Story first published by Ta Nea on Saturday on 03 December revealed 13 months of talks between Greece and the British Museum were progressing to find a solution for the plight of the Parthenon Marbles. Today, Monday 05 December 2022 Ta Nea followed this story’s take up by many outlets, globally.

UNESCO’s ICPRCP decisions at their meeting in Paris in May of this year emphasised the need for talks, preceded it now seems by PM Mitsotakis London visit the previous November when he met with the then UK PM, Johnson.

The news coverage in Ta Nea through their London correspondent Yannis Andritsopoulos for the past 4 years has intensified. To read more, see follow up article in today’s Ta Nea, link here.

"It's good that the two sides are finally talking. I hope that an agreement will be found, as was the case with the return of the Fagan fragment from Sicily. In this way, the British Museum can correct a 200 year old historical crime," Dr Christiane Tytgat, Chair of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (IARPS).

"The news of the talks is very gratifying for us who have been campaigning for the return of the Parthenon Marbles for almost 40 years. We call on the British Museum to become part of a genuine, sincere cultural diplomacy and to return the Marbles to where they belong," said British Committee for the Reunification of Sculptures (BCRPM) Vice-Chair Paul Cartledge, also Vice-Chair of the IARPS.

Chris Hastings in the Mail on Sunday, 04 December 2022 writes: 

George Osborne is in secret discussions with Greece's Prime Minister over returning the Elgin Marbles

• George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum, in talks over Elgin Marbles
• Believed he and Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed their return last month
• The marbles were removed by Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1812 from Greece

British Museum chairman George Osborne has been discussing the possible return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece with its prime minister.

The talks between the former Chancellor and Kyriakos Mitsotakis are believed to have taken place last month during the Greek leader’s visit to the UK.

The talks have led to renewed speculation that the museum could announce the return of some or all of the Elgin Marbles to Greece either as a loan or as part of a permanent repatriation.

The marbles, dating back to the 5th Century BC, were removed by Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1812.

Greece, which would place them in a museum close to the Parthenon from where they were taken, has said it will offer the British Museum antiquities never before seen outside the country.

Actress Dame Janet Suzman, who chairs the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, said: ‘This is a very positive step forward. 

'George Osborne might be interested in a legacy and this might be a very enlightened one.’

To many that have campaigned for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, today's news article in Ta Nea, did not come as a surprise. But less so for those attending a function at the Greek Ambassador's residence in London on Thursday evening, and being delighted to see that Christopher Hitchens' book 'The Parthenon Marbles, A Case for the Reunification' was on the coffee table.

Congratulations Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK Correspondent for Ta Nea for your article in today's paper:'Head of British Museum held secret talks with Greek PM, officials to agree deal for Parthenon Marbles’ return'. Your weekend features have been a rollercoaster of news items supporting the reunification, and we thank you for all of them, over these last four years. 

The reunification of a peerless collection of artefacts such as these sculptures deserve private talks. Urged for decades by UNESCO's ICPRCP and many more, it was and is what is needed. Cultural co-operation in the 21st century deserves diplomacy, understanding and empathy.

Gratitude also to Greek PM Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister Dendias, Culture and Sports Minister Mendoni, Ambassador HE Raptakis, and the work and dedication that Artemis Papathanassiou, legal advisor for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has put into this specific case for over a decade. We must also remember the huge support offered to BCRPM since 1983 by many wonderful people, the Greek officials, archaeologists, classicists, journalists, not least Professor Pandermalis, the late President of the Acropolis Museum and its current Director General Professor Stampolidis. But the list of thanks also extends to many more folks from all over the globe that joined in making their voices heard.

BCRPM especially thanks Tristram Besterman for guidance over the decades (museums and their collections are complex!) and Tom Flynn. Together you had been Eleni's muses, and continued to be for BCRPM as a whole. Here's to that special day. 

