154 sites in more than 167 countries, recognizing a great diversity of cultural and natural heritage.

Nevertheless, significant geographical disparities persist in the World Heritage List. While some countries have more than 50 inscribed properties, others have none, as is the case of 12 African States Parties to the Convention. The whole of Africa only accounts for 9% of World Heritage sites.

Representativeness also requires greater inclusion of local and indigenous populations, who should be able to participate fully in the process from the nomination of sites for inscription to their management. They should also be able to reap the benefits of inscription.

Accessibility
The inscription of sites on the World Heritage List recognizes their outstanding universal value to be shared by all of humanity. The Convention’s main purpose is to ensure that such properties are preserved and transmitted to future generations.

While sharing and transmission are the two pillars of World Heritage, much remains to be done to ensure that sites are truly accessible to everyone, and in particular to the youngest. To help meet this challenge in the years to come, the international community disposes of new tools made available by digital technologies.

Sustainability
Today, there are 52 World Heritage sites “in danger”. Almost half of them are located on the African continent. They require the deployment of urgent safeguarding measures.

Faced with multiple human pressures including urban development, exploitation of resources, pollution, and overtourism, as well the resurgence of conflicts, all World Heritage sites need better protection.

Climate change has become the number one threat to natural World Heritage sites. It is already having negative impacts on 34% of them, and on 70% of marine sites. By 2100, half of all World Heritage glaciers and all World Heritage coral reefs could disappear.

World Heritage in numbers:
There are currently 1,154 sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List:

897 cultural sites
218 natural sites
39 mixed sites (both cultural and natural)
43 transboundary sites (straddling the territories of two or more countries
52 sites are currently listed as being in danger.

In 50 years, three sites have been removed from the World Heritage List.

World Heritage sites are to be found in 167 countries.

BCRPM reflections: A great convention that embraced climate change and world cultural heritage and tourism. Important for nations to understand the seriousness of the situation and to make recommendations, resolutions within an international framework, however what is also needed is the political will, something we were also made aware of at COP27. And we could add that it is  political will that continues to evade the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles too.

Professor Armand D'Angour, is Professor of Classics at Jesus College Oxford, and as the newest member of BCRPM, outlines his thoughts on the continued plight of the Parthenon Marbles: 

When I was at school studying Classics in the 1970s, the general view in the UK was that the Elgin Marbles had been legally acquired from the Greeks (via the Turks), that they were the essential centrepiece of the British Museum collection, that they had been nobly rescued from destruction by Elgin, that they were far safer in the clean air of London than in traffic-plagued Athens, and that returning them would set a terrible precedent that could lead to the world's museums being denuded.

Now, as a Classics Professor, I know that none of those arguments hold true. First, the acquisition by Elgin was for his personal profit and aggrandisement, and was dubiously legal - his alleged firman seems not even to exist; and it was completed through agreement with Turkish rulers of Greece and not Greeks themselves. Secondly, the display of the marbles in the Duveen Gallery is far from ideal; a colourful and well lit set of replicas would be much more appealing - not to mention the wonderful objects Greece might offer on loan in return, or a display of some of the BM's many other millions of objects currently in storage. Thirdly, the Marbles were not kept safe, but damaged with inappropriate cleaning fluids; the beautiful new museum on the Acropolis is a much worthier site today, and traffic is far worse in London than it is in Athens! Few objects have such iconic national status - and if they do, there would be a strong case for their return too to their place of origin.

These are arguments from common sense and history. The main arguments, though, that have persuaded me personally that the time has come for the reunification of the marbles in Athens are moral and emotional. It feels to many, Greeks and non-Greeks as if they are a vital part of the Greek land and soul; and that their theft by Elgin, compounded by a high-handed attitude to their return, remains an open wound.

The tale is told that when the Greeks were fighting for their independence, a group of soldiers observed the Turks stripping lead from between the stones of the Parthenon for use as bullets. Relatively uneducated and rustic Christians as the soldiers were, they felt strongly that this was a dreadful desecration of this pagan monument that had eternal significance to Greeks. They sent a delegation to the Turkish commander with a box of bullets - the very means of their own possible deaths - telling him that they would prefer them to be used than for the great ancient monument to be fatally damaged. Unhistorical as this anecdote undoubtedly is, the fact that it has often been told by Greeks is indicative of their strong feelings about this unique monument.

The emotional resonance of the Parthenon to Greeks - something increasingly recognised and appreciated by British people - makes for me one of the strongest cases for the reunification of the Marbles.

Chairman of the British Museum, George Osborne announced a new chapter for the British Museum, one that reimagines the museum. A masterplan costing £1 billion, aimed at making the British Museum, "the global museum of common humanity" with more details to be revealed next spring. 

The British Museum is also looking to change the way that it engages with communities whose treasures the museum holds in trust.

In The Times today, George Osborne insisted that the collections would not be permanently broken up, but that “some of our greatest objects” would return to their countries of origin if common ground could be found: “My message is: if you’re ready to find the common ground, then so are we.” The article goes on to highlight that the  "Western sculpture galleries will be transformed, while some of the Greek revival architecture of the building will undergo restoration. George Osborne also promised a programme of rebuilding, and a museum powered by a new energy system to make it “a net zero carbon museum — no longer a destination for climate protest but instead an example of climate solution.”

This follows the unveiling at the Freud Museum on Tuesday of a 3D replica of the chariot horse head, of the goddess Selene. The replica created by the Institute of Digital Archaeology (IDA) was crafted from the same marble that all of the Parthenon sculptures were made. Roger Michel of the IDA hopes that the precision of this replica will sway the BM to support the reunification of the sculptures that have survived, and in so doing, respond to the global community's wishes to view them in the Acropolis Museum.

BCRPM's quote of 2012, continues to hold true today as it did a decade ago: 'the Parthenon Gallery in the Acropolis Museum is the one place on earth where it is possible to have a single and aesthetic experience simultaneously of the Parthenon and its sculptures. It is time for the UK to enter into dialogue with Greece about the terms of, and conditions under, which the return of these sculptures could be facilitated.'

More on the news regarding the refurbishment of the British Museum by Cristina Ruiz in The Art Newspaper from Thursday 03 November and followed on Friday 04 November, by Tessa Solomon in ARTnews.