Christmas at the Acropolis Museum.

Festive programs for children, special guided tours of the new exhibition "Signs. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to the Present", Christmas melodies, unique gifts in the shop and festive dishes in the restaurant, await you this Christmas at the Acropolis Museum.

Guided tours of the new exhibition "Signs. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to the Present Day".

The Museum's archaeologists offer guided tours of the new temporary exhibition NoIMATA. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to the Present, every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00, and every Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 and 12:00. Browse among masterpieces of art that personify concepts, depict allegories, highlight human passions and emotions, raise thought and soul, unravel the thread that connects Antiquity with Byzantium, the Renaissance and our times.
Book at events.theacropolismuseum.gr

Child’s Play

"Give shape and form ... in a unique celebration!". This Christmas children can use their creativity with paper, paints, and scissors to unleash their imagination and creativity to give face, shape and form to a favourite concept: the Feast. Plus together with archaeologists they will discover how and why the ancient Athenians gave human characteristics to other concepts, such as the seasons of the year, love, the sun, victory and many more. Children aged 4 to 10, on Saturday 23/12, Sunday 24/12, Thursday 28/12, Friday 29/12 and Sunday 31/12 at 11:00 & 13:00 can make the most of Christmas at the museum. Book a seat here: events.theacropolismuseum.gr . The programme is carried out by the Department of Teachers, Museum's Programmes and its Information & Education Sector Acropolis Monuments Conservation Service.

Christmas melodies

Every Friday visit to the exhibition areas have been extended until 22:00 and every Friday and Saturday until midnight. Visitors can also enjoy a gala dinner overlooking the illuminated Acropolis (telephone restaurant reservations: 210 9000915). During the rest of the days and hours, visitors can combine a visit with coffee, dessert and festive musical events on the ground floor of the Museum.

On Friday, December 22, at 6 p.m., the Orchestra and Choir of the Center for Greek Music "Fivos Anoyianakis" in collaboration with the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens will present traditional carols and songs from various regions of Greece, under the supervision of their teachers Eleni Baili and Evangelia Chaldaiaki respectively.

On Saturday, December 23, at 12 noon, the Vrakoforos Club of Rethymno, Crete will present traditional dances and Cretan carols, while for the end of the year, on Thursday, December 28, 2023, at 12 noon, the Museum will host the contemporary music ensemble Music Odyssey of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, which will play well-known Christmas and other popular songs. Under the supervision of their teacher, Yiannis Malafis.

On Saturday, December 23, at 12 noon, the Vrakoforos Club of Rethymno, Crete will present traditional dances and Cretan carols, while for the end of the year, on Thursday, December 28, 2023, at 12 noon, the Museum will host the contemporary music ensemble Music Odyssey of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, which will play well-known Christmas and other popular songs. under the supervision of their teacher, Yiannis Malafis.

Do check out the Acropolis Museum range of unique christmas gifts such as charms, ceramic ornaments, and decorative items. To view the festive gifts at the  Acropolis Museum, follow the link here.

Geraldine Kendall Adams article in the Museums Journal has the headline: British Museum announces new £50m BP deal to fund masterplan.

The institution announced the BP deal as it outlined the next steps of its 10-year masterplan, which will include a new government-funded Energy Centre, the redevelopment of a third of its galleries, and the official opening of its new Archaeological Research Collection (BM_ARC) at the Thames Valley Research Park in June 2024.

The masterplan will see the launch of an international architectural competition to reimagine the museum’s galleries next spring. The competition will focus on the museum's "Western Range" – which currently houses collections such as Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome – and will involve the introduction of contemporary architecture and gallery displays, along with the restoration of the listed building.

The new archaeological research facility – the first phase of the masterplan – will house items ranging from nails from the Sutton Hoo ship burial to Peruvian fabrics and 5000-year-old antler picks. It will seek to offer a “radically different” approach to museum storage by facilitating research and study by both academics and members of the public.

The museum masterplan will include public study rooms © John McAslan + Partners

To read the full article, follow the link here.

Also in The Times, David Sanderson writes:

The museum’s board has surprised the country’s cultural community by signing a ten-year deal with BP, which has in recent years been shunned by almost all of Britain’s artistic organisations.

It has emerged that trustees took the decision in June last year at a meeting in which they agreed to “operate as a united board” despite personal disagreements. George Osborne, the chairman, withdrew after declaring a conflict of interest.

The minutes of the meeting record that “it was unanimously agreed that accepting the sponsorship was on balance in the best interests of the museum and the protection, display and use of its collection”.

Muriel Gray resigned her post at the meeting in November immediately before the trustees discussed how to make public the BP deal.

Gray, who had been a trustee for seven years, did not respond to requests for comment. The minutes record her as saying she made a personal decision to submit her resignation to the government.

