Jonathan Sumption dismisses any questions that might arise about Lord Elgin's legal title to the sculptures removed from the Partheon at the start of the 18th century. His article 'The Elgin Marbles weren’t stolen — Greece is just exploiting our weakness' (thetimes.co.uk) goes on to state:  

"For most people, however, the issue is moral and cultural, not legal. So be it. What would be morally or culturally admirable about removing the Elgin Marbles from a museum in London to a museum in Athens?

Cultural artefacts have always moved around the world."

To read, BCRPM's Chair, Janet Suzman's response to Jonathan Sumption, please follow the link here. 

Christopher Price, long servicing Vice -Chair of BCRPM, wrote extensively on the merits of cultural mobility, and yet when it came to the Parthenon Marbles, he would have argued that they deserve, (those that survive), to be seen in the context of the Parthenon. An iconic structure, which not only stands, and has been restored and preserved for all humanity, but one that crowns the Acropolis. The emblem of UNESCO.

Jonathan Sumption goes on to list fragments of the sculptures from the Parthenon elsewhere: 'Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen' yet forgets to mention those museums that did have fragments, and that have returned them to be reunited in the Parthenon Gallery of the Acropolis Museum. Those frafments include returns from Heidelberg, Palermoand The Vatican. 

BCRPM agrees wholeheartedly that the Parthenon Marbles, culturally have a great significance for all humanity, yet is right for the UK and the British Museum to dicate how that cultural patrimony ought to be exhibited and understood, even appreciated by all humanity, especially as the removal of the pieces still in London took place when Greece had no voice?

Even without the sculptures in Room 18, the British Museum would still retain its status as a universal museum. In fact it would be elevated even further. For it is cultural co-operation in the 21st century that matters to most. Any references to cultural dispute sound so out of step, and look at the reaction at UNESCO's ICPRCP sessions especially towards the UK and in relation to this impasse. Culture matters, and it matters globally. In the case of this very specific request, Greece's ask is wholly justified. BCRPM's founders, with past and present members, stand by this, as do many all over the world.

Jonathan Sumption goes on to write: "Let no one say that the return of the marbles would set no precedent. The world is watching this dispute.This is a fight that we cannot afford to lose, and certainly cannot afford to concede." And yet again, this is misleading. No mention of the fact that in the British Museum there are 108,184 Greek artefacts, of which only 6,493 are even on display. Or that this is the ONLY request made by Greece since independence, and continues to be the only request made to this day.

The world is watching but only in astonishment at the UK's lack of that very British sense of fairplay. Dare we add, diplomacy and regard for international relations too? How can we forget PM Sunak's decision not to meet with PM Mitsotakis in November? Will any Greek person, or anyone around the globe, forget that snub? Many however, were in admiration of King Charles' tie, worn at COP28, when he met with PM Sunak. The message? Not all world leaders behave like a Head Boy that's not prepared to do more than cancell a pre-arranged meeting that covered timely topics including the continued division of these specific sculptures. 

"The Greeks are pressing their claim because they sense weakness. Since it was first formally advanced in 1983, they have skilfully exploited the relentless denigration of Britain’s past.They calculate that modern Britain lacks the self-confidence to defend itself. Are they right? The present negotiations implicitly concede that they may be.

Rishi Sunak should probably not have rudely cancelled his meeting with the Greek prime minister. But his statement that it should be unthinkable for any responsible British prime minister to contemplate ceding possession of the Elgin Marbles showed a sounder instinct than George Osborne’s." Concludes Jonathan Sumption.

The first request for the return of the sculptures removed only from the Parthenon, came shortly after Greece gained independence. Jonathan Sumption's reference to 1983 is the plea made by Melina Mercouri at UNESCO and that was the year that BCRPM was founded, nearly 150 years after the first request. Repeated requests made by Greece for these specific sculptures. So many have worked on the ways that would make the reunification work, and continue to provide the British Museum with artefacts not seen outside of Greece. For the last 23 years the offer of 'other artefacts' to be made available to the UK, has been on the table too.

Many have voiced their concerns at the UK's lack of empathy or understanding. Polls continue to support the reunification, yet few voices, including Jonathan Sumption continue to justify the division of this peerless collecion of sculptures. BCRPM continues to also add: the time has come to do the right thing by the Parthenon, and to add another chapter to the story of these priceless artefacts. Tell the story. 

Delivered at the IARPS Conference, 16 September 2022, in the Pandremalis Auditorium of the Acropolis Museum

Paul Cartledge, Vice-President, of BCRPM & IARPS

‘Just how democratic (in what ways, to what extent) was the (original) Parthenon?’

[Thanks: to Culture Minister Mendoni, to Acropolis Museum Director Stampolidis, to everyone else involved in the organisation of this great conference, and to you, my audience, but above all to Prof. Kris Tytgat, Chair, IARPS.]

‘Ten Things’

It’s often said that the Parthenon – not its original ancient name – is a democratic building, a symbol of ancient Athenian democracy, even a symbol of world democracy. So I thought it might be an idea to dial down the rhetoric (good ancient Greek word!), and to re-examine what exactly democracy meant in Classical Athens in the middle of the 5th century BC/E, and how exactly the Parthenon fitted into that uniquely original political project.

I’ve a little skin in this game of scholarship: in 2016 I published on both sides of the Atlantic a book entitled Democracy: A Life; and two years later, in 2018, the book was re-published in a cheaper, paperback version, but with a crucial addition – an Afterword: in which I traced a brief account of the startling events that had occurred between 2016 and 2018, affecting – sometimes seriously badly - the nature and course of democracy in the contemporary world, again on both sides of the Atlantic (with special reference to the Brexit referendum vote in the UK, the election of President Trump in the US, and the election of Président Macron in France).

My first slide says ‘ten things’, but there are of course many more things than ten that people ought to know about ancient Greek democracy – or rather, since there were many more kinds than just the one – democracies in ancient Greece. But the first and biggest thing of all is this: that no version of democracy in ancient Greece was anything much like any version of ‘democracy’ currently on offer in Europe, the Americas, Australasia or anywhere else in the world today. For this basic, categorical reason: all ancient democracies were direct – the demos, the people, ruled for and by themselves – whereas all modern democracies are representative, indirect, in which the people chooses others – representatives – to rule for them, that is, both in their interest (they hope) and, no less relevantly, instead of them.

As the jacket-image of my Democracy book perfectly illustrates. Of course, it’s not a photo of a meeting of the ancient Athenians’ Assembly (ekklesia) being held on the Pnyx hill below the Acropolis and being addressed by a helmeted Pericles. It’s the idealised vision of a German painter working in the 1840s, within a decade or so of the foundation of the modern Greek state – which looked back to ancient Greece and especially to ancient Athens for validation as well as inspiration. But it was painted when Greece was formally a monarchy, not even a republic let alone any form of modern democracy!

So, how different was the ancient Athenian democracy of Pericles’s time from anything we might recognise as ‘democracy’ today? Let me count the ways!

I’m going to use the text and image of the decree/law shown on this slide as my way in. But first, a word of chronological warning. This decree and this stone date from 336 BC/E, that is, over a hundred years after the Parthenon was first commissioned, in 448/7. And between 448 and 336 a lot of water had flowed under several bridges, so far as democracy at Athens was concerned. In 411 in the midst of a long, expensive and bloody war – with Sparta, then aided by Persian money – the Athenian democracy had been overthrown in a reactionary and violent rightwing coup and replaced with a narrow oligarchy. That narrow oligarchy had lasted only a few months and was replaced with a broader oligarchy, which in turn lasted only 8 months or so, so that by the summer of 410 Athens had regained the democracy it had in 448 (and had had since about 460). Only to lose it again, together with the war itself, in 404, after which Sparta imposed an even narrower and nastier oligarchy, a junta of just 30 ultra-oligarchs. They proceeded to rule very violently, murderously, aided by a Spartan garrison on the acropolis, so violently and so controversially that after only a year even Sparta stood aside when a democratic Resistance defeated the forces of the junta in the Peiraieus, and from 403 Athens was a democracy again.

But not the same democracy again: a new, different and in some ways more moderate or less extreme democracy, one that was moderate enough not to provoke the Athenian ultra-oligarchs into attempting another coup, and one which lasted some 80 years until it was forcibly exterminated by the new Macedonian rulers of Greece, in 322. The document of democracy on your screen belongs to this final phase of democracy, to a very late stage of it, by when the Athenians had been heavily defeated in battle by the Macedonians (Chaeronea, 338), their Theban allies had had their democracy suppressed and a Macedonian garrison installed on the acropolis of Thebes, and the majority of – democratic – Athenian citizens feared that the same fate was about to be imposed on them. Whereupon they passed the Law proposed by Eucrates, a law specifically against not oligarchy but against Tyranny. Here’s a key clause (I paraphrase): If any Athenian should suspect another of trying to bring about the replacement of democracy with a one-man dictatorship, then he might lawfully kill such a traitor without incurring the punishment for culpable homicide.

Why was it against Tyranny? For two main reasons: first, the imposition of a tame local, pro-Macedonian tyrant was how Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander, liked to rule the subordinated, formerly free cities of mainland Greece; second, the Athenians’ own democratic mythology held that their democracy had originally been instituted in the late 6th century thanks to an act of Tyrannicide – it was a myth, it wasn’t true historically, but it was none the less potent for that: in 336, most Athenians automatically identified democracy as non- or rather anti-Tyranny.

So, that tells us what the Law of Eucrates was – it doesn’t tell us how the Law came to be passed, and it doesn’t tell us why the Law was inscribed on a handsome stele of Pentelic Marble with a relief decoration above the text, and set up on public display in the Agora (civic centre) of Athens – where it was unearthed by the American School in the 1930s. Let’s begin with the relief decoration. That was put there partly because not all Athenian adult male voting citizens aged 18 or over (of whom there were about 25,000 in 336) were fully literate. And the image chosen – an image of the Goddess Demokratia crowning an image of Mr Joe Athenian citizen, as if he were a heroic victor at the Olympic Games – was to remind and reassure the Athenians that at least one very important Goddess was on their side. Besides of course Athene Polias (‘of the City’) and all the other Athenas – Promachos, Parthenos etc etc – not to mention Zeus and all the other gods of the official Athenian pantheon, and all the heroes and heroines both local and non-local (some of them depicted on the Parthenon) whom they worshipped. In Classical, democratic Athens religion and politics were inseparable.

OK, so now I want to go right back to the beginning, to the origins, of the Law of Eucrates. He was its proposer and original drafter, but between the moment of proposal and the moment of inscription and public display lay several crucial other moments. First, Eucrates had had to put a proposal in some verbal form to the Council (Boule) of 500, a standing committee of the Assembly (Ekklesia) responsible for managing its business, both preparing it and seeing that its decisions were carried out. The 500 were selected annually, by lot (the democratic mode), to serve for just one year in the first instance – they could serve again, but just once, and not in 2 successive years. It’s possible, even likely, that in 337/6 Eucrates was himself a Councillor – but he didn’t have to be, because ‘any Athenian who wished’ (the democratic principle) could put a proposal before one of the 40 – yes, 40 – pre-Assembly Council meetings, and the Council and its ‘presidents’ could decide either to welcome or to reject or to welcome and then debate/modify its terms. If a majority was agreeable that the Assembly should have a vote on it, then the Council could either send it forward just as the proposer (Eucrates) had formulated it or amend it and then put it forward to the Assembly in amended form – where it could be amended again. By this time it had turned into a probouleuma, something ‘pre-deliberated’.

