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 thatSophia 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

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 

An Australian woman who wrote to Queen Elizabeth requesting her to help return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece has received a reply from Buckingham Palace.

In the letter, obtained by Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper, a palace official said that the Queen had taken “careful note” of the request to return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that Lord Elgin removed from the Acropolis temple.

Mary Drost OAM of Melbourne wrote to Queen Elizabeth on August 1, 2019, asking her to facilitate the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens “where they belong.”

“Your Majesty, I speak for the Greek community in Melbourne Australia. They appeal to you to arrange to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece where they belong. The Duke of Edinburgh, I am sure, would agree,” the letter reads.

The reply, written by a palace official, said: “Dear Mrs Drost, The Queen has asked me to thank you for your letter from which Her Majesty has taken careful note of the views you express regarding the Elgin Marbles.”
“I must explain, however, that as a constitutional Sovereign, The Queen acts on the advice of her Ministers and remains strictly non-political at all times. This is, therefore, not a matter in which Her Majesty would intervene,” the official added.

The letter, sent on August 21, 2019, was signed by Miss Jennie Vine, MVO, Deputy Correspondence Coordinator at the palace.

Mrs Drost, who has received the Order of Australia Medal, also sent a letter to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking him to facilitate the return of the Marbles.

“Dear Prime Minister, I speak for the Greek Community of Melbourne Australia and urgently request that you arrange for the Elgin Marbles that are now in the British Museum be returned to Greece where they belong,” the letter, sent on August 9, reads.

“This issue causes great anger among those of Greek origin. The Marbles should never have been taken, people say they were stolen. It would certainly put your name up high if you undertook to send them back, in fact take them back yourself. Think of the wonderful publicity you would get worldwide. Please give this serious consideration”.

Mr Johnson has yet to reply.

Asked what made her send these letters, Mrs Drost told Ta Nea: “I feel for the Greeks and their desire to see the carvings back where they belong, so I decided to write to the Queen and the Prime Minister as they are the two most important people in the UK. I felt sure the Queen would be interested, as her husband has Greek roots”.

Mrs Drost visited the British Museum twice this August. “When I was in the museum talking to the guard, he told me that the Duke of Edinburgh had come to see the marbles and commented that they were really like an Ambassador for Greece.”

“I really don’t know what the Duke meant, but I guess ambassadors do eventually go home, don’t they?” said Mrs Drost, adding that the guard also told her that “he thought it might be just the sort of thing Prime Minister Boris Johnson might enjoy doing.”

When asked to comment on Queen Elizabeth’s response, Mrs Drost said: “The Queen of course could not do anything, it is not in her power, but the letter showed that she was certainly interested, as I am sure her husband is.”

Mrs Drost lives in Australia where she is “dedicated to protecting Melbourne from inappropriate and excessive development, serving as Convenor of Planning Backlash Inc, a coalition of 300 resident groups across city coast and country.”

She has several Greek friends who have alerted her to the Parthenon Marbles reunification request. “Melbourne is a city that has a large Greek community. Years ago there was a joke saying that Melbourne was the largest Greek city in the world after Athens. So of course I heard about the Parthenon Marbles or the ‘Elgin Marbles’ as they are known, as it was Lord Elgin who ‘stole’ them and brought them to London,” she said.

“I go each year to Europe and of course have been in Athens and heard the mourning over the loss of so much of the ancient carvings that were taken to London.”

While in London, Mrs Drost met with Marlen Taffarello Godwin of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. “We discussed setting up a big protest in the museum next year, demanding that the collection be returned to Athens,” she said.

This article was written by Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper, and published on 12 October 2019. 

Mary Drost visiting the BM in the summer of 2019, on 21 August with BCRPM member, Marlen Godwin

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.

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.

Ioanna Kleftogianni in To Vima reflects on the thefts at the British Museum and speaks to Professor Paul Cartledge, Vice-Chair about the crisis in Bloomsbury, plus takes a statement from Janet Suzman, Chair of BCRPM.

