2022 News

Wednesday 09 February 2022, was a great day in Sicilian and Greek relations

Wednesday 09 February 2022, was a great day in Sicilian and Greek relations with the arrival from the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the statue of the goddess Athena (Acr. 3027, second half of the fifth century BC.) to be exhibited in the regional museum, the Museo Archeologico Regionale "Antonino Salinas", Palermo.

The official delivery took place, in the morning, in the presence of  Minister of Culture and Sport of the Hellenic Republic, Lina Mendoni, and the director of the Acropolis Museum, Nikolaos Stampolidis, who entrusted this precious statue of the goddess Athena in the hands of the Regional Councillor of Cultural Heritage Alberto Samonà and the director of the Salinas museum, Caterina Greco. Also present were the Italian Deputy Minister for Culture Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni and Professor Louis Godart, President of the Italian Committee for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

The arrival in Palermo of the statue of Athena was possible following the agreement, encouraged by Alberto Samonà and signed between the two museums under Italian law, according to which Sicily granted the Acropolis Museum the fragment of the Frieze of the Parthenon that belonged to the English consul Robert Fagan and that, after being sold in 1820, was kept in the Museo Archeologico Regionale "Antonino Salinas".

It is the first time that the Acropolis Museum offers Sicily, for a long-term exhibition, an original testimony of Athenian history. Thanks to the agreement between the two museums, but more generally, Sicily and Greece, this heralds the start of a great path for cultural collaboration.

The presentation of the statue took place on Wednesday 09 February 2022, “International Greek Language Day”, a day celebrating the Greek language and culture.

At the end of the four years, the Acropolis Museum will send to Palermo a geometric amphora of the early eighth century BC.

Associated Press in the Washington Post also reports: 'Greece hopes the loan of the small Italian fragment — part of a 160-meter-long (520-foot) frieze that ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon — will boost its campaign for the return from London of the British Museum’s part of the Parthenon Sculptures. “Greece recognizes no rights of ownership or possession” to the sculptures in the British Museum, commented Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni who travelled to Palermo’s  A. Salinas Archaeological Museum for the handover. “(The deal with Italy) indicates the path that London can follow”, concludes Mendoni.

Athena Palermoatena palermo and people

The statue of the goddess Athena which has been lent from the Acropolis Museum to the Museo Archeologico Regionale "Antonino Salinas", Palermo. The official ceremony held at the museum on Wednesday 09 February, pictured from left to right:Italian Deputy Minister for Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni, Professor Louis Godart, President of the Italian Committee for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles with Alberto Samonà the Councillor for Cultural Heritage and Identity of the Sicilian Region as well as Director of the Salinas Museum, and Minister of Culture and Sport of the Hellenic Republic, Lina Mendoni,


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My plea, that we should consider returning the Parthenon Marbles is based on the fact that they are a unique piece of art. That they belong together and have a proud history in terms of the Greek historical traditions, surely we should think again.

Lord Alf Dubs

Lord Alf Dubs just after 3 pm, in the House of Lords, made a pertinent and heartfelt plea for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles:

"In the British Museum there are over 108,000 Greek artefacts of which six and half thousand are currently on display but more importantly will he accept that my plea that we should consider returning the Parthenon Marbles is based on the fact that they are a unique piece of art. That they belong together and have a proud history in terms of the Greek historical traditions, surely we should think again."

Sadly also listening to the well rehearsed replies by Lord Parkinson, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, other lines came to mind:

'tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time'

When will solemn and honest dialogue begin to reunite this peerless collection of sculptures so senselessly divided, mainly between two great museums? Isn't it time to appreciate the efforts made by Greece to showcase these works of art as close as it is physically possible to the building they were a part of for over two and half millennia? Isn't it time to prove that as people of nations that respect and care about cultural heritage, we can do the right thing?

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. There are no reasons remaining to prevent the UK from entering into dialogue with Greece now about the terms of and conditions under which return might be considered.

09 February 2022, Ta Nea

UK Correspondent for Ta Nea, Yannis Andritsopoulos has published his article, which can be read online at Ta Nea. He notes that yesterday's ten-minute debate in the House of Lord was held at the initiative of the Lord Dubs, who asked the government to reconsider the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. 

'In response, the British Under Secretary of State cited the Johnson-Mitsotakis meeting, in which, he said, the British Prime Minister "underlined the long-standing position of the United Kingdom that this is a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum, who are the rightful owners of the Sculptures". He then reiterated that "the government fully supports the position of the Museum's Trustees ( that the Sculptures should stay in London)", adding that Johnson "made this clear to the Greek prime minister when they met".'