The time for the next Assembly has arrived – imagine, in the tense situation of early 336, at least 6000 Athenian citizens in good standing (formal checks were minimal, but this was a relatively small, close-knit society) processing up onto the Pnyx and taking their seats on the ground. To hear the herald read out the proposal of Eucrates, now a probouleuma, whether amended or not in Council. The herald would then bellow out – this is in the open air – ‘who wishes to speak?’, implying that any one Athenian citizen who wished might stand up on the bema (speaker’s platform), a very egalitarian-democratic notion of public political freedom of speech (isêgoria). Probably, in actual practice, only known, experienced and authoritative speakers would for the most part have the courage and oratorical ability to do so, and probably there wasn’t much in the way of debate but just speeches PRO and CON – or PRO but suggesting amendments. A vote would then be taken, not a secret ballot but a raising of the right hands, and the numbers for or against would be ‘told’, that is assessed rather than individually counted – unless the voting appeared very close. As it would not have been in this particular case.

However, by 336 the Athenians had for long been cautious about passing any new laws – without the further scrutiny of another, much smaller committee, drawn - again by lot – from the permanent annual panel of 6000 Athenians who served during a year as jurors in the People’s courts. Once that committee had ratified the Assembly’s vote, Eucrates’s proposal was a law, and steps could be taken – by the relevant subcommittees of the Council – to have it inscribed, with accompanying relief decoration, and erected in the Agora.

Now… let’s transport ourselves back a century or more, to 448 BC/E. Then, there was no distinction drawn between a temporary or local decree and a general, permanent law, so there was no need for a further ratifying legislative step after the Assembly’s vote on the probouleuma proposing the (rebuilding of the) Parthenon. But – and it’s a big ‘but’ – implementing the Assembly’s vote on that was far far more complicated; and, secondly, though the Parthenon was visually and financially going to be the biggest thing on the new Acropolis, it was not actually the most important – in religious, cultural and political terms. That was the Temple of Athena of the City (Polias), which eventually was to come into being in the form of the Erechtheion on the opposite, north side of the Rock. And there were other temples and monuments besides the Older Athena Temple and the Older Parthenon that the Persians had destroyed in 480-479 and that the Athenians wanted to resurrect, and others again that the Athenians might want to add, e.g. an Athena of Victory (Nike) temple.

So, whoever was going to be the main or sole proposer of a rebuilt Parthenon was going to have to work out and put forward an immensely complicated proposal, a building programme indeed, and one that had to be costed, and then project-managed. I can’t go into all the finer details in the time available to me, but let’s just say that the ancients’ view – and pretty much the modern view too – is that the chief political architect of the Acropolis (re)building programme from 448 to the early 420s was the man depicted in that 1840s German painting I showed you earlier – Pericles son of Xanthippos of the deme Kholargos, to give him his full democratic name. Surely, though, he needed help – and the evidence suggests he could call on assistance from people who were not just the best experts in all the relevant fields but also personal friends of his. I’m thinking especially of Pheidias. Very very few other Athenian democratic politicians could do the same. And I do want to emphasise that Pericles was a (very) democratic politician. Despite his aristocratic and wealthy background, he devoted himself to what he took to be the best interests of the Athenian people, most of whom were not aristocratic or rich.

So, let us imagine that it was his proposal that in 448 went first to the Council then to the Assembly and received a majority vote in favour. What then? What we Brits call the nitty-gritty – deciding on a ballpark figure for costs (to be met by public not private funds), selecting architects, seeing that the architects got paid, and then that they, together with the contractors, employed all the necessary craftsmen and secured all the necessary materials. A bureaucratic nightmare - but somehow or other it was achieved, together with its cult-statue by Pheidias, and fast (by 432). The ultimate secret, I believe was the appointment of a subcommittee, reporting to the Assembly via the Council, of ‘Overseers’ (epistatai), just half-a-dozen, with a permanent secretary and deputy secretary. Some of their records or accounts – written, public, the democratic way – survive: I’ll cite just IG i3 449 dated 434/3 BC, conveniently available in ‘Attic Inscriptions Online’ with original Greek text and English translation and commentary. Pericles, typically, served his turn as an Overseer.

Nevertheless, Pericles – and the Athenians generally – received what we Brits call ‘stick’, severe criticism – not mainly because the Parthenon was a democratic building (though there were oligarchic critics, Athenians and others, who did badmouth both the Parthenon and Pericles for precisely that reason) but because it seemed out-of-scale, hubristic even, and too self-glorifyingly Athenian. After all, the Athenians – with the Spartans – hadn’t defeated the Persians singlehanded in 480 and 479. And as the Parthenon didn’t function only as a religious building – it became the City’s Treasury, its Fort Knox or Bank of Greece – there were those Greeks who saw it as not so much a symbol of democratic freedom but rather as a symbol of potential political and economic oppression. These were the Greeks who feared and resented what they thought of as an Athenian ‘empire’. Which it was – though it was also, paradoxically, a democratic empire! They did things differently then and there!

And it’s on that paradoxical note that I want to leave you. Yes, the Parthenon was – and is – supremely democratic, but not everyone saw it that way then - or see it that way today.

The ultra-endurance cycling challenge "London-Athens on 2 wheels - Bring them back" in its second year, began at 5 am on Saturday 05 August, outside the British Museum gates. 

Cycling heroes: Vasiliki Voutzali (Greece), Steffen Streich (Germany & Greece), Christopher Ross Bennett (New Zealand), Paul Alderson (UK), and Dionisis Kartsambas (Greece), set off to cycle 3,500 kms to reach the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

Catch up on their daily challenges, the highs and lows by visiting their facebook page .

Before leaving, the BCRPM's Christopher Stockdale, Marlen and Tony Godwin, met with the cyclists in Room 18. Christopher presented a copy of his book 'Simming with Hero' to Vasiliki. 

In Room 18 meeting Christopher Stockdale, the first person to cycle from the British Museum to the Acropolis Museum in 2005. 

Fans in each corner of Room 18, trying to circulate the warm air. 

A flag that has been used in Room 18 sine the opening of the Acropolis Museum in 2005, shows the tip floor Parthenon Gallery of the Acropolis Museum , where the surviving halves of the sculptures not removed by Lord Elgin are displayed the right way round and with views to the Parthenon.

Vasiliki with a little help adds a few stickers outside the BM.

August, 05 at 5 am outside the British Museum gates, five cyclists begin a journey , an endurance journey in the hope that their efforts will add more pressure to the British Museum to reunite the Parthenon Marbles. The cyclists: Vasilki Voutzali (Greece), Steffen Streich (Germany & Greece), Christopher Ross Bennett (New Zealand), Paul Alderson (UK), and Dionisis Kartsambas (Greece) are making history too.

Christopher Stockdale, a retired GP from Solihull, and member of BCRPM swam for the marbles (2000 from Delos to Paros) and cycled in 2005. He admits cyclist was out of his comfort zone but the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is very much in Christopher's heart, although he was devastated not to be able to join the cyclists on this day.

This year the cyclists selected a number of segments along the route, stopping in Lille, France on their first night as the UK weather was a heady mixture of strong winds and heavy rains. Their first stop on day 2 was their intended first segment stop, Mons in Belgium.

Steffen and Vasiliki in Mons and.... at the Melina Mercouri St.

As Paul heads back to UK, Christopher carries on with Vasiliki, Steffen and Dionisis to Germany

Fom Belgium to Munich in Germany, and to Budapest in Hungary, segments 2 & 3

Bici Bavarese | Vintage & Moderne Rennräder in München

A warm welcome in Budapest!

From Hungary to Serbia and North Macedonia, arriving in Kastoria and Trikala.

Athens, today 17 August,  just 12 days from that cold, wet and windy 5th of August outside the British Museum. Christopher's time was 12 days, 3 hours and 18  minutes. We await the arrival of Dionisis tomorrow with a welcome from the Melina Mercouri Foundation, and a visit to the Acropolis Museum. 

Culture and conflict often coexist in an uneasy and paradoxical manner; culture being an essential part of conflict and conflict resolution. Culture makes people understand each other better. Conflict resolution acts as a healing balm providing interaction between the concerned parties and the hope to overcome barriers.

Taking away and damaging the cultural heritage of a society is tampering with its identity. The history of art looting is lengthy and continuous. It begins possibly with Jason and the Argonauts looting the Golden Fleece. It continues with the habit of the Romans of looting art from conquered cities in order to parade it through the streets of Rome, before putting it on display in the forum. In Byzantium, the Hippodrome was adorned with looted art, and during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 the Crusaders looted the city itself. Cultural spoils were taken back to Venice to adorn the cathedral of St Mark, among them, the four gilded horses of the Apocalypse that remain in the city to this day.

In the ancient world, cultural pillage was an act of state planned to demonstrate the supremacy of the conqueror and underline the humiliation of the defeated. By the nineteenth century, however, such actions had been joined by the claim of the acquiring country to be the true heir of Classical civilization. Thus, Napoleon’s victorious armies began concluding a series of treaties with conquered states across Europe that allowed them to usurp artworks to stock the Louvre Museum.

From the colonial era to the Second World War, wars have provided opportunities for art looting on a massive scale, and the restitution of stolen cultural artefacts remains a dispute around the world. The trafficking of stolen art has become as widespread as drugs and firearms.

Private looting has always occurred alongside with state sponsored plundering, although it has evoked more disapprobation. The vandalism of the Parthenon sculptures by Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman court is the most notorious one and remains the archetypal case of looted artworks repatriation demand for more than 200 years.

Since the second half of the 20th century, states have adopted legislative instruments to regulate the illicit trafficking and the return of improperly removed cultural objects as part of a wider effort to enhance the protection of cultural heritage.

Restitution of cultural objects unethically removed from their countries of origin is a today’s global question. Cases concerning the circulation of cultural property are increasingly settled through diplomatic relationships. Museums are institutions representing reconciliation and as such, they have the duty to act ethically.

Antiquities of particular importance to humanity that were removed from the territory of a State in a questionable manner in terms of legality, as well as in an onerous way, need to be returned on the basis of fundamental principles enclosed in international conventions irrespective of time limits or other restrictions. They also need to be returned on the basis of legal principles, customary rules, and ethics. This need is also dictated by increased ecumenical interest for the integrity of the monument to be restored in its historic, cultural, and natural environment. Nobody may fully appreciate these antiquities outside their context. A characteristic example in this respect is the Parthenon Sculptures.

Lord Elgin was a fatal figure in the history of the looting of Greek antiquities. In 1799, he was appointed British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte at Constantinople. A year earlier, Napoleon had invaded Ottoman Egypt, and Britain hoped to become the sultan’s main ally in reversing the French conquest. The dispatch from London of a well-connected diplomat descended from the kings of Scotland who had previously served as a British envoy in Brussels and Berlin was itself a gesture of friendship toward the Turks.

As well as competing in geopolitics, the British were rivalling French for access to whatever remained of the great civilizations of antiquity. Elgin seizes the opportunity for personal gain to acquire a huge collection of antiquities. His attention was focused primarily on the monuments on the Acropolis (the Parthenon topmost) which were very difficult of access and from which no one ever had been granted permission to remove sculptures.

His marriage to a wealthy heiress, Mary Nisbet, had given him the financial means to sponsor ambitious cultural projects. While traveling through Europe en route to Constantinople, he recruited a team of mostly Italian artists led by the Neapolitan painter Giovanni-Battista Lusieri.

Their initial task was to draw, document and mould antiquities in the Ottoman-controlled territory of Greece. The initially cloudy mission of Elgin’s artistic team culminated in a massive campaign to dismantle artworks from the temples on the Acropolis and transport them to Britain. By using methods of bribery and fraud, Elgin persuaded the Turkish dignitaries in Athens to turn a blind eye while his team removed those parts of the Parthenon, they particularly liked.

Elgin never acquired the permission to remove the sculptural and architectural decoration of the monument by the authority of the Sultan himself, who alone could have issued such a permit. He simply made use of a friendly letter from the Kaimakam, a Turkish officer, who at the time was replacing the Grand Vizier in Constantinople. This letter, handed out unofficially as a favour, could only urge the Turkish authorities in Athens to allow Elgin's men to make drawings, take casts and conduct excavations around the foundations of the Parthenon, with the condition that no harm be caused to the monuments.