And when that special day may arrive, the biggest thanks and praise of all will be with the British Museum, its Chair George Osborne and its Trustees: Professor Abhijit V Banerjee, Professor Dame Mary Beard DBE, FSA, FBA, Dame Elizabeth Corley DBE, Ms Clarissa Farr, Professor Chris Gosden FBA, Ms Muriel Gray FRSE (Deputy Chair), Mr Philipp Hildebrand, Dame Vivian Hunt DBE, Lord Jonathan Marland, Sir Charlie Mayfield, Mr George Osborne CH (Chair), Mr Mark Pears CBE, Mr Grayson Perry CBE, RA, Sir Paul Ruddock FSA, Mr Alejandro Santo Domingo, Baroness (Minouche) Shafik DBE (Deputy Chair), Mr Weijian Shan, Ms Priyanka Wadhawan, Professor Sir Mark Walport FRCP, FRS, FMedSci, HonFRSE, Mr George Weston, Professor Dame Sarah Worthington DBE, QC (Hon), FBA, and the British Museum’s Director, Hartwig Fischer, not least the staff that have supported this cause on the Q.T.

To read Ta Nea, follow the link here or to read the English version, please view the document here.

Festive mood at the Acropolis Museum

This year, the Acropolis Museum invites visitors to experience a festive season with a family programmes, evening gallery tours for adults, exploring the exhibits hidden stories, and unique gift creations in the Museum Shop, not least festive meals at the restaurant.

Christmas carols 

Visitors can combine a coffee or desert at the restaurant and listen to Christmas carols.

On Thursday 22 December at 11 a.m. the Museum will welcome the famous Greek National Opera’s Children’s Chorus for a Christmas concert, directed by Konstantina Pitsiakou.

On Wednesday 28 December at 11 a.m., the Female Choir Ensemble ‘Chórεs’ will present traditional carols and well-known songs from Greek and international repertoire, directed by Simela Emmanouilidou. These two concerts are organized in collaboration with the Greek National Opera.

On the last day of this year, Friday 30 December at 11 a.m. the Efxinos Club of Episkopi Naousa in Imathia will present traditional carols and Pontian dances.

Evening tours at the Museum and traditional recipes

Every Friday of the month of December, visitors can join a captivating walk in the Parthenon Gallery, where they can admire two unique vessels from Toronto, Canada. The iconography of these vessels is closely related to the Parthenon’s frieze. Clay and marble reveal known and unknown aspects of the Great Panathenaia, which visitors can discover together with the Museum’s archaeologists in the Parthenon Gallery. The gallery talk takes place at 6 p.m. in English and at 8 p.m. in Greek. 

Goblin …mischief

This Christmas, goblins will invade the Acropolis Museum! There they will team up with various mischievous creatures of antiquity, such as Satyrs and Pan and… mix up the exhibits’ captions. As a result, Museum visitors will receive false information! In this programme set up in the form of interactive play, Museum archaeologists will be asking children to  help them fix the chaos and keep the troublemakers away.

Days & hours: Wednesday 28/12, Thursday 29/12, Wednesday 4/1 & Thursday 5/1, 10 a.m. and 12 noon (in Greek only).

Participation: For children 5-10 years old. Free participation for children & general admission fee for parents/escorts.

Registration: Limited to 30 visitors per program. 

Hidden stories of 20+1 masterpieces

Discover with the Museum’s archaeologists the hidden stories of 20+1 masterpieces every Saturday in December. Myths and fables, folklores and traditions, historical milestones and human stories transform into art and weave a vivid experience during an outstanding walk in the Museum’s galleries. The gallery talk takes place at 10:30 a.m. in English and at 12:30 p.m. in Greek .

Special gifts for the holidays

Before leaving the Museum, a visit to the Shop, to discover beautiful decorative objects, and Christmas gift ideas. This year’s lucky charm is ideal for a gift to a loved one, inspired by the helix which forms at the peak of the sima (roof gutter) of the Hekatompedon, the great temple built around 570 BC, about 120 years prior to the construction of the Parthenon.