Chris Garrard, codirector of the pressure group Culture Unstained, said that it was an “astonishingly out of touch and completely indefensible decision”.

He said: “It comes just days after delegates at Cop28 agreed that the world must transition away from fossil fuels. We believe this decision is illegitimate and in breach of the museum’s own climate commitments and sectorwide codes and will be seeking legal advice in order to mount a formal challenge to it.”

Armand D’Angour is Professor of Classics at the University of Oxford. He has written previously for Antigone on the music of Sophocles’ Ode to Man, on the Song of Seikilos inscription, on Sappho and Catulluse, and on a mysterious graffito at Abu Simbel in Egypt here.

Tista Austin grew up in Cambridge and is a teacher and poet. She studied Classics at University College London.

Both Armand and Tista wrote in Antigone, an open forum for Classics in the twenty-first century. In the 'About' section of this forum it reads: 'the contributors to Antigone are united by a love of Classics. To be sure, not every idea from Classical antiquity deserves to be defended, and we enthusiastically invite critical analysis of those that may be wrong. On the whole, however, our writers do seek to uphold and promote ideals that held sway thousands of years ago: open enquiry, robust debate and the unfettered exploration of ideas.'

And so Armand wrote about the return of the Parthenon Marbles or Sculptures, Tista wrote about retaining this peerless collection in the British Museum. Currently, the surviving pieces, and approximately half are exhibited the right way round in the Acropolis Museum with direct views to the Parthenon. The other half that was removed when Greece was under Ottoman rule, are in the British Museum's Room 18, exhibited facing inwards. Some fragments did make their way to other museums, and there have been returns from the University of Heidelberg (2006), the Fagan fragment from A. Salinas Museum in Palermo (2022), and the Vatican Museum (2023). The Acropolis Musum continues to hope for return of pieces from Copenhagen, London, Munich, Paris, Vienna and Würzburg. 

Read the debate on 'return or retain' in Antigone, and if you wish, do vote, but do take care as the question is a positive response for the Parthenon Marbles or Sulptures, to remain in UK. And 'Elgin Marbles' is a lot more than what Greece is requesting.

The poll concluded with 44.53% voting to Retain the Parthenon Marbles in the BM, 45.68% to Returnthem to Athens, and 9.79% 'I Just Don't Know'.

Elgin Marbles
Volume 834: debated on Thursday 14 December 2023

2:06 pm

Lord Lexden: "To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of proposals to loan the Elgin Marbles to Greece."

And Lord Lexden began with:

"My Lords, the Elgin marbles—or Parthenon sculptures, as some prefer—are famous for two reasons. The first reason is of course because they are magnificent treasures of civilization, part of the heritage of our world. The second reason that they are famous is as regrettable as it is persistent. These great treasures have an almost infinite capacity to provoke heated arguments about their ownership and their location. It is almost impossible to mention them in everyday conversation without instigating a dispute on these points."

To read the entire exchange in the House of Lords, follow the link here.

BCRPM wishes to thank Baroness Chakrabarti for her input, including:

" Regardless of arguments about legality, past or present, the British people know better than too many of their leaders how to make friends by being the bigger person. Most of them support returning the artefacts to the people to whom they mean so much more. A few minutes, let alone hours, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens would lead any noble Lord to understand just how much these artefacts mean to the people of Greece. Few have been fooled by years of buck-passing between museum and government around this issue, when technological advancement should make sharing and return so much easier than ever before."

And Lord Dubs, whose support for our campaign stretches back to when Eddie O'Hara was our Chair, also made pertinent points including: 

"Then there is the argument about loaning or returning them. I appreciate that there is a difficulty because of the 1963 Act. Nevertheless, I think the right answer, in the fullness of time, will be to return the marbles to their rightful place in Athens. If it needs a change in legislation, that could be achieved—but, for heaven’s sake, we cannot forever fall out with our Greek friends on this issue."

Lord Allan of Hallam must be thanked too for pointing out that there are new stories waiting to be made, and remembering our founder Eleni Cubitt:

"Artefacts also add new elements to their stories over time; this is especially true for the Parthenon sculptures. As well as Lord Elgin himself, their story now includes Melina Mercouri, who kicked off that campaign 40 years ago, and Eleni Cubitt, who ran the UK campaign for their return over many years. Our current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has now become part of the story; George Osborne may be an even bigger figure if he leads the trustees to agree to some form of display in Athens. It is certainly my hope that we will find a way to have the entire set of sculptures singing their story out from the new Acropolis Museum, while the British Museum continues to tell its rich stories through other fabulous Greek objects from its own collection or from loans."