On 31 July 1801, the first of the high-standing sculptures was hauled down. Between 1801 and 1804, Elgin's team was active on the Acropolis, stripping, hacking off causing considerable damage to the sculptures and the monument. Eventually Elgin’s team detached half of the remaining sculpted decoration of the Parthenon, together with certain architectural members such as a capital, a column drum and one of the six caryatids that adorned the Erechtheion temple, as they could not found an available ship to take all six away! “I have been obliged to be a little barbarous,” Lusieri once wrote to Elgin.

London and Athens now hold dismembered pieces of many of the sculptures. Large sections of the Parthenon frieze, an extraordinary series of relief sculptures depicting the procession of Greater Panathenaia, the most important festival held in honour of the city’s divine patroness Athena, numbered among the loot.

Of the 97 surviving blocks of the Parthenon frieze, 56 have been removed to Britain and 40 are in Athens. Of the 64 surviving metopes, 48 are in Athens and 15 have been taken to London. Of the 28 preserved figures of the pediments, 19 have been removed to London and 9 are in Athens.

The shipping of these precious antiquities to Britain was fraught with difficulties. One ship sank and the sculptures, after prolonged exposure to the damp in various harbours, eventually arrived in England three years later. In London, they were shifted from sheds to warehouses, because Elgin had been reduced to such penury by the enormous costs of wages, transportation, gifts and bribes to the Turks, that he was unable to accommodate them in his own house. So, after the mortgaging of the collection by the British state, he was obliged to sell the Parthenon Sculptures to the government, for £35,000—less than half of what Elgin claimed to have spent. Finally, the British Government transferred the Sculptures to the British Museum in 1817. In 1962, they were placed at the Duveen Gallery. Even after they arrived at the British Museum, the sculptures received imperfect care. In 1938, for example, they were “cleaned” with an acid solution.

Prior to the transaction a Committee was appointed to consider the purchase and the evidence, it gathered was placed before Parliament. A debate took place, where many voices expressed their scepticism and disapproval. Even thoughts about the return of the Marbles were expressed for the very first time. Hugh Hammersley, a Member of Parliament, first raised the question in the House of Commons. Strenuous objections were heard outside Parliament as well, the most impassioned being that of Lord Byron, a poet and fellow member of the Anglo-Scottish aristocracy. Elgin was denounced as a vandal in sonorous verses by Lord Byron.

Contrary to Elgin’s stated fears, the sculptures that remained in Athens did not vanish. After 1833, when the Ottomans left the Acropolis and handed it to the new nation of Greece, the great citadel and its monuments became a focus of national pride. Protecting, restoring and showcasing the legacy of the Athenian golden age has been the highest priority for Greeks since then.

The removal of the so-called Elgin Marbles has long been described as an egregious act of imperial plunder.

Not surprisingly, the British Museum has so far refused all requests to give up one of its most popular exhibits. The Parthenon sculptures have become the most visible, and notorious, collection of Acropolis artifacts still housed in museums across Europe, often with the justification that such objects are emblematic of European civilization, not just of Greek heritage.

The British Museum relies on the supposed legality of an Act of Parliament. The Trustees shelter behind the argument that it is the law – that they are entrusted with these artefacts and cannot divest themselves of them. In reality, as the late Eddie O’Hara, former MP and Chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) stated, “the government simply needs to legislate to say ‘yes, this is possible.’ – as they did with Nazi loot.”

Even this most difficult of disputes can be resolved with the support of both Museum of Trustees and the UK Government by amending the 1963 Act or by enacting separate legislation. An Act of Parliament could be an Act of Conscience! As Janet Suzman, Chair for the BCRPM declared, the Trustees of the British Museum must get their heads together and break the shackles preventing the just return of Greece’s precious heritage to Athens.

Today, the defenders of keeping the Parthenon Sculptures in the U.K. are looking increasingly lonely. A particularly important development in the long-running request marks both the transformation of British public opinion and the changing trend of museums for the repatriation of cultural treasures, together with the eloquent request for reunification by Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, submitted to his counterpart, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during his visit in London last November.

Even, The Times, the flagship newspaper of the British establishment, made a historic turn to support the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures: "Τhey belong to Athens, they must be returned”. The main article of The Times, in an unprecedented fashion, stating that it is like taking Hamlet out of the First Sheet of Shakespeare’s works and saying that both can still exist separately, recognizes the uniqueness of the Parthenon Sculptures!

This support for Greece's request is welcomed by all those that have reinforced the diplomatic route for the reunification of the sculptures, applying constant and methodical pressure and garnering assistance from the international community. It was preceded by the unanimous decision of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Commission for the Return of Cultural Property to Countries of Origin (ICPRCP), which at its 22nd Session on 29th September 2021, adopted for the first time, in addition to the usual recommendation, a text focusing exclusively on the return of Parthenon sculptures. This new text, acknowledging the intergovernmental nature of the subject, was in direct contrast to the British side, which has consistently argued that the case concerns the British Museum. The Commission calls on the United Kingdom to reconsider its position and hold talks with Greece.*

*quotation of the text presented by the Greek delegation to UNESCO's ICPRCP.

Last week, the Μuseum’s chairman George Osborne said: "I think there is a deal to be done – whereby the marbles could be shown in both Athens and London, and as long as there weren’t “a load of preconditions” or a “load of red lines”. Since then, a number of British Lawmakers have also voiced their support for the return of the marbles, and a group of scholars and advocates of the sculptures ‘demonstrated', at the British Museum on the occasion of the 13th birthday of the Acropolis Museum.

The Acropolis Museum’s director general, Professor Nikos Stampolidis, responded with a statement, in which he described the Parthenon Sculptures as representing a procession that symbolized Athenian democracy. “The violent removal of half of the frieze from the Parthenon can be conceived, in reality, as setting apart, dividing and uprooting half of the participants in an actual procession, and holding them captive in a foreign land,” Prof. Stampolidis said. “It consists of the depredation, the interruption, the division and dereliction of the idea of democracy. The question arises: Who owns the ‘captives?’ “The museum where they are imprisoned, or the place where they were born?”

A precursor to the return is the agreement between Italy and Greece. The “Fagan fragment” of the Goddess Artemis, became the first permanently repatriated marble fragment of the sculptures to be restored on the Parthenon frieze, from the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeology Museum in Palermo, on June 4. It was taken at the same time as the forceful removal of the Parthenon Sculptures by Lord Elgin, and later sold to the University of Palermo.

Meanwhile European governments are rushing to announce policies to return cultural goods to their countries of origin. France returned 26 items, 16th and 17th century bronze art pieces, of unparalleled art to Benin last October, and Germany announced that it would return to Nigeria, the spoils of Benin. In April, Glasgow city council voted to return 17 Benin bronze artefacts looted in West Africa in the 19th century. The Belgian government as well, has agreed to transfer ownership of stolen items from its museums to African countries of origin. Lately, the Plenary Session of the 76th UN General Assembly adopted the decision promoted by Greece for the return of cultural goods to their countries of origin.

Since regaining independence in 1832, successive Greek governments have petitioned for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. Melina Mercouri, Greek minister of Culture, reenergized the repatriation campaign, by making a request in 1982 for the Greek government to return the Parthenon Sculptures to the UNESCO General Conference on Cultural Policy in Mexico.

The new Acropolis Museum of Athens, which opened in 2009, was built within sight of the actual Parthenon with the goal of eventually housing all the surviving elements of the Parthenon frieze. The Museum’s magnificent glass gallery, bathed in Greek sunlight and offering a clear view of the Parthenon, is the perfect place to reintegrate the frieze and allow visitors to ponder its meaning.

Greece's constant demand for the reunification of the stolen Parthenon Sculptures with the mutilated ecumenical monument is a unique case based on respect for cultural identity and the principle of preserving the integrity of world heritage sites.

As Professor Paul Cartledge, Vice President of BCRPM rightfully said: ‘The key word is ‘Acropolis’. The Parthenon, a UNESCO World Heritage site, derives its significance ultimately from its physical context. A good deal of the original building has miraculously been preserved and in recent times expertly curated. The gap between the Acropolis Museum’s Parthenon display and that in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum is simply immeasurable. Over and against the alleged claim of legality, there is on our side the overriding claim of ethical probity. Times change, and mores with them.”

The United Kingdom can only benefit from the long-awaited gesture, not of generosity, but of justice. The reunification will finally be given its time.

*The article above formed part of a presentation that Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis gave at the Thessaloniki International Conference : “Art communicating conflict resolution: An intercultural dialogue” co-organized by the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the UNESCO Chair “Intercultural Policy for an Active Citizenship and Solidarity” of the University of Macedonia, on June 30th 2022.

**Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis is Attorney at Law and Cultural Policy & Management Advisor at the Hellenic Parliament

Friday 21 March was day one of a two day conference, the LSE Hellenic Conference 2025.

The first session included a thought provoking discussion between Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission (2019-2024) with Spyros Economides. The Translatlantic Alliance and Europe's standing on the world stage, gave the audience plenty to reflect upon. Despite the challenges that Europe and the world face, there is hope. 

BCRPM remembers Margaritis Schinas' article on the Parthenon Marbles too.

The second session of Friday's conference was aptly entitled "Debate on Greek Cultural Heritage: the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles" and was graced by three speakers, two are members of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles: Mark Stephens CBE and Victoria Hislop. Roger Michel of the IDA. The moderator was Dr Tatiana Flessa.

Dr Flessa asked the speakers to start by outlining how they had come to support this cause. Mark explained that his legal background and interests saw him working on both the return of Aboriginal remains and Nazi looted art. Meeting with others that had been involved in the Parthenon Marbles case, he too felt strongly that this was a just cause. Victoria spoke of her childhood and as a regular visitor to the British Museum in the 60's and 70's how she had sat on the fence until Boris Johnson, the then PM declared in an interview that the sculptures held in the British Museum would never be returned (March 2021). Roger Michel remembered speaking with the Greek Ambassador pre Covid and explaining that exact replicas could be the answer to this long-running debate. 

Both Mark and Roger spoke at length about the legality of Lord Elgin's removal of the sculptures, not least the sale and the centuries of division. International law, British law and statutes of limitation were highlighted  but Roger wanted to question why the Charities Act rather than the Museum's Act had not been used to facilitate the reunification. Dr Flessa also gathered the thoughts of both Mark and Roger regarding good title and legal transfer.

Victoria was keen to emphasise that should the Parthenon Marbles be reunited, the British Museum would not be emptied. That it was time for the British Museum to look where it was in terms of public opinion and that reuniting the Parthenon Marbles would be the best thing that it could do as an institution that also prides itself on education and research.

Mark spoke about UNESCOand the UN, the resolutions passed regarding specific objects that ought to be returned to their country of origin. On the international arena when emblematic cases where return and restitution to their countries of origin is discussed, there is the greatest support for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.  

Roger quoted Castlereagh, one of the most distinguished foreign secretaries in British history, and yet it was Byron that criticised Castlereagh. Roger also added that art has its own rights.

Victoria has often imagined the day when the sculptures will finally arrive at the Acropolis Museum, declaring: "There will be great rejoicing in the whole of Greece - and a National Holiday declared.  In Britain, most will not even notice or care - there won’t be weeping in the street."

BCRPM wishes to thank the organisers and especially Maria Efthymiadou.

Watch the ERT news bulletin by Natasha Kantzavelou.

, is Italian and has been living and working in the UK for over 15 years. He teaches at the University of Southampton and with Prof. David Boyd-Carrigan co-founded 'Greece Needs Love'. The aim has been to raise money for art students in Greece and organise an exhibition for Greek artists in London - a Greek Art Biennale. An equally important aim was to join  the campaign to return the sculptures from the Parthenon currently housed in the British Museum, back to Greece and the Acropolis Museum.

On 01 July this year, Luca began his cycle run from Bloomsbury, London outside the entrance of the British Museum.