We would add that UNESCO's ICPRCP recognised last September, the intergovernmental nature of the request for the Parthenon Marbles and that Prime Minister Mitsotkis stated this in his discussions with Prime Miniser Johnson in November 2022.

What was equally uplifting in yesterday's discussions was the addition of more voices in the House of Lords. These voices were suggesting that it was time for the UK to give this request the serious deliberation it deserved.

We continue to be reminded that when these sclptures were forcibly removed, Greece had no voice. Today, Greece's voice is loud and clear and the support for the reunification here in the UK, and elsewhere is equally loud and clear. There's no better time than the persent. And the case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles has been wrapped in immeasurable patience, time for the UK and the British Museum to show the love and respect that we all share for these sculptures.

 

  Ta nea 09 Feb


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Le Monde: free the Parthenon Marbles

"Free the Parthenon marbles imprisoned in a dark and narrow gallery of the British Museum", reads the headline of Le Monde's Rostrum on cultural debates and today it centred on the most well documented debate, the fragmented and continued division of the Parthenon Marbles. To read the entire article in English, follow the link here.

The debate of the Parthenon Marbles forcibly removed from the Parthenon, which still stands on the Acropolis in Athens, continues apace. According to the article in today's Le Monde this 'topical and thorny' continues to show the British authorities  swimming against the tide, with restitutions and exchanges in other countries making their own timely headlines.

The 10 January 2022 ceremony held at the superlative Acropolis Museum, saw a fragment of the Parthenon frieze, which depicts a foot of Artemis, lent from the Antonio Salinas Museum in Palermo (Italy), reunited in Athens. This long-term loan was signaled by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as an  "important step" that paved the way for other museums to "follow the same path."

fragment palermo

The UK, despite the monumental and significant Decision taken by UNESCO's ICPRCP last September continues to refuse to enter into negotiations for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. These sculptures are still divided and almost equally, as a result of the actions of Lord Elgin at the start of the 19th century, follwed  in 1816, by the British goverment's acquisition of what Lord Elgin had stripped off the Parthenon. It is these sculptures, often referred to as 'Elgin Marbles', which remain in the British Mueum's Room 18, that are divided from those in the Acropolis Musem's top floor, glass walled Parthenon Gallery. 

There was a time when the British Museum argued that the Parthenon sculptures would be better preserved in London. The cleaning with ammonia and copper brushes in the late 1930s left many in shock, not least in recent years images of water leaking in the Parthenon Gallery of the British Museum from a moss covered, flat glass roof.

climate controls collage with 3 seasons

(BCRPM campaigners and protestors were shocked by the large heaters placed in Room 18 during recent protests pre pandemic, not least the Fire Exit door in Room 18, g left open for ventilation in the summer.)

Professor Louis Godard: "The Parthenon deserves its marbles"
'The Acropolis Museum, designed by Bernard Tschumi and co-financed by the European Union, is at the forefront of modern technology and architecture. It invites the return of these authentic pieces to their place of origin.'

A matter for two governments

During his official meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Downing Street, on November 15, 2021, the Greek Prime Minister, Kuriakos Mitsotakis clearly stressed the importance and necessity of the reunification of the marbles. He insisted, like UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Country of Origin at its 22nd session in September 2021, that this is a matter between governments and not only the responsibility of the British Museum.

Clarifying the Greek government's position, Mitsotakis proposed a "win-win" solution. The Greek authorities and museums would commit to lending other pieces of inestimable value to fuel a rotating temporary exhibition, in order to replace the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum and thereby restore the UK's reputation for generosity and fairness. Especially since it is a unique symbol of European civilisation and the first democracy in the world.

The Hellenic Prime Minister appealed to Boris Johnson's philhellenism, to his intuitive understanding of the inseparable link between modernity and the heritage of ancient Greece. He also appealed to Johnson's vision of "global Britain", open to the world, pointing out that a beautiful proof of such a mentality would be the restitution of these Marbles.

The momentum that Mr Mitsotakis has given to the campaign for the reunification of the Marbles continues to support both the public opinion and that of the media in the United Kingdom. Indeed, not a day goes by without an article or a statement appearing in favour of the return of the Marbles to Athens.

(BCRPM would like to thank the raft of journalist that have written supporting the cause for over four decades, if not longer!)

 

A sign of The Times and renewed hope

This trend was confirmed by the leader article published in The Times on 11 January 2022: "The museum and the British government, supported by The Times, have resisted the pressure but time and circumstances have changed: the sculptures must return to Athens."

Times Parthenon Marbles article 12. 01.2022

The Time made history suggesting a noble and generous gesture, which would release the marbles that are imprisoned in a dark and narrow gallery of the British Museum. And Rodin reminds us: "Not all electric lights have the strength to prevent them from eternally seeking Homer's sweet light."