Lord Frost has received most of the coverage in the UK media as he voiced his personal view:

"Personally, I have never been so convinced by the moral, artistic and cultural arguments for the position we take. The Parthenon marbles are a special situation and we should try to find a special solution. They are one of the supreme expressions of ancient Greek, hence western, art. They were created for a specific building and a specific cultural context. In contrast to much ancient sculpture, we know exactly what that context was and what the work of art was intended to signify. These are not just random museum exhibits and, for as long as they are not seen as a whole, they are less than the sum of their parts."

Adding: "My personal view is that it is a time for a grand gesture, and only the Government can make it." Indedd, the magnanimous gesture called for by so many over such a long period of time has yet to find a UK Prime Minister to support it. Whilst the public support grows, the political will at the top remains fixed.

Most of the voices yesterday afternoon in the House of Lords accepted that there was a unique case in the division of these sculptures. With many supporting the reunification. We urge more voices to join these right thinking folks on a matter of cultural heritage that deserves our collective respect. Greece's ask is wholly justified.

For those that were unable to attend last night's debate at the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution,supporting the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, author Barnaby Phillips. The debate was entitled:This house believes that the 'Elgin Marbles' should be returned to Greece. 

Janet Suzman, BCRPM's Chair attended the debate. BCRPM wishes to thank Barnaby for this photo and his words.

Below Barnaby Phillips presentation to those that attended the debate.

Thank you, especially to Dominic and Freya.

It’s good to know people who want the marbles to stay in this country are prepared to discuss it- the Prime Minister should take note.

later we will hear from Elena, and she will tell us what the marbles mean to Greece.

But I want to talk about us, the British.

Because this is not a new debate. It has haunted Britain for more than 200 years. So my question to you tonight is, how do we resolve this?

How do we stop this slow haemorrhaging of our national reputation, and the reputation of our greatest museum?

The Parthenon and other temples on the Acropolis in Athens, says UNESCO, are a ‘universal symbol of the classical spirit and civilisation… the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek antiquity to the world’.

In fact, the Parthenon is the logo of UNESCO.

Its frieze, the panels of the metopes and the pediment sculptures - depict gods, mythical creatures and ordinary people- and are not mere adornments to the Parthenon.

They are made from the same marble; together they convey a universal – and timeless- message…

that if we respect our gods and live in a democracy dedicated to peace, we humans can be happy.

So…how do we show these sculptures, intrinsic parts of that temple, to their greatest impact and authenticity?

Let’s go back, to what people said when Lord Elgin’s men attacked the Parthenon with saws and chisels.

When they deliberately destroyed part of the cornice in order to remove the metopes from that temple.

When they dropped a block of the frieze, snapping it in two. You can see the crack through the arm of a priestess in the British Museum.

When they cut one column down the middle in order to make it easier to carry.

When Lusieri wrote to his master Lord Elgin that he had been ‘a little barbarous’ in removing an especially fine sculpture .

These removals described by the - out-going - head of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, as a ‘creative act’.

Lord Elgin wrote back from Constantinople, “would it be permissible to speak of a caryatid?”

And so they did – saw off a caryatid, one of those handsome stone women, from the Erectheion temple.

They left a pile of bricks in her place to prop up the porch, standing beside 4 bereaved sisters..

Like a mouth spoilt by a discoloured tooth, said a British visitor.

The remaining sisters, a British MP wrote in 1813, ‘fill the air each evening with… mournful sighs and lamentations’.

What else did people say about what happened to the Parthenon itself?

How was this act judged contemporaneously?

Don’t worry- I don’t even need to quote Lord Byron.

Here’s John Galt, a Scottish novelist in Greece ; ‘the rape of the temple by Lord Elgin the theme of every English tongue that came to Athens’.

Or Professor Edward Daniel Clarke, who saw slabs of marble shatter into dust as Elgin’s men tried to lever off the best sculptures; an Ottoman soldier ‘dropped a tear and in a supplicating tone of voice, said to Lusieri, ‘telos’.’

Telos- stop- enough.

Robert Smirke another British eyewitness, who later designed the British Museum’s facade- ‘men laboured with iron crows..each stone as it fell shook the ground with ponderous weight… …the groan of the injured spirit of the Temple’.

Edward Dodwell, an Irish painter; ‘… beauty reduced to shattered desolation.. The whole proceeding so unpopular in Athens it was necessary to pay the labourers more than their usual profits’.

Ioannes Venizelos, an Athenian writer; ‘the deplorable stripping of the Temple of Athena…like a noble and wealthy lady who lost her diamonds…Oh how we Athenians take this event to heart’.

Maybe- maybe- this sordid act was legal.

But was it moral, was it ethical? What can we do about it today?

The British parliament in 1816- ‘unjustified’ ‘act of spoliation’ worried some MPs- - no wonder they only gave Elgin half the money he wanted, and not the English peerage he craved.

They knew he was on weak ground.