He was suffering with a summer cold and could barely speak but set off and 35 days and 8 hours later, he arrived in sunny Greece. He travelled through France and Italy crossing by ferry from Italy to Patras and cycling from the west Peloponnese to Athens. Difficult moments were plentiful but what will be a lasting memory for Luca, is the help and support he received from people along the way. All those that asked him what he was doing, were quick to say they too supported the reunification of these sculptures.

Generosity, fairness and respect are values that shape Luca's life, and he firmly believes that the best place to view the sculptures is in the Acropolis Museum. "The return of the marbles to Athens is a historic and moral obligation of us all" concludes Luca.

Deputy Culture and Sports Minister Angela Gerekou, congratulated Luca and presented him with a figurine replica of a dove from the Hellenistic period.

Luca had also decided, prior to starting his journey, that he would donate his bicycle to the Acropolis Museum. In Athens he met  Professor Pandermalis, President the Acropolis Museum.

There is no doubt as we followed Luca's progress with his Facebook and twitter posts that his infectious smile was catching all the way into Athens!

The campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles love affair with cycling began nearly a decade ago with Dr Christopher Stockdale MBE, a General Practitioner from the Midlands and member of the British Committee. After he retired in 2003, Chris cycled in spring 2005 from London to Athens to campaign for the reunification of the marbles - five years before the Acropolis Museum was opened. 

The fragments of the Parthenon sculptures that are exhibited in the British Museum have made headlines again, after an interview with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in which he expressed his objection to the sculptures’ repatriation. Johnson’s refusal is of little consequence. The sculptures are not the responsibility of the British government but of the Trustees of the British Museum; it is their opinion that counts.

Thirty-eight years after the beginning of systematic efforts for the repatriation of the sculptures, the British Museum’s opposition to the reunification of all the remaining fragments in the Acropolis Museum has no substantial basis, neither moral nor scientific. Since 2009, the Acropolis Museum has been the ideal place for the exhibition of all the sculptures that once decorated the Parthenon. The website of the British Museum gives a shaky justification for the Trustees’ objection to the unification of the Marbles: “The Trustees of the British Museum believe that there’s a great public benefit to seeing the sculptures within the context of the world collection of the British Museum, in order to deepen our understanding of their significance within world cultural history.” In other words, viewing the sculptures of Pheidias along with the sculptures of ancient Egypt or Rapa Nui takes precedence over the integrity of a work of art.

This cannot be taken seriously. Imagine that the score of a lost symphony by Tchaikovsky was found and its sheets were scattered in private collections around the world; and imagine that the collector who is in possession of 60% of the score prefers to have the parts recorded on his sheets performed together with music from the Andes or China, instead of allowing the performance of the entire composition. The argument of the British Museum carries similar weight.

So, why does the British Museum insist on its position? The reason, admitted or not, is simple: If the British Museum were to bring the Parthenon sculptures to Greece in any way that might create any suspicion that they have been in its possession illegally, this would set a precedent and might call into question the legitimacy of its collections that were acquired before the establishment of international legal norms for the protection of antiquities and cultural heritage. This is why the British Museum does not rule out sending the Parthenon sculptures to Athens as a loan, but under one important condition: “that the borrowing institution acknowledges the British Museum’s ownership of the object.” For the British Museum, this is not a whim; it is a matter of survival. All Greek governments have declared that they will never acknowledge that the British Museum is legally in possession of the sculptures. Hence the deadlock.

Can Greece break the deadlock by raising legal claims for the return of the sculptures? Lord Elgin was in possession of an administrative document – a letter from the Kaimakam, superior administrative official of Istanbul, to the Ottoman authorities in Athens – when he removed the sculptures from the Parthenon; however, according to Turkish historians, such an act would have normally required a firman (a royal mandate or decree) from the sultan. Elgin claimed that he had been given a firman, but no such document was ever found. The problem is that when the British Museum acquired the Parthenon sculptures in 1816, following a decision by the British Parliament, there was no international law for the protection of cultural property, no Greek state, and no Greek laws for the protection of antiquities. To submit the matter to a British or an international court means accepting unpredictable risks.

By contrast, things are clear from a moral and scientific point of view. Elgin committed greedy and ruthless looting. Anyone who reads the reports of his agents about the brutal way in which the sculptures were removed from the Parthenon still feels the repulsion and indignation that Lord Byron expressed in his poem after his visit to Athens (1811).

Scaped from the ravage of the Turk and Goth,

Thy country sends a spoiler worse than both.

Survey this vacant, violated fane;

Recount the relics torn that yet remain:

“These” Cecrops placed, “this” Pericles adorned,

“That” Adrian reared when drooping Science mourned.

What more I owe let Gratitude attest –

Know, Alaric and Elgin did the rest.

That all may learn from whence the plunderer came,

The insulted wall sustains his hated name.

For today’s civilized world, it is of no relevance what document Elgin had or did not have in 1801. Today, priority must be given to the restoration of a work of art of emblematic significance to world culture. It is in this spirit that the motto of the international committees for the Parthenon sculptures is “Marbles United,” not “Marbles Returned.”

Given that the legal issue of ownership has not produced – and it is unlikely that it will ever produce – any results, it is time for another approach. The proposal is simple: The Greek Parliament’s Committee on Cultural Affairs should appoint a committee of Greek and foreign experts and generally respected figures who will approach the British Museum not on behalf of the Greek state, but on behalf of the Acropolis Museum, in order to examine the conditions under which the reunion of the sculptures will become possible. Since every Greek government would like to triumph over a success and every opposition would look for reasons to stigmatize the government, this committee should be appointed by an increased majority, in order to have cross-party support. In a period of increasing polarization, it would be a real gift to the Greek citizens to have an atmosphere of cross-party understanding on this issue.

Solutions can be found. For instance, the Collection of Antiquities of the University of Heidelberg was in possession of a small fragment of the Parthenon frieze. In 2006 the university did not “return” but “donated” it to the Acropolis Museum. The act of donation – the transfer of ownership from one museum to another – freed the university from any suspicion of illegality, and the fragment found its place in the frieze. There is a difference between a government’s claim for the return of stolen property and and a committee’s efforts to restore for all humanity a monument of universal importance. By shifting the focus from law to culture and from a dispute between a state and a museum to a cooperation between two museums, a new dynamic can be created. Otherwise, Greece will continue to have the right on its side and the British Museum the sculptures in its rooms.

Angelos Chaniotis is professor of ancient history and Classics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, NJ.

British Government 

Congratulations to Mrs Vardinoyannis for her comprehensive article on the overall issue of the divided sculptures from the Parthenon and for her contribution to this noble cause. Among other things, her article published in VIMAGAZINO and other outlets, highlights the importance of the recent ICPRCP Committee’s emblematic Decision which recognized for the first time the intergovernmental character of the difference over the Parthenon Sculptures and its adoption, is due to the hard work of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Greek Culture Ministry.

“JUST A LITTLE MORE, LET US RISE JUST A LITTLE HIGHER”

article by Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Published in VIMAGAZINO, January 2022

“All the electric lights won’t stop them from constantly seeking the sweet light of Homer,” renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin said to Angelos Sikelianos upon seeing the Sculptures “imprisoned” in a dark hall of the British Museum. And he was absolutely right.

Greece is the homeland of the Parthenon Sculptures, Athens is their birthplace, and Greek light is the only light that can bring out their greatness. Only bathed in Greek light can these wonderful creations of human civilization, and, of course, only intact in their entirety, shine and transmit throughout the world the fundamental universal human principles and values of Democracy, Equality Before Law, and Freedom of Speech, just as our ancestors envisioned them.

It has been 221 years since the Greek Sculptures were taken from the hill of the Acropolis. From 1801 and for about a decade, Lord Elgin forcibly removed the Sculptures, even using saws, in order to transport them to the Great Britain. The Sculptures were purchased by the British Museum a few years later.

During these two centuries, the dismemberment of this global monument-symbol remains an open wound, a deep wound, a pressing debt, and a pending moral issue, not towards our country and Greek civilization, but towards our global civilization as a whole.

These Sculptures are not isolated works, but “architectural sculptures”, the decoration of an indivisible whole, a unique architectural work of global history: the Parthenon. A creation that has dominated the Sacred Rock for 2,500 years, looking out onto the Athenian landscape, and challenging historical time, wining the wager of eternity against natural disasters, wars, and geographical and political changes. Despite being manmade, it survived through centuries of human history, remaining the most powerful symbol of Athenian democracy, the first democracy in the history of our societies. A symbol for the entire Western world.

This unique power and the very substance of the monument show us the path we must follow: the path of Dialogue.

About 40 years ago, my dear friend, the late and one and only Melina Mercouri, began a courageous effort as Minister of Culture, opening an international dialogue and raising the issue at the UNESCO Forum of Ministers of Culture in Mexico, with the Forum ruling in favour of the return of the Sculptures to Greece. Melina realised very early on that the path to the return of the Sculptures could only be opened through the creation of international alliances and the launching of an international dialogue based on our country’s just arguments.

From the outset, I had the great honour of being at her side, a companion to her at every step of this “beautiful struggle”, utilising the “weapon” of cultural diplomacy at all my international meetings. And from the moment I had the honour of being elected as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, the return of the Sculptures has always remained the focus of my activity. I was one of the last people she spoke to before she passed away. “Marianna, I want you to promise me that you will continue to fight for the return of our Sculptures. When they return, I will be reborn,” were her last words to me. And these words never ceased to be in my thoughts and priorities.

I feel that it was not just I who kept this promise, but the entire Greek people. Every Greek woman and man, every one of us who, throughout these years, never, not even for a moment, stopped envisioning this dream becoming a reality. Every smaller or larger effort, on a national or international level, by the State, Civil Society, institutions and agencies, international committees in many countries, and international organisations, contributed to the significant shift in the climate surrounding the matter recently.

I remember when we held the exhibition titled ‘The unity of a unique monument: Parthenon’, together with Jules Dassin and the ‘Melina Mercouri Foundation’ at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2003, the first voices of support for our country were heard, albeit timidly, within the international organisation, while another great success was the attendance of the UK Ambassador! That is when, through great struggle, we started to acquire important allies, such as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Jean Michel Jarre, who, at two concerts at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus organised by our Foundation and the ‘Association of Friends of Children with Cancer ELPIDA’, turned the interest of the global community towards Greece, composing the ‘Hymn to the Acropolis’ and performing it for the first time anywhere at the Holy Rock of Athens.

At the same time, in collaboration with leading international figures in the Arts and Culture who joined in the Heroes struggle for the return of the Sculptures, our Foundation launched major initiatives such as conferences, publications, colloquiums, and our international ‘Return (the Parthenon Sculptures) – Restore (Unity)– Restart (History)’ campaign, in collaboration with the Melina Mercouri Foundation.

Since Melina Mercouri began this struggle, the State has taken important steps on a diplomatic and legal level, while at the same time Greece’s voice in international fora is gaining traction.

The courageous Resolution of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committeeon the promotion of the return of cultural goods to their countries of origin or their restitution in the event of illegal appropriation (ICPRCP) in September 2021, which for the first time recognises the issue of the return of Sculptures as an intergovernmental issue, and not an issue between the two Museums, was the culmination years of systematic efforts. It is also noteworthy that the Resolution calls on the United Kingdom to reconsider its stance and enter into good-faith dialogue with Greece, while also recognising our country’s just request.

The ICPRCP is the only competent UNESCO Committee on matters of negotiation, mediation, and conciliation on international cultural disputes between states and it meets every two years, with the next Meeting scheduled for May 2022. Although this Resolution is not legally binding, it is particularly important that it was reached by the ICPRCP, which is the only international Intergovernmental Commission in the framework of UNESCO – in other words, within the UN – and is a strong international message that the British side cannot ignore.