The Vice-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles says the Greek government "behaved absolutely right"by not linking the thefts "to its long-standing and perfectly legitimate demand for reunification".

Game changer. The timeless argument that "the Parthenon Sculptures are safer in the British Museum" is hotly contested, if not destroyed after the recent revelations, which fell like a bolt of lightning from the sky about the unknown number of lost antiquities that have been "stolen, destroyed or missing" from the British Musem's storerooms.

Two weeks after the British Museum's theft scandal was disclosed, there is still concern about the refusal to publish (as is customary in such cases), the list of the stolen artefacts, which allegedly also includes Greek antiquities.

Now the question is one: the theft of valuable objects from the British Museum and their sale via eBay, despite warnings since at least 2021, and does this upgrade Greece's claims?

The British press speaks of "systemic failures" in the British Museum, shocked by the other revelation of the days about the lack of listings for all objects held by the Museum.

The revelations caused global outrage and a domino effect of resignations (first the director Hartwig Fischer and then deputy director Jonathan Williams), following the earlier dismissal of the head of Greek collections, Peter Higgs. But do these dismissals and resignations reinforce the long-standing demand for the repatriation of the Marbles?

The quality of the exhibition in the Duveen Gallery and its physical condition are, admittedly, a cause for concern

It can proceed on a completely new basis, with a happy end for the Greek side – namely, the Parthenon Sculptures fully reunited, within the Acropolis Museum – the debate that began last autumn on this issue, between the Chair of the British Museum and former economy minister, George Osborne, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the then minister of state and now foreign affairs, George Gerapetritis.

Questions posed by "To Vima" to the Chair of the British Committee for the Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), Dame Janet Suzman, and to the Vice-Chair,  one of the longest-serving members of the Committee, Professor Paul Cartledge.

The award-winning Shakespearean actress-legend says she is outraged: "The time has finally come for the British Museum to return the Greek masterpieces that were stolen. Patience is running out."

The leading modern Hellenist argues, modestly, that the theft scandal and the Greek request are two completely unrelated issues, hence, he adds, the Greek government "behaved absolutely correctly" by not linking the thefts "to its long-standing and absolutely legitimate request for the reunification of the Marbles", stressing that "no Parthenon Marble is ever in danger of being stolen and put up for sale on eBay".

And this despite the "very seriousness" of this recent scandal, which, as the former holder of the A.G. Leventis Chair at Cambridge University points out, raises for him "a series of anguished thoughts and questions":

"First of all, it turns the spotlight on the Museum, when it already answers or rather rejects other uncomfortable questions. Second, it raises questions about how quickly it discovered the thefts and reported them to the police. Moreover, it calls into question the role of the director, trustees and department heads – not just the then curators of the Greek and Roman Department. It reveals to the uninformed public the extent to which the vast majority of what the Museum holds has never seen the light of day. At the same time, it creates an air of suspicion throughout the institution, while violating and abusing public trust. And finally, it has damaged the very concept of the museum, especially that of the ecumenical museum."

Q: The Welsh, Mr Cartledge, are already demanding their own antiquities. Do you believe that the Greek government's request for the return of the Parthenon Marbles is now being put on a new footing? Has the claim that the Parthenon Sculptures are safe in the British Museum been debunked?

"Nope. The reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures and the theft of other objects from the collection of the British Museum are two completely separate questions and issues. The first is a moral, diplomatic, aesthetic, cultural issue. The second is a technical, managerial issue that the Museum must solve on its own. I am sure that no Parthenon Sculpture is in danger of ever being stolen by the British Museum and put up for sale on eBay. The quality of the exhibition in the Duveen Gallery and its physical condition are, admittedly, cause for concern, but this is a separate issue. Hence the Greek government behaved absolutely correctly by not making public comment on the thefts and therefore not linking its long-standing and perfectly legitimate demand for the Reunification of the Marbles – as some Greek media unfortunately did – with the recent theft case."