Let us hope that, as at the time when Boris Johnson invited Minister Melina Mercouri [in 1986] to plead before Oxford's students for the return of marbles to Athens, the British Prime Minister will reaffirm his conviction that these timeless treasures, symbols of European culture and democracy, are destined to shine from the place of their origins.

The signatories: Hélène Ahrweiler, historian, former president of the Sorbonne and rector of the Paris Academy, president of the French Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures; Louis Godart, archaeologist and philologist, former advisor in charge of the conservation of artistic heritage to the Presidency of the Italian Republic, president of the Italian Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles; François Roelants du Vivier, former Member of the European Parliament, Honorary Senator of Belgium, Co-President of the Luxembourg Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures; Dusan Sidjanski, political scientist at the Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, founding president of the Swiss Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles; Christiane Tytgat, archaeologist, president of the Belgian Committee for the Reunification of parthenon sculptures, president of the International Association for the Reunification of Parthenon Sculptures; Patricia van Gene-Saillet, Secretary of the Swiss Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles.

To read the original article in French, follow the link to Le Monde here.

 

 

 


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Repatriation is today’s question. And almost certainly tomorrow’s, too

Charlotte Higgins

Charlotte Higgins asks a timely question in the Guardian today: 'The Parthenon marbles belong in Greece – so why is restitution so hard to swallow?'

Times are changing and Charlotte explores the developments in cultural restitution. Especially as Museums are returning artefacts and considering requests for more.

The request for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is an old one and has made headlines for decades. Yet recently the articles are suggesting that the time to engage in talks is now. UNESCO's ICPRCP emphasised their recommrndations at the end of September for bi-lateral talks. The UK objected.

The sculptures forcibly removed by Lord Elgin have celebrated over 200 years in the British Museum, whilst their surviving halves are exhibited in the top floor, glass walled Parthenon Gallery of the Acropolis Museum since June 2009.

Charlotte also reflects that even if we ' think Lord Elgin was acting lawfully, given how many terrible things through history have been done within the rule of law. The case for return has seemed all the more compelling since the 2009 opening of the Acropolis Museum, whose airy galleries, in sight of the temple itself, do such a wonderful job of telling the story of the Parthenon. By comparison, the British Museum’s Duveen Gallery can seem bleak and depressing.'

The request for the reunification of these sculptures began after Greece's indepence and became memorable in the 80's with then Greek Ministe of Culture Melina Mercouri's passionate pleas. They have continued and are as recent as last month with the words used by the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis as he praised the Times leader article, suggesting that reuniting the sculptures was the right thing to do.

Last month Greece welcomed a tiny fragment from Palermo. Despite the size of this fragment, the joy was huge and felt right across the globe. Next week the Greek Minister of Culture, Dr Lina Mendoni and the new General Director of the Acropolis Museum, Professor Nikos Stampolidis will travel to Palermo. Cultural co-operation between Italy and Greece is thriving.

Will gobal Britain also see the merit of engaging with Greece in paving the way to reunite the Parthenon Marbles?  

Charlotte goes on to conclude: 'The sensible course is for the government to institute an expert panel to hammer out principles on which repatriation claims to national museums can be soberly assessed, as has now long been done for artefacts linked to the Holocaust. The Westminster government with its wilful nativism seems unlikely to be minded to do that. But repatriation is today’s question. And almost certainly tomorrow’s, too.'

To read Charlotte Higgins' article in full, follow the lik here.

Charlotte Higgins is the auhor of 'Greek Myths, A New Retelling', published 09 November 2021.

 

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Institute of Digital Archaeology to make exact replicas of the Parthenon Marbles to urge the British Museum to support their reunification

Telegraph 29 January 2022

Technology that allows archaeologists to make a millimetre-perfect replica paves way for a deal with British Museum, says Greek ambassador. The plan to copy the section of the Parthenon frieze in the British Museum comes from the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), which created a full-size replica of Syria’s Palmyra Arch which was blown up by Isis in October 2015.

To read this article in full, visit The Telegraph.

 

Ta Nea 31 January 2022

Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK correspondent for Ta Nea published an aricle on Monday:'New proposal for 3D copies of the Sculptures. The international Institute of Digital Archaeology is willing to make exact replicas with the ultimate goal of exhibiting them in the British Museum, as reported in ‘Ta Nea’ by the IDA’s director Roger Michel and the Greek Ambassador in London, Ioannis Raptakis.'

Speaking to ‘Ta Nea’ the head of the scientists who inspired the project explained that the innovative method developed by his team could create copies of the sculptures, which may convince the British Museum to return the fragment sculptures  in Room 18 to Greece. A move that is "justifiable and will be of benefit to both countries."