In 2021, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis – in addition to his bilateral meeting with the British Prime Minister – visited UNESCO headquarters in Paris twice, drawing on the strength of the International Organisation and cultural diplomacy. In September 2021, he raised the issue with UNESCO’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, in the context of their meeting, and a few months later, in November 2021, in the context of UNESCO’s 75-year celebrations, Kyriakos Mitsotakis talked about the return of the Sculptures before 192 Heads of State and their representatives.

During these visits, at which I had the honour of being present, and through discussions with Heads of State and world figures of culture, it became clear that there had been a shift in the climate in favour of our country’s just request.

This was also apparent at the recent ‘Greece and Cultural Heritage’ Symposium, which our Foundation hosted at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris on the margins of the 41st General Conference of the Organisation. During the Symposium, which was held in the context of ‘Initiative 21’ and was attended live by representatives of the 193 UNESCO member states, there were many important voices that spoke of the need for the Sculptures to return to Greece, including Her Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, as well as the internationally renowned Professor of History at University of Cambridge, Paul Cartledge.

Paying close attention to the developments on the international cultural scene, allows one to observe that this shift does not concern Greece alone. The past two years have seen intense international movement on the issue of the return of stolen cultural treasures to their countries of origin. These are mainly treasures exported illegally during the years when colonialism flourished, from countries with a pronounced colonial past, which today have launched a systematic effort to ‘balance the books’ with regards to past illegal possession of their national cultural treasures.

French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed the former President of the Louvre Museum, Jean-Luc Martinez, as the competent Ambassador for international cooperation and setting the criteria for the return of cultural treasures to their countries of origin. Germany has signed an agreement with Nigeriaon the gradual return of cultural goods, while countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria have made similar agreements.

The climate with regard to cultural heritage monuments is clearly changing, leading many Museums to change their stance and return national cultural treasures to their countries of origin. Obviously, this climate favours the cause of the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.

The return of the famous ‘Fagan fragment’ from the Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo to the Acropolis Museum on 10 January 2022, through the process of “long-term deposit”, shows the way and is an important weapon on the Greek side of the argument.

This year, for the first time, the Venice Biennale, Europe’s leading cultural event, which will open its doors in the spring, intends to organise a photography exhibition dedicated to the Acropolis and its Museum. The exhibition will be based on the iconic black and white photographs of emblematic photographer Giannis Giannelos, which form the basis of the exceptional collectible publication of our Foundation, ‘Acropolis, the New Museum’, published by ‘Miletus’. Browsing through this book, which moved the people responsible at Biennale so much that they asked us to hold a separate and autonomous exhibition, one realises that this is the natural space of the Sculptures: under sky of Attica, bathed in Greek light.

All of us must continue the struggle. History has shown that each smaller or greater contribution, every effort has played a role in moving things a little further along, making international public opinion understand that these Sculptures are not just exhibits in a museum. The Sculptures are Greece, they are our national pride, on them is carved our history, and they form part of one of the largest monuments of humanity.

“A little longer
And we shall see the almond trees in blossom
The marbles shining in the sun
The sea, the curling waves
Just a little more
Let us rise just a little higher...”

Let the words of George Seferis, with the music of the great Greek, and my beloved friend, the late Mikis Theodorakis, be our compass, our beacon, and our strength in our “just and beautiful struggle.”

Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures

A Trilogy of Exhibitions Bridging Ancient Cultures and Contemporary Art

A collaboration between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Acropolis Museum, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens, and NEON

This collaboration between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Acropolis Museum, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens, and NEON Organization initiates a deep and meaningful dialogue between contemporary works and ancient artefacts. This partnership underscores enduring themes of cultural heritage, loss and restitution, survival, and the ongoing creation of culture. The result is a trilogy that unfolding during 2025 and 2026.

At its core is the multidimensional work of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Michael Rakowitz whose art engages with ancient Greek antiquities and artefacts from ancient civilisations of the southeastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The trilogy starts in 2025 at the Acropolis Museum, continues in the museum’s western exterior area leading to Mitseon Street, and concludes in 2026 at the Old Acropolis Museum on the Acropolis Hill.

The power of this collaboration between archaeology and contemporary art lies in its capacity to challenge dormant or seemingly distant historical narratives. Ancient exhibits are shown in a new light through interventions of recent works that contextualise the complexity and continuity of cultural heritage, interweaving diverse experiences, identities, and memories. This initiative is an urgent call to preserve humanity’s shared cultural history at the same pace at which it is being lost.

The trilogy represents a dialogue rich in concepts, emotion, and political resonance – deeply relevant to our times. The works recall recurring traumatic historical events – war, looting, theft, colonialism, and migration – while drawing attention to the present-day fate of war-torn regions and the forgotten journeys of displaced peoples and cultural treasures. The trilogy unites classical and contemporary cultures of this region within the Acropolis Museum, extending to the Rock of the Acropolis and the Parthenon, an emblem of Western civilisation. It represents the dynamic interplay of civilisations that have shaped both the classical and modern worlds.

Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture, states: ‘The collaboration between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and NEON has consistently demonstrated its value in recent years. Contemporary artworks are placed at carefully chosen archaeological sites,in a constructive dialogue, enriching the continuity and timeless depth of Greek culture. Our collaboration on this trilogy is even more robust and focused. A remarkable civilisation – that of the Assyrians, among the oldest of the Mediterranean civilisations – enters into a harmonious dialogue and creative synergy with Greek antiquities and with the modern creations of Michael Rakowitz, who draws inspiration from the biblical kingdom of ancient Assyria and its enduring masterpieces of Mesopotamian art. Tragically, some of these works have only recently suffered looting and destruction.Many, either intact or in fragments, were stolen and violently removed from the places that created them. Beyond all the other multiple meanings of the trilogy, it directly alludes to the destruction and violent seizure of the Parthenon Sculptures.Our political priority is to foster the fusion of cultural heritage and contemporary creativity, and to amplify the outward reach of Greek culture. These priorities are fully embodied in this collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and NEON. I especially thank Dimitris Daskalopoulos for his steadfast creative partnership and generosity. Michael Rakowitz’s inspired creations, serve as a unified thread for this trilogy. Warm congratulations to the exhibition curators – Professor Nikos Stampolidis, Director General of the Acropolis Museum, and Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON – for this outstanding exhibition of multiple meanings at the Acropolis Museum. I also thank the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens and its head, Elena Kountouri and the Ministry’s officials for their exceptional work at the Old Acropolis Museum, which will reopen to the public in 2026 with three new exhibitions.’

Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Founder of NEON, adds:

The collaboration between NEON with the Ministry of Culture, the Acropolis Museum and the Ephorate of the City of Athens marks our long-term engagement with contemporary art and heritage. My interest lies in exploring and supporting new methods of civic engagement and I believe that the work of Michael Rakowitz in relation to ancient cultures will support our consistent efforts to make art more accessible to a wider local and international public and its ideas more impactful. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Minister Lina Mendoni, the Acropolis Museum Board of Directors and its Director General, Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis and, of course, to Michael Rakowitz.

First part: Collaboration between the Acropolis Museum and NEON

Exhibition Title: Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures

Curated by: Professor Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis, Director General of the Acropolis Museum and Elina Kountouri, Director, NEON 

Acropolis Museum, Temporary Exhibition Gallery

13 May–31October 2025

The first part of the trilogy is the exhibition Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures, curated by Professor Nikos Stampolidis, Director General of the Acropolis Museum, and Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON. It will be presented in the Temporary Exhibition Gallery of the Acropolis Museum from 13 May to 31 October 2025.

Contemporary works by Michael Rakowitz will be shown alongside ancient artefacts from the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures and the Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities at the Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens. Together, these elements interweave narratives that speak to both our past and present. The exhibition also features three new commissions by the artist.

Set in the Acropolis Museum’s Temporary Exhibition Gallery – where the absence of the Parthenon sculptures is acknowledged – the exhibition unfolds a story of colonialism and the looting of cultural institutions, as viewed through Rakowitz’s lens. The artist addresses a persistent global and still unresolved cultural trauma: the displacement of objects that embody the memory and identity of a people, transforming them into artefacts in exile; as well as products of looting, theft, transaction, destruction and disappearance.

The exhibition’s title, Allspice, inspired from handwritten recipes by Rakowitz’s mother, reproduced on the existing columns in the rooms of the temporary exhibition space. It evokes cross-cultural interactions and the memories of exile and migration – of both people and their cultures. The installation, a new commission by NEON, reflects Rakowitz’s personal and political engagement with diasporic identity. As he explains: ‘Going through my mother’s Iraqi recipes, one of the ingredients that is the most ubiquitous is allspice. This unripe dried berry, ground into a powder, tastes like many things all at once: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, hints of cardamom. It features as one of the major ingredients and dominant flavours in Iraqi baharat (spice mix) and when one is unable to procure all the other spices, it serves as a good substitute and preserves the flavour profile of the recipe.’

‘Substitute is derived from the Latin substituere, which comes from statuere, whose noun derivative is statua, or statue, which seems central to my work as a sculptor for the past two decades: making sculptures that are substitutions for other sculptures that have disappeared or been destroyed.

The exhibition opens with Rakowitz’s video work The Ballad of Special Ops Cody, filmed at the Assyrian Galleries of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum (ISAC Museum) in Chicago. In it the toy figurine Special Ops Cody offers to liberate the statues, urging them to escape from their vitrine and return home.

The exhibition presents ancient artefacts from the Middle East and southeastern Mediterranean, generously on loan: thirteen artefacts from the University of Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, and one from the Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities. These are shown in dialogue with many contemporary works from Rakowitz’s long-running series The invisible enemy should not exist). The works from the series The invisible enemy should not exist/ Northwest Palace of Kalḫu (Nimrud) are ‘reappearances’ of relief sculptures from the Northwest Palace of Kalhu (Nimrud) – historic Assyrian artworks that were looted or recently destroyed. These ‘reappearances’ are presented with empty spaces between them, echoing the damage of antiquity, war, and looting. Rather than concealing these cracks, the works embrace them, transforming trauma into testimony and absence into presence

These works are made of papier mâché using Middle Eastern food packaging, Nineveh Magazine, published in Modern Assyrian and English, and Arabic-English newspapers found throughout the US, and bear deliberate visual absences and gaps. These disposable materials underscore the absence of the original objects that are missing.

Professor Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis, Acropolis Museum General Directorand co-curator of the exhibition, mentions: ‘In any discussion about antiquities, one should insist on a fundamental distinction: are they refugees or prisoners?

If artefacts are considered refugees, forcibly removed from their homeland due to circumstances beyond their control, then one could argue that they should be repatriated whenever conditions allow for their safe return. This repatriation, however, should not be linked to acts of theft, plunder, or trade. On the other hand, if they were forcibly expatriated through illegal means like grabbing, trading, bribery, etc., for personal enrichment, then the captive antiquities should be returned to their rightful owners.

Until restorative Justice is achieved, Rakowitz’s works, whether they are whole or fragmented statues, architectural components, or other forms of ‘reappearances,’ remain shadows and ghosts of the original objects, bearing the scent of memory and humanity. They serve as a poignant reminder of the thousands of objects that have been transported from exhibition to exhibition, from country to country, sensitizing consciences until the intended restoration of justice.’

Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON and co-curator of the exhibition, adds:

‘Rakowitz’s artistic language is highly personal yet has a universal reach as if, through his attempt to save Iraq’s cultural history, he is offering us a history of the world. He metabolizes wartime devastation in his work by returning to the objects themselves: whether lost, missing, or imperfect. He is making them whole again but not by ‘reconstructing’ them, a term that he emphatically resists. Instead, he advocates the term ‘reappearance’ as a recurring motif in his work. The production of these objects as artworks forms part of our material and immaterial heritage. They remain relevant, as they remind us of lives once lived and the survival of cultures.’

‘Allspice is more than a contemporary art exhibition in dialogue with antiquity. It’s about our precarious condition in the present and the language of survival. By joining forces, maker and viewer ensure that wars are remembered and acknowledge transgenerational trauma, loss, and absences.