Perhaps they were shamed by the irony- that in Paris at the same time, Wellington was handing back Napoleon’s plundered treasures.

Because, as Lord Castlereagh put it, these treasures ‘which all modern conquerors invariably respect as inseparable from the country to which they belonged’

….

And so the great British soul-searching began.

I could quote through the decades, but I’ll jump forward.

Harold Nicolson, 1924, pleads with his Foreign Office colleagues to ‘put right an ancient wrong’.

We almost did it once, but only when we needed the Greeks.

1941, to encourage our brave and only allies in Europe.

Our hour of need, but not our finest hour, it turns out….

The Foreign Office recommended their return.

But – the tide of war turned- and the recommendation was quietly shelved.

And so to today.

Well, we know what our king thinks, but what about us?

The most recent poll- 2021- 59 % of British people say return, just 18 % say keep.

You can go to the Duveen gallery in the BM.

The marbles are diminished in that room, and not only because of the disastrous way they were ‘cleaned’ in the 1930s, with chisels and silicon carbide.

The BM’s secret report at the time said “damage which has been caused is obvious and cannot be exaggerated”.

The Archbishop of Canterbury urged the Director to keep this hidden from the Greek government.

But anyway, you can see the marbles facing inwards, the opposite to how they were on the Parthenon.

I’ll quote Mary Beard, a BM trustee, ‘the intention…is to efface what remains in Athens…the Duveen effect is to squeeze that memory out’.

You can see Athena’s torso- but not her right breast.

You can see half of Poseidon’s torso- the front in London, rear in Athens

You can see half the horsemen of the North Frieze- the cavalcade is partitioned.

Are we saying it is better these sculptures remain amputated?

As the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis put it – and apologies, Rishi Sunak- ‘like the Mona Lisa torn in two’.

Please go to the New Acropolis Museum in Athens – you’ll see the frieze, the metopes and the pediments facing outwards, as designed, perfectly aligned with the Parthenon, clearly visible on top of the nearby hill.

Not in a grey room with a sometimes leaking roof, and under artificial light, but under a blue Greek sky.

And the BM used to say they couldn’t send the marbles back because the Greeks had nowhere to put them!

Except, it could be better. The Parthenon Marbles could be reunited.

Not to boost Greek nationalism.

The point is that in the New Acropolis museum, we all experience a wonder of the world in the most authentic way that is now possible.

Now, I know everybody kicks the BM these days.

The thefts of – it now says- 1,500 pieces of ancient jewellery- the sacking of the curator for Greek collections- who says he’s innocent- ‘irony’ hardly does it justice.

Today people say the BM is not only incompetent, but also hypocritical.

I think that’s a cheap shot, and it’s not an argument I hear from Greece very much.

More significant, for me, as someone who loves the British Museum, is how this stand-off hurts it.

Not only because its international reputation, its ethical standing, are slowly eroding away.

But also in more practical ways.

Because of the Parthenon Marbles, the Greek ministry of culture does not permit loans to the BM, and the BM dare not even ask for loans from Greece.

This embargo applies only to the British Museum, not other museums in Britain. It cuts it off from opportunities.

It prevents a ‘global museum’ from being truly global.

Maybe some of you saw the exhibition at the Ashmolean on ancient Crete- 100 objects never seen in this country before.

That could not happen at the BM. Unless…

Last week, we saw a glimpse of what co-operation means. The British Museum lent to the New Acropolis Museum a magnificent ancient vase- never before loaned out.

This was a result of the ongoing talks between George Osborne and the Greek government….now imagine the generous spirit of the Greeks, if the Marbles were returned.

Who knows what they’d lend us…maybe gold from Mycenae, maybe the statues of Poseidon or the boy riding a horse which you might have seen in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens?

The point is, the BM would be reunited with more Greek culture, not cut off from it.

My friend Alicia Stallings, an Athenian poet, says; ‘the debate about the fate of the Marbles is not ultimately between Greece and Britain; from the start it was really between Britain and itself, something to take up with its own conscience….Greece cannot compel the Marbles be returned, nor I think ultimately would it want to.’

Back to 1816, Hugh Hammersley MP, said in that debate

‘Great Britain holds these marbles only in trust till they are demanded by the present, or any future, possessors of the city of Athens; and upon such demand, engages, without question or negotiation, to restore them’.

Today…our country needs friends.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to mention the B word, but it is time to rebuild our standing in the world.

Rishi Sunak, and Keir Starmer, should know that.

We’ve had the Marbles for more than 200 years. Do we want this argument to drag on for 200 more?

We have benefited from them, and those benefits will endure.

Now it’s time to be generous.

Not only to the Greeks.

Let’s give future generations the chance to see the marbles in their original context, set against the most perfect temple ever built.

I thank you.

Barnaby Phillips, author of Loot