 "I want to see Boris Johnson and Kyriakos Mitsotakis shaking hands and smiling. There is a long history of cooperation between the two countries, which must continue. That's why we offered to make these copies. I think the British will realise that it is time for the Parthenon sculptures to return home. Nothing would make me happier than seeing them reunited in Athens," notes Roger Michel.

Initially, the Institute's scientists intend to "clone" a metope from the south side of the Parthenon located in the British Museum, which represents the struggle between a Lapithe and a centaur. "We're going to show people what this technology can do," Michel explains. This will take about three months and cost £50,000-70,000, a cost that the Institute itself will cover. "Then, we aspire to reproduce the entire parthenon frieze."

The Oxford-based institute has pioneered a technique known as 3D Machining. First a digital image is created using photogrammetry, then a robot-operated machine uses chisels in the same way as a human sculptor to carve a copy of the original.

"We will procure marble identical to the one used by Phidias," explains the director of the Oxford-based Institute, who will ask the British Museum to allow his team to scan the Sculptures on display in London.* 

The aim of the Institute is to exhibit the entire Parthenon frieze at the United Nations headquarters in New York and other cities of the world, until they are "installed" in London, if the British Museum allows it. "We hope the Museum will embrace our initiative and exhibit the copies, to facilitate the reunification of the surviving pieces in Room 18 with those in the Acropolis Museum.

"I am optimistic that the reproduction of the frieze will act as a symbol of Greek-British friendship and will lead to a gesture of goodwill that will correct a mistake that was made two centuries ago."

The Director of the Institute calls on the British Prime Minister to support his initiative. "Mr Johnson has been a great supporter of our work. Thanks to him, the copy of the Arch of Palmyra in Trafalgar Square was exhibited. I believe he can support us now. People change their minds and I think there's a chance it will help this call for the reunification also."

Speaking to ‘Ta Nea’, Greece's Ambassador to London Ioannis Raptakis welcomed the Institute's initiative, which was inspired by his own intervention during an event in the British capital last Friday. "It is one step closer to meeting the respectful request for the return of the Sculptures to Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has put a number of proposals on the table. It would be amazing, if the British government were to take the initiative to correct this injustice."

"The new technology allows the manufacture of exact copies. I believe that the British Museum should present these copies in its collection. It is time to allow the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. It would be a magnanimous act of the British people and would be a recognition of our historic debt to Greece," Michael Wood, professor of history at the University of Manchester and member of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (BCRPM), told ‘Ta Nea’.

To read the original article in Greek, follow the link to Ta Nea.

Ta Nea Monday 31 January 2022

* In 2012, the BM gave Niall McLaughlin Architects permission to scan the frieze in Room 18  


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There are no such things as the Elgin Marbles. In the world over, the very name of our country is immediately associated with the Parthenon. We say to the British government: you have kept those sculptures for almost two centuries. You have cared for them as well as you could, for which we thank you. But now in the name of fairness and morality, please give them back.

Melina Mercouri

melina mercouri exhibition featured

An exhibition dedicated to the life and works of late Melina Mercouri will open on 18 January 2022 at the Technopolis cultural complex in Athens.

This exhibition is to mark the 100th anniversary of Melina Mercouri and has been organized by the Athens Municipality in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport, and the Melina Mercouri Foundation. The year 2020 had been designated by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport as Melina Mercouri's year but the pandemic in March of that year, curtailed the planned celebration. 

The award-winning actress, activist and former culture minister, was the first woman in the post. , Melina served as Greece’s culture minister during the years 1981-1989 and 1993-1994.

 Her passion for culture and political activism made her one of the most legendary advocates  for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. It was her presentation at the Mexico UNESCO meeting that also encouraged James and Eleni Cubitt to meet with her and go on to establish the BCRPM in October 1983.

The exhibition opening on Tuesday in Athens, is aptly entitled ‘Remember and love me’ and will showcase Melina’s life and work through three areas highlighting her career in film, theatre and politics. It will feature rich photo and audiovisual material as well as personal items – some exhibited for the first time.

Items will include 13 costumes from theatrical performances and films; 25 posters from her cinema career; 37 photos of Mercouri with international personalities such as Salvador Dali, Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth, Indira Gandhi and Catherine Deneuve; original scripts with handwritten notes; six letters; her dressing room; and items she carried during her last trip to New York.

Mercouri exhibition

The exhibition will open its doors on Tuesday 18 January and run until Friday 11 March 2022.

Visiting days: Tuesday – Sunday and visiting hours: from 11am – 8pm. Admission is free.

BCRPM's first protest at the British Museum on 08 February 2020  honoured "". We thank BP or not BP? once again for their support over the years and including us in this protest also. To read more on that protest, please follow the link here.  

 


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