Within the wall of the Acropolis Museum this storytelling becomes as much an act of healing as of resistance.’

The second new commission, in the exhibition, titled A Baghdadi Amba Dictionary, appears within a display dedicated to multiple times and cultures. It is connected to the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD) and speaks to the fragility of language and cultural heritage.

The CAD is a monumental scholarly project.  This 21-volume encyclopedic study of Akkadian, a language not spoken for 2,000 years, was compiled by scholars at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago. It provides a comprehensive record of Akkadian, the earliest known Semitic language, written using the cuneiform script. Its lexical entries quote individual cuneiform sources from different regions and periods—spanning some 2,500 years and multiple dialects—revealing shifts in meanings and usage of Akkadian words and consequently of Mesopotamian society and culture.

As an indispensable research tool, the CAD not only allows scholars to explore the written record of Mesopotamian civilization but also contributes to the study of later Semitic languages, including modern Assyrian (also known as modern Syriac or Northeastern Neo-Aramaic), tracing linguistic and cultural connections that extend into the present day. 

In A Baghdadi Amba Dictionary, Rakowitz draws a parallel between the vulnerable state of cultural relics and the fragile memory of diasporic communities. The scholar reviving a forgotten language and the conservator restoring a damaged manuscript both face dilemmas akin to those of the expatriate who must reconcile inherited identity with life in a new homeland. What do we preserve? What do we let go? How do we safeguard what is fading? How do we hold together a fragmented sense of self?

Ambais a pickled mango condiment originating in India, that features quite prominently in Iraqi cuisine and is believed to have been first imported there in the 19th century. In Chicago, it is sold at Assyrian grocery stores. A Baghdadi Amba Dictionarycomprises preserved jars of amba have been homemade here in Athens by the artist Michael Rakowitz and will be served at the conclusion of the exhibition. On the outside of each jar, Rakowitz has inscribed on the glass a meandering glossary of terms and expressions that his Iraqi Jewish mother, Yvonne, has taught him over the years, preserving a dialect in diaspora.

In the third new commission, Michael Rakowitz creates a collage between cultures, “linking” the body of the. The work titled Study for a Lamassu in spoliafeatures a sketch of the body of the lamassu drawn directly on the glass of the vitrine containing the stone male head from Cyprus, from the Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens. The work proposes a possible union of these two fragments, often seen in spolia, an ancient technique in which stones from older structures were repurposed for functional or decorative purposes.

Michael Rakowitz states: ‘Over the past three years planning these projects with NEON and the Acropolis Museum, I have been so lucky to travel to Athens again and again. Each time, I have anticipated with excitement my arrival in this amazing city, and I weep when I depart. Truly, I have become homesick for Athens, a place that has embraced me, and I have embraced back. As the child of a father who is a doctor devoted to healing and mending the breached and the broken, and a Baghdadi Jewish mother who continues to pass on her culture to her sons and her grandchildren, I deeply connect to the local histories of displacement and restoration. The Acropolis Museum itself, where the exquisite parts of the Parthenon are exhibited while the other half has been violently removed, has been such an inspiration, as it has taught me so much and has opened further understanding for me about my own work. To be able to exhibit my work here leaves me speechless, as it overlaps and connects not only through the past but opens windows into a future where objects and people can be reunited. With love, I say, efcharisto. Thank you for inviting me here.’

Second part: Collaboration between the Acropolis Museum and NEON Organization

Lamassu of Nineveh(2018) | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures

Curated by: Professor Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis, General Director of the Acropolis Museum and Elina Kountouri, Director, NEON 

Acropolis Museum, Sculptural Installation |Exterior surrounding area of the Acropolis Museum, west wing

October 2025–December 2026

In October 2025, the second part of the exhibition Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures will feature the public installation of The invisible enemy should not exist/ Lamassu of Nineveh (2018), on the western side of the Acropolis Museum, facing Mitseon Street. Originally commissioned for the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, the work is a major sculptural extension of Rakowitz’s ongoing series The invisible enemy should not exist. Constructed from empty cans of Iraqi date syrup, the sculpture reconstructs the protective Assyrian deity Lamassu – a colossal 4,3 meters winged bull with a human face that once stood at the entrance of the Nergal Gate in ancient Nineveh. The original monument, dating from around 700 BCE, was destroyed in 2015 by ISIS along with many other artefacts in the Mosul Cultural Museum.

The Athens installation brings the Lamassu into an immediate dialogue with multiple layers of history and memory: the archaeological excavation visible beneath the museum, the sacred landscape of the Acropolis above, the modern city around it, and the contemporary architectural space of the museum itself.

Third part:  Collaboration between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens of the Ministry of Culture and NEON Organization

Old Acropolis Museum

Acropolis Hill

May 2026–December 2026

The final part of the trilogy opens in May 2026 with an exhibition at the Old Acropolis Museum, on the Acropolis Hill a collaboration between the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens of the Ministry of Culture and NEON. This final chapter explores stories of diaspora and how objects – originating from diverse historical, geographical, and archaeological contexts – come together to form layered narratives. These narratives extend beyond physical geography to encompass historical and cultural dimensions. At the centre of this new commission is the brick: a symbol of construction, memory, and storytelling and the soil used to make it becomes a material link to place and identity.

First part: Collaboration between the Acropolis Museum and NEON Organization

Exhibition Title: Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures

Acropolis Museum, Temporary Exhibition Gallery

13 May–31 October 2025

Opening hours:
Monday 9am–5pm
Tuesday–Wednesday–Thursday 9am–8pm
Friday 9am–10pm
Saturday–Sunday 9am–8pm

Free Entrance with a free entry ticket from the Acropolis Museum’s ticket counters.
Group bookings (from 15 to 30 people) are made via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Guided tours of the exhibition, led by the Museum’s archaeologists, begin on Sunday, May 18, and require an online reservation.
More information: https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/thematikes-paroysiaseis/allspice-michael-rakowitz-ancient-cultures

Information at neon.org.gr & theacropolismuseum.gr

Plus article in ekathimerini.

Notes to Editors

Michael Rakowitz (b. 1973, Great Neck, New York, USA) is an Iraqi-American artist working at the intersection of problem-solving and troublemaking. Rakowitz explores the displacement of communities and cultural heritage caused by war and imperialism, activating everyday objects and employing unconventional approaches. He lives and works in Chicago US, and he is a Professor of Art Theory and Practice in Nothwestern University, IL.

His work has appeared in venues worldwide including dOCUMENTA (13); P.S.1; MoMA and Tate Modern, among others. He was awarded the 2018-2020 Fourth Plinth commission in London’s Trafalgar Square. From 2019-2020, a survey of Rakowitz’s work traveled from Whitechapel Gallery in London, to Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Torino, to the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai. He was recently granted a commission on the topic of Archaeology and Migration Flows for the Municipality of The Hague.

NEON is a nonprofit organization that works to bring contemporary culture closer to everyone. It is committed to broadening the appreciation, understanding, and creation of contemporary art in Greece and to the firm belief that this is a key tool for growth and development.

NEON, founded in 2013 by collector and entrepreneur Dimitris Daskalopoulos, breaks with the convention that limits the contemporary art foundation of a collector to a single place. NEON’s space is the city. It acts on a multitude of initiatives, spaces, and civic and social contexts. It seeks to expose the ability contemporary art has to stimulate, inspire, and affect the individual and society at large.

NEON constructively collaborates with cultural institutions and supports the programs of public and private institutions to enhance increased access and inventive interaction with contemporary art.

The Athens State Orchestra's "Musical Walks" welcomes spring with music at the Acropolis Museum.

On Monday 31, March 2025 join the "Musical Walks" performed by the Athens State Orchestra in the Parthenon Gallery.

This year's event is marked by a programme that presents the wide spectrum of Modernism in Music. With the ambiguous title "Dist(r)opia", the selection of music spans the breadth of the greatest 20th century artists. 

The acclaimed musicians of the Athens State Orchestra will present the following works: PAUL HIDEMIT (1895-1963) Introduction to Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman plus Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano BOHUSLAV MARTINOU (1890-1959), String Quartet No. 3 ALFRED SNITTKE (1934-1998), String Quartet No. 3.

Participants in the event included : Vassilis Soukas (violin), Iordanis Santos-Mastralexis (violin), Enkela Kokolani (viola), Angelos Liakakis (cello), Kostas Tzekos (clarinet), Thodoris Iosifidis (piano)

Due to limited availability, book tickets online @ events.theacropolismuseum.gr

The event includes a tour of the exhibition grounds with an Archaeologist at 5:30 p.m. and the musical event starts at 7 p.m. in the Parthenon Gallery.

THE ACROPOLIS MUSEUM'S SUMMER  TIMETABLE

From Tuesday, 01 April 2025, the Museum's summer opening hours begin.

01 April to 31 October

Monday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. 

Friday 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

The Museum's restaurant is open during the Museum's opening hours, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it remains open until 12 midnight. 

Five pages dedicated to the Director of the British Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan in the Times Saturday Magazine.

Alice Thomson writes: "The new director of the British Museum has a daunting in-tray but this is his dream job and he hopes to be at the BM for this museum's 300th anniversary, which is in 2053!"

To read the article in The Times Magazine, follow the link here.

We wish Dr Cullinan success and also continue to look for his support towards the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

In the Times Magazine article, Dr Cullinan refers to the sculptures, still mainly divided between two great museum's of the world, as the British Museum's 'talismanic objects'. Given the fate of those that did remove them from the Parthenon when Greece had no voice and consequently curated them in the British Museum, here's hoping that reunification of these sculptures is still in the vision of the reimagined, twenty-first century, British Museum.

The future, Dr Cullinan is convinced, is in collaboration. He also acknowledges that the BM cannot de-accession, as that needs an act of parliament and he suggests that those that want items returned must lobby parliament to get the act changed.

Dr Cullinan is comfortable with loaning items and will do what it takes to look after the world's greatest collection as he stresses that there are only 15 cases of contested groups or objects. These include the Parthenon Marbles: "Plans are taking shape. We'd love an innovative partnership with Greece where we would lend things and they would lend things back, and we can share knowledge and opportunity rather than debate ownership."

And we all know, Greece's ask is wholly justified.

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.

01 December 2021, press release from the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport

Following media interest in an agenda item, item 27 of the 48th Meeting of the Central Archaeological Council of Greece, which took place on Tuesday 30 November 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Sport informs that it welcomes the process of returning a fragment of the Parthenon frieze to Greece. That the Acropolis Museum will begin the final stages of this process once the Central Archaeological Council provides its opinion on the matter at its forthcoming meeting, as this is required by law.

The fragment is from Block VI of the Parthenon’s east frieze (Ν.Ι. 1546), currently held at the Antonio Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo, Italy. The Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum has expressed the intention to provide a long-term loan of the fragment to the Acropolis Museum for four (4) plus four(4) years. These loan periods are specified by Italian legislation.

Provided the Central Archaeological Council delivers a positive conclusion, it is planned that the fragment will reach the Acropolis Museum before the end of 2021. In return, Greece will provide the Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum with a statuette of the goddess Athena, subsequently replaced with a vessel from the earliest phase of the Geometric Period. The two ancient objects will be displayed at different times at the Palermo Museum. The Acropolis Museum will loan both of these to the museum in Sicily. According to Italian Law, the duration of the counter loan is also for four (4) plus four(4) years.

Talks on this long term loan of the fragment between the Regional Government of Sicily and the Minister of Culture and Sport, Lina Mendoni, began in January 2021, as did discussions between the two museums.

The return of the British Museum's Parthenon Marbles to Greece, according to Reuters' report on Sunday, may be possible 'even if the two sides cannot come to an agreement over who owns the sculptures'.