Q: The revelations about the theft were first made internally at the museum in 2021, while President Osborne was in discussions with the Greek prime minister. The British side made it public that there was talk of the possibility of a 10-year loan to Greece, a solution allegedly promoted by Mr. Osborne. Doesn't the scenario of the loan, which Mr. Osborne suggests, presuppose the acceptance that the sculptures are British-owned, which the Greek side does not recognize?

"There is indeed a contradiction. A rumour arose that there was talk of a 10-year loan, but it was officially denied by the Greek side that any kind of loan could ever be considered acceptable. And that certainly makes sense. A loan, legally speaking, implies acceptance of the ownership claim, which is exactly what the British side is claiming. But this claim, as international human rights lawyer Professor Catherine Titi very recently demonstrated once again, has absolutely no basis in international cultural property law, only in British domestic law, and is a claim that neither the Greek government nor the international community (UNESCO) recognizes.

Q: British law prohibits the British Museum from donating its exhibits other than Nazi loot and human remains. So, does the return of the Marbles to Greece require the adoption of a special law by Parliament?

"Yes. The British Museum is governed by the Museums Act 1963, which prohibits deaccession. And, yes, the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles would require both the change or withdrawal of the 1963 Act and, probably, the modification or repeal of the original 1816 Act of Parliament, according to which the then British government bought the Elgin Marbles, including the Parthenon Marbles, stolen by the former UK ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin".

The Greek government should continue to exert diplomatic pressure aimed at encouraging the curators of the British Museum to persuade the British government to pass the necessary legislation

Obviously, the British Parliament would not withdraw a law in favour of Greek claims! I wonder if you would repeat today the view, expressed in 2022, that the Parthenon Sculptures will return to Greece "only when the UK will need a gesture against China or Turkey"...

"I meant that probably only in extreme circumstances would any British government, whether left or right or centrist, or an individual MP, put the issue of the reunification of the Marbles quite high on the parliamentary agenda, with probably MPs first and then the Lords voting in favour. As theoretical examples of such extreme conditions, I devised a situation in which the state of Greece would find itself threatened militarily or economically or culturally by active aggression, for example, by Turkey or China, so that the UK government and parliament wanted to make a huge gesture of solidarity.

You have argued that legal action, as has been seriously discussed in the past, is not a solution. Do you still share the view today?

"Based on past experience, this form of action has proven to be absolutely unsuccessful and counterproductive, because any 'legal' approach may appear to legitimise the UK government and the British Museum's claim to legal ownership of 'their own Marbles'. This only confuses and blurs the real issue, which is a moral one, not a question of legality."

So what can the Greek government do?

"It should continue to exert diplomatic pressure to encourage the Trustees of the British Museum to persuade the British government to pass the necessary legislation. Really,

Greece can do no more."

 To read the entire article, which was published on 04 September in To Vima, follow the link here. The article is in Greek.

Janet Suzman: "The time to reunite the Parthenon Marbles has arrived, patience is running out."

"The time has finally come to return the Greek masterpieces that were looted (...). Patience is running out," said Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) for six years, and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and a Dame for her services to drama, who became known to younger generations by also appearing in the popular Netflix series "The Crown".

She bluntly calls "shameful" the stance taken on the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles by the recently resigned deputy director of the leading museum, Jonathan Williams, whom she disapproves for his proposal to "share" the sculptures with the Acropolis Museum.

"The scandalous revelations of mismanagement" Dame Janet Suzman hopes will shake the British Museum's view that it is "one of its kind". And it sums up that "priority must be given to respect for the cultural heritage of other nations".

"It is with relative relief that we read of the resignation of the deputy director of the British Museum, Jonathan Williams, precipitated by the revelation of the shocking thefts, and the uncatalogued treasures of the British Museum," Janet Suzman, Chair of of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles told To Vima.

UNITED

"At the last UNESCO meeting they were all united against Jonathan Williams categorical refusal never to return the Parthenon Marbles. Jonathan Williams’ attitude was embarrassing. 

He also said that the Marbles were collected by Elgin, from the ground, where they had already fallen. A blatant lie. Elgin caused catastrophic damage to the great building by sawing the sculptures to remove them from the Parthenon to which they