On the 1st of December, in the Art Newspaper, Martin Bailey wrote that the London National Gallery's had cancelled their partnership with Pushkin Museum. The two institutions were to have jointly presented next year’s exhibition After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art, but the arrangement was terminated in March, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Martin Bailey writes: "Marina Loshak had taken over as the Pushkin’s director in 2013 from Irina Antonova, then 91, who had joined the museum back in 1945. During the Cold War and its aftermath, the Pushkin was isolated from the museum world, but Loshak has been determined to develop its international links. After Impressionism was a key element of her strategy." To read the full article, follow the link here.

It was in 2014 that the then Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor agreed to send the River God Ilissos to the Hermitage Museum as a loan and for the 200th annivrsary of the museum in St Petersburg, this was just months after Russia had annexed Crimea.

Neil MacGregor, former Director, stated in public interviews at that  time, that the British Museum had not consulted with the FCO ahead of agreeing the loan, while the Museum’s website explains that Trustees “immediately accepted” the Russian invitation upon receiving it.

Despite these comments the British Museum refused to release the request for the loan from the Hermitage Museum claiming that doing so would “be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom” and the Russian Federation.

In their response to the BCRPM’s FOI request the British Museum went on to say “The State Hermitage Museum is a national museum which forms part of Russian Government administration, and any requests made by its staff in relation to this loan were made in private correspondence to curators at the British Museum, in the reasonable expectation that any such correspondence would remain confidential.

In applying the public interest test to this case, the Museum recognises that there is a public interest in disclosure because of active interest in the Museum’s loans programme, and in this object. However, the Museum takes the view that if it were to release this information at this time, it adds little to public understanding of the relevant issues but could adversely influence diplomatic relations between the UK and Russia.”

BCRPM campaigners were exasperated at the inconsistency between the Museum’s public line, claiming that the loan was purely a cultural exchange between cultural institutions, and that taken by their legal department suggests that this was in fact about real politics.

“While cultural exchange can be an enormous force for peace, what was surely a well-intentioned notion, though hotly contested at the time, now looks like a grotesquely naive failure to steward these hugely important symbols with appropriate care.

It’s shocking that the British Museum will not even come clean about what can only be seen as a great cultural coup for Mr Putin.” Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of BCRPM.

“We at the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles hope that under new leadership the British Museum will take the opportunity to respond with openness and maturity to the peaceful calls for reunification, rather than risking that our shared human heritage be used to burnish the reputations of regimes such as these.

The Acropolis Museum has now been opened to the public for 13 years and six months, and has welcomed millions of visitors from all over the globe. There are no reasons left in the British Museum’s armoury to keep this incomparable work of art divided, and mainly between two great museums. The BM is in a unique position to show ethical leadership in tune with the times and the ‘universal’ values that it espouses. It’s time to reunify these sculptures.” Professor Paul Cartledge, Vice-Chair of BCRPM.

The Acropolis Museum strengthens its social and educational role by expanding its activities to special groups of visitors. Starting with immigrants and refugees and students attending correctional education, as well as adding to students that ‘visit’ the Museum online.

Especially designed programmes are addressed to people of different cultural backgrounds and experiences and encourage their familiarisation with Greek history and culture. Through some designated exhibits, participants learn about the Acropolis Rock and the great moments of its history, about art and the people who created it and they exchange views and experiences with the archaeologists that accompany them.

Additionally, the Museum offers virtual tours to groups of students attending Correctional Facilities schools. Through an online walk in the galleries and the most important exhibits, participants gain new experiences, cultivate their knowledge as they exchange opinions and thoughts.

Finally, the Museum created a new section in its website titled “The Museum at school” with online programme, in order to accommodate the needs of schools abroad and in remote areas in Greece. This section has also been enriched with digital applications that can be used in the classroom, making the lesson more engaging and interactive. In the same section, teachers can also find information about the Museum kits that continue to be available on loan for schools, but also the repository of educational material, from which they can draw information about the Acropolis and the Museum’s exhibits.

All above programmes are offered free of charge. For more information, visit: https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/special-groups  and https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/museum-at-school