Greece's request for the return of the sculptures began shortly after independence. The more recent request was made by the then Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri in 1983, when the Greek government formally asked the UK government to return the marbles to Greece and, in 1984, listed the dispute with UNESCO. The Greek government has always only requesed the return of the sculptures that Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon at the start of the 19th century.

The Pope last year announced that he would donate three fragmented pieces from the Vatican Museums to Greece. The signing of the agreement took place in Rome on  Tuesday 07 March 2023.

Talks bewtween Greece and the British Museum have been going on since late 2021, and were disclosed when Prime Minister Mitsotakis came to London in November of 2022 to address the LSE.

The British Museum's Parthenon collection could be returned to Greece under a long-term cultural partnership agreement, Reuters reported on Sunday 12 March.

The plans, which have been discussed with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and British Museum's Chair George Osborne, would see a rotation of Greek masterpieces offered to the British Museum, including some that have never been seen outside Greece*.(This was offered by Greece for the first time in 2000, 23 years ago!).

Such an arrangement could avoid the requirement for a change in the law to allow the British Museum to dispose of its artefacts, the same point raised in 2000 also.  And yet,  George Osborne has played down the prospect of a permanent return of the marbles, instead suggested an arrangement where the marbles can be shared by both museums and seen in London and Athens.

This story is set to run for a little longer.

Read the aricle by Liam Kelly, Arts Correspondent for the Sunday Times, and for those that read in Greek in Ta Nea, although there are paywalls.

12 March 2021

Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for the Greek daily newspaper Ta Neain an exclusive interview asked UK Prime Minister Johnson about the Parthenon Marbles.

Prime Minister Johnson was asked specificlly about Prime Minister Mitsotakis' plea to have the Parthenon Marbles back in Greece.

Sadly PM Johnson chose to answer the question by repeating that the UK governments standpoint is based on legal ownership. Yet the question remains, if the legality was uncontestable, why did the UK government not retain ownership and instead transfered it to the British Museum?

In today's exclusive interview with the Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea, when asked about the Parthenon Marbles, British PM Johnson said: “I understand the strong feelings of the Greek people – and indeed Prime Minister Mitsotakis – on the issue.But the UK Government has a firm longstanding position on the sculptures, which is that they were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time and have been legally owned by the British Museum’s Trustees since their acquisition.” 

In this wide-ranging interview, Prime Minister Johnson also covered topics from post-Brexit Britain to ‘Global Britain’ serving UK citizens and defending UK values by extending the UK’s international influence.

He also said the UK: "remains committed to working alongside our partners in the region and the UN to find a just and sustainable solution to the Cyprus problem.” Adding that Britain is following developments in the region closely and "welcomes the resumption of Greece-Turkey talks" urging all all parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.

"I am of course a keen scholar of Greek history, the decisive impact of Navarino on the success of the Greek War of Independence and Britain’s crucial role in it. The Ancient Greeks founded western civilisation and gave us science, culture, philosophy, comedy, tragedy, poetry, mathematics, literature, democracy – to name just a few. But modern Greece’s emergence on the international scene as an independent nation state has also had enormous significance for the world. Greece plays an important role in Europe, NATO and in a pivotal region connecting Europe to the Middle East.

Despite some of the challenges the country has faced over the past two hundred years, Greece today is a well-governed, prosperous, creative, peace-loving international partner in the family of nations and makes a crucial contribution to the world stage." Concluded Prime Minister Johnson.

And BCRPM would add: the halves from the Parthenon currently displayed the wrong way round in the British Museum's Room 18, were removed when Greece had no voice. As an independent nation, Greece has been asking politely for some time for the UK to find a way to reunite the sculptures in Athens, so that the surviving pieces may be viewed as close as possible to the Parthenon. The BCRPM sincerely hopes that the UK can begin talks to find a solution to this unecessary division of this peerless collection of sculptures from the Parthenon.   

The interview by Yannis Andritsopoulos was published in the Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea (www.tanea.gr), today 12 March 2021. To read the interview in English, visit the linkhere. 

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.

British Museum, Room 18, The Parthenon Galleries, at 16:07,  after the voices of the women of Troy had concluded their stories, readings from a novel 'A thousand Ships' by Natalie Haynes,part of Project Season Women, directed by Magdalena Zira and Athina Kasiou, Professor Edith Hall unfurled a flag with a heartfelt request: Reunite the Parthenon Marbles.

A team of twenty actresses from Cyprus and the UK performed readings in both English and in Greek over a period of five hours in three different locations of the British Museum.

Professor Edith Hall described the day of readings as a "grand epic gesture.... reclaiming the stories of the Trojan War" and after the readings, Edith with the help of two students, unfurled a flag with the image of the Parthenon Gallery on the top floor of the Acropolis Museum and the words: Reunite the Parthenon Marbles. To reunite the surviving sculptures from the British Museum with those in the Acropolis Museum, would be a grand epic gesture, especially as this request has been voiced by Greece since 1843. 

This year is also Melina Mercouri's year and just two Saturdays prior, during the 'BP or not BP?' protest, again in Room 18, three presentations were made to state the case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

On this Saturday, after the staged readings from Natalie Haynes novel 'A Thousand Ships' in the context of Creative Responses to Troy, accmpanying the current exhibition Troy:myth and reality, Edith Hall added the following statement as Kitty Cooke and Lucy Bilson held up the flag:

"I have been involved in this amazing production of 'A Thousand Ships' as mentor and friend of Natalie Haynes and PhD supervisor to two of the directors, Magdalena Zira and Helen Eastman. But what I am going to say is entirely as an individual, a Professor of Classics at London University and most of all as a proud member of the BCRPM. This intervention has nothing to do with the theatre companies and actors involved today. Listening to these beautiful stories, born in the poetry of Homer in ancient Greece, I cannot pass up the opportunity to argue that these equally beautiful sculptures from ancient Greece, crow-barred and stolen from their homeland two hundred years ago, deserve to be reunited in their homeland with the total work of art that is the Athenian Parthenon. Thanks to my brave allies Kitty Cooke and Lucy Bilson, brave undergraduates studying Classics at University College London."

Photos courtesy of Sarah Pynder.

The 14 texts which follow, each reflecting the writer’s viewpoint, are so rich and comprehensive that it is impossible for an introduction to fully encompass their essence. In most cases, the beginning, middle and end of the text refers to the barbaric act committed by Elgin.

I have therefore chosen not to repeat those well-known, well-rehearsed and well-discussed issues. Instead, I chose to contribute certain new arguments to the cause of returning and reunifying the marbles or sculptures of the Parthenon in the Acropolis Museum, which is their newly designated place of protection and display, a place that stands in close dialogue with the very monument from which those severed members originally came.

As a rich body of international bibliography on the subject makes clear, it is now obvious to all that the so-called firman which Thomas Bruce, the Earl of Elgin and ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799-1803, is supposed to have procured from the Supreme Porte, in other words from Sultan Selim III, does not exist. If such a document had existed, it would have been submitted to the examining committee of the British House of Commons in 1816 – and the whole question of legality, and restitution claims by the Greek state, would have taken a different turn.

According to Elgin’s testimony to the committee, the original document sent by the Turkish authorities to Athens was lost. The Reverend Philip Hunt, the ambassador’s assistant, offered in testimony what he could recollect, 14 years later, of a translation of a French version of the original firman into Italian and later rendered into English.

However:

ONE

Official firmans of the sultan were always made in two copies, of which one was kept in the official archives and the other was sent to the designated recipient. In the course ofall the investigations made hitherto, the original, archived version of the firman has never been found.

TWO
Genuine firmans were despatched through a special designated messenger or an authorized individual or delivered by captains of the Turkish navy. In this case the so-called firman was brought to Athens by Philip Hunt, Elgin’s assistant.

THREE
For the actions that Elgin was seeking to undertake on the Acropolis, formal permission was indeed necessary because according to an unwritten Ottoman law, marble in all its forms – works of art, ancient or otherwise, and the raw material itself – belonged to the sultan. All the more so if marbles were to be removed from such a well preserved surviving decoration of a monument that was well respected by Ottoman officials as a “temple of the idols” – namely the Parthenon.

Thanks to the authentic firmans that were issued over the years for various purposes, we can ascertain what a genuine sultan’s firman looked like, what formalities it observed, what turns of phrase and calligraphy were used, and all its other features. I will not enumerate the hundreds of examples that might be mentioned. I will focus instead on two sultan’s firmans which are of immediate relevance, because they concern two protagonists of our story – Lord Elgin and Lord Byron. They are also, of course, close chronologically. The first is dated 1802 and was brought to light by Dyfri Williams. It is the official passport-firman granted to Elgin which authorized his trip to Athens and the Aegean archipelago. The second was granted to Byron in 1810 and is presented here for the first time, thanks to the generosity of a particular individual. It is the official travel document which was issued to Byron: its interpretation and presentation are the work of Ilias Kolovos, a scholar of Ottoman history.

When one compares these two original passport-firmans, they turn out to be very much alike in format, despite the fact that Sultan Selim III died in 1808 and was replaced on the throne by Mustafa IV. If we then compare those two documents – the one issued to Elgin and the one granted to Byron, which is available to us in Turkish (in Roman script) as well as English translation – with the so-called firman granted to Elgin which supposedly allowed him to remove sculptures from the Parthenon – at least according to the Italian translation, and its later English rendering. It becomes clear – as was demonstrated by the Ottomanist scholar Vasilis Dimitriadis at a conference on the Parthenon and its sculptures – that Elgin’s so-called permit is anything but a genuine sultan’s firman. He would have needed to get the personal authorization of the sultan, instead of merely relying – as he did - on the deputy to the Grand Vizier, Sejid Abdullah. That deputy was standing in because the actual Grand Vizier – Kor Yusuf Ziyauddin Pasha, otherwise known as Djezzar, (the butcher) – was at the time in Egypt.

Given that the so-called permit for the removal of the sculptures was not a genuine sultan’s act, but merely a decision issued by the deputy to the Grand Vizier – assuming that the Italian translation is real and accurate –how can anyone justify the still-adamant denial by the British authorities and the British Museum that what took place was an act of vandalism – indeed, a plundering of sculptures that were integral to the monument, constituent parts of the Parthenon? Or justify their refusal to return and reunify the marbles in the Acropolis Museum?

To put it more bluntly, how is it that certain officials – in the British Museum and elsewhere in Britain – still regard as acceptable a flawed purchase in 1816, and an arbitrary decision by Parliament in 1963, insofar as these relate to the ongoing captivity of the Parthenon marbles?

This is not the place to delve deep into the reasons for that insistence. Let me focus instead on some initiatives aimed at resolving the issue, in accordance with the realities of the 21st century. In addition to the strong and respectable arguments laid out by many people over two centuries – especially by Melina Mercouri in 1982-83 – all the way up to 2021, a number of developments stand out.

ONE
In September 2021, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP) adopted a decision which clearly recognizes Greece’s aspirations as rational, justified and ethical. It also affirmed the intergovernmental nature of the dispute and called for consultations between Britain and Greece.

TWO
A particular methodology was followed in the return and reintegration of the so-called Fagan fragment from Palermo. This was the first return which was treated as a matter from State to State. Initially, in January 2022, the return was presented as an unspecified “deposit” – and then, in June 2022, came the permanent reintegration of the fragment into the Parthenon frieze: an act that was underpinned not merely by legal norms and technicalities but also by the friendship between two nations - Greece on one hand, Italy and in particular Sicily on the other – who share common values.

THREE
In March 2023, Pope Francis returned three fragments of the Parthenon, as an expression of universal truth, for the definitive reunification of the monument’s scattered sculptures.
The British government and the British Museum would do well to ponder the significance all these developments, while also considering certain other factors such as:

ONE
The consistent majority of British public opinion [in favour of return]

TWO
The continued support expressed by the near-entirety of the British press

THREE
International public opinion, which favours the reunification of this world-renowned monument…so that it can be properly presented in all its integrity as a work of supreme architectural and sculptural beauty; and experienced as a symbol of democracy by people of allgenerations and national origins.

And in case those arguments fail to persuade doubters of the moral soundness of Greece’s case, I will add yet another one.

Over the past few decades, there have been some well-known cases of restitution of art works – for example to Italy or to Africa. Such returns have even been made by Britain. Let me specify one example.

On August 1, 2008, the upper section of a funerary monument was returned to Greece from New York.

It was made of Pentelic marble and it dates from the late fifth century – about 410 BCE, shortly after the completion of the Parthenon. Μy Professor George Despinis, as early as 1993, had proven that the piece came from a funerary monument whose lower half had been discovered in the soil of Attica – in Porto Rafti – and was then conserved in the Museum of Βrauron in Attica.

After some negotiations, the purchasers of the upper part – who were American citizens –gave that segment back to Greece, while Greece acknowledged that the purchase had been made in good faith. The matter was settled and the two parts of the funerary monument are reunited in a Greek museum.

I will now refer to a rather similar case, concerning the Parthenon. The lower part of segment number XXVII of the Parthenon frieze – showing a charioteer, part of a chariot and a stable lad –is in the Parthenon Gallery, while the upper part is in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum.

Just about anybody will readily understand the similarity of the two stories. In particular, the morally equivalent fate of the piece of marble that was broken off and plundered by Elgin’s team and the severed upper part of the funerary monument – while in both cases, the lower sections remained in the place where the works had been fashioned.

So given that the principle of repatriation was applied in the case of the artefact in New York, exactly the same norm should apply in the case of the broken segment from the northern side of the Parthenon frieze.

One could of course take the argument further and note that in the case of the funerary monument, the buyer was in legal terms an individual rather than a state; and then observe that under international law, no state can retroactively justify illegal acts by one of its citizens on foreign soil - given that in such cases international law supersedes anything enacted by local or national legislatures.

In view of all that, how can it be that a state, in this instance the British state, vindicates the vandalism and plunder perpetrated by one of its subjects? Considering that Elgin, as a private individual, committed an act of vandalism, along with his associates, and broke off sculptures from the Parthenon - only to transport them to England in order to decorate his home, where they would have stayed if he had not gone bankrupt.

People who persist in justifying the purchase of 1816 must surely accept this: the mostone might say is that this decision amounted to a “receipt of stolen goods” in good faith – as was the case with the purchase of upper part of the funerary monument from Brauron.

In no way can they justify the illegal actions of a British subject, Lord Elgin – in view of the considerations I have laid out.

Nor, by the same token, should any government οr state wish to carry the moral burden that results from such tainted acts. I believe the moment has come for our British friends to take a noble decision and rid themselves of the moral burden which Elgin - rashly, and in pursuit of personal gain – laid on Britain, the British Museum and the people of Britain.

The above text was the lead article in a Kathimerini supplement published 17 March 2024, entitled:H AΡΠΑΓΗ, 'Tthe Grab, Elgin and the Parthenon Sculptures'

In the same supplement BCRPM member Bruce Clark's article 'Laws, democracy and hypocrisy' was also plublished.

Photo credit for the images of Professor Stampolidis: Paris Tavitian 

Wednesday 29 January 2020 at the Acropolis Museum, the launch of the published proceedings of the 15 April 2019 International Conference: 'The Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures'. The conference was held under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos. A number of campaigning committees attended and some also spoke at the conference, including Professor Louis Godart, Chair of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (IARPS), Dame Janet Suzman as Chair of the BCRPM and Professor Paul Cartledge as Vice Chair of the BCRPM.  

Both Professor Louis Godart as the Former Chair for the International Assciation and the current Chair Christiiane Tytgat, spoke at the event held on the 29th of January this year and their respective speeches can be read below. 

Chair of the International Association, Christiane Tytgat's address:

President of the International Association, Dr Christiane Tytgat's address at the launch of the Proceedings of the International Conference on the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, held at the Acropolis Museum on April 15, 2019:
Your Excellency, Mr President, Your Excellency, Madam Minister, Dear Friends and Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank His Excellency, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Pavlopoulos, the Minister of Culture and Sports, Dr Mendoni and the President of the Acropolis Museum, Professor Pantermalis for the honour of inviting me to be here with you today.

It is a great pleasure to be here again, in this wonderful Museum which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year with a series of events. Among these events, the key event was the opening of the archaeological excavation beneath the museum on the 20th of June 2019. Hence the Museum adds again an element to its precious wealth and shows, once again, that it is a museum always in motion, a museum that offers continually something new to its visitors. I wonder, how many other museums can say this without organising a temporary exhibition and bringing artefacts from elsewhere? Increasingly the Acropolis Museum evokes the image of the sacred rock: the Parthenon Room, at the top of the Acropolis Museum, which is waiting for more than 10 years to be completed, now dominates an ancient neighbourhood of Athens, as in ancient times the Acropolis was dominating the ancient city.

The conference "Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures" was part of these anniversary festivities. I would add that after 10 years of the Museum's operation, it is a pity that we still have to hold another conference on this subject, however we can look at this in a positive way too. Many speakers from Greece, but also from all over the world made the journey to participate in the conference and show their interest in the issue of reunification. Each intervention embraced the issue from a different perspective, from the results of recent research and proposals for a solution to actions to keep the case in the news until we achieve our goal. The conference was resounding in its message, delivered so eloquently by so many speakers.

But "words are transient, yet the written texts remain forever". That is why it is very important that the Proceedings of the conference were published. There is also no better time to present them, since today begins the Year of Melina Mercouri, the great protagonist for the return of the Sculptures. We cannot honour her in a better way: her campaign for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures from the British Museum continues and her vision is more alive than ever.

Melina's campaign is no longer the struggle of any one person or the Hellenic Government who made the first request to the British Museum for the return in 1842. The struggle was transferred - and rightly so - globally, since the Parthenon and its Sculptures are a world cultural heritage.

In 1981, the first Committee was established in Australia, headed up by its President Emanuel Comino. It remains very active to this day. Following Melina's passionate appeal to UNESCO in 1982, the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles was founded in 1983. This was followed by the formation of many more committees worldwide.

At a conference organized in November 2005 by the Hellenic Government, 12 national committees established the International Association for the Reunification of Parthenon Sculptures (IARPS) with the aim of supporting the Hellenic Government in its repatriation efforts and the reunification of all the surviving parts of the Sculptures in the new Acropolis Museum. Since then, other new national committees have joined the International Association, most recently France (2016), Austria (2017), and - as strange as it may seem - the oldest committee from Australia (2018). In January 2020 we were delighted to also welcome the new Luxembourg committee.

Today, the IARPS has a total of 21 national committees spanning 19 countries. Every now and then a committee, like Russia in recent years, had fallen by the wayside but Moscow has given the committee a new impetus for the last six months and with great enthusiasm is organising its first lecture in February this year under the auspices of the Greek Ambassador in Moscow.

The IARPS works closely with the Greek authorities and supports the policy of cultural diplomacy, which Greece has been pursuing for years. The return of the Sculptures is a moral problem rather than a legal one. The International Association, which coordinates the activities of the national committees, observes that the public interest continues to grow, clearly illustrated by the continuously growing number of participants in our activities. The general climate helps us probably: the call for the repatriation of cultural heritage artefacts is global. There isn’t a day when a new article is not published and new activities are taking place. And in England, key voices grow louder too. Big museums are under pressure every day. So we are all optimistic that the time will come when theses museums will be able to do nothing less than return the stolen parts of the Parthenon to the place they rightfully belong: the Acropolis Museum in Athens, where one can see the sculptures by Pheidias on display in the best possible conditions, in direct visual contact with the Parthenon, where they are an integral part of. It would be a very happy coincidence if this would happen in 2021, the 200nd anniversary of the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence.

In conclusion, as Chair of the International Association and its 21 national Committees, I extend a very warm thank you to H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Pavlopoulos for his support over the years for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

 To read more about the conference held on 15 April 2019, click here.

Professor Louis Godart, Former Chair of the International Association (2016-2019)

The stars in the skies of Attica and Greece saw the birth of Western Civilization, just as they saw the watchman above the palace of Mycenae catch the first evidence of the fall of Troy, and as they witnessed the enthusiasm of Pericles and of all the Athenians, when after 480 BC the city reinvented democracy, and rebuilt the monuments of Acropolis, the only place in the world where spirit and courage dwell together.

These are the very stars that also witnessed Elgin's assault when without any respect from 1801 to 1804 he violated the sanctity of the Parthenon, the temple, a global symbol of Democracy.

Inside the Acropolis Museum there is the stele of Mourning Athena. She is standing in front of another small stele. She is not wearing her aegis breastplate, her helmet doesn't cover her face. Her spear has its point on the base of the stele. What did the sculptor want to tell us when in about 460 BCE he carved this masterpiece?

Athena is the goddess of the intellect. She is also the goddess who is ready at all times for battle.

I believe that the stele bore the names of those Athenians who died at Marathon, Salamis and Plataea. Mourning Athena is showing the Athenians respect for those who saved Greece and Western Civilization. In our midst, the notion that Democracy must always be fought for is being honoured. We must always be ready, like the goddess, with our spear close to hand if we want to defend something of value and distinction.

So anyone who loves Greece and democracy - the Parthenon being as I said a symbol of Greece - must fight for the repatriation of Pheidias' sculptures.

I do not forget that in 1940 England - glory to the pilots of the RAF - saved European democracy. That Churchill said at the time: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." England cannot today fail to heed the cry of everyone in the world who wants the sculptures to be near to the temple of the goddess. Today a lot of people in England are fighting alongside us. We will help them.

I hope that soon the stars of the heavens of Greece will again see the goddess' marbles beside the sacred rock.

Wednesday 06 March 2024 and our thoughts are with the Hellenic spirit that was Melina Mercouri.

Three decades since Melina passed away, at every protest, every campaign, every thought that is directed at the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, also embraces Melina's soulful and heartfelt pleas.

As Greece's Minister of Culture and Science, Melina Mercouri's commitment for the return of the sculptures removed from the Acropolis in the 19th century continue to inspire all that also feel strongly and view this long-standing request as a just cause.

“I hope to see the marbles return to Athens before I die. But if they return later, I will be reborn to see them.” Melina Mercouri said, a phrase repeated by other women whose lifetime dedication to this cause continues. 

The reunification of the Parthenon Marbles campaign began at the UNESCO General Policy Conference in Mexico (1982) when Mercouri, then Minister of Culture and Science for Greece, put forward Greece's request for the return of the sculptures. And it is at UNESCO's ICPRCP meetings that this request continues to dominate.

On 29 September 2021, UNESCO ICPRCP Intergovernmental Committee, for the first time in its history, adopted by consensus Decision 22 COM 6, which is specifically dedicated to the Parthenon Marbles issue. The added value of that Decision is that for the first time the committee: "Recognized expressly the legitimate and rightful demand of Greece. Recognized that the case has an intergovernmental character and, therefore, the obligation to return the Parthenon Sculptures lies squarely on the UK Government and expressed its disappointment that its respective previous Recommendations have not been observed by the UK."

There is global support for the reunification, especially post the opening of the superlative Acropolis Museum, and yet there is no British political will to amend the museum's law that could see these sculptures returning to Athens. Of the 50% of the original sculptures that survive, about half are in the British Museum and half in the Acropolis Museum. There are a few fragments in a few museums: the Louvre in Paris, the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Martin von Wagner Museum in the University of Würzburg.

The good and great news is that some fragments have been returned and that the campaign continues. Despite the lack of political will in the UK, there is plenty of public support and in fairness, that has been there for many decades.

Greece has also made repeated offers to provide the British Museum with Greek artefacts not seen outside of Greece, should the surviving Parthenon Marbles be reunited in the Acropolis Museum.

There are ongoing talks between PM Mitsotakis and the British Museum.

We continue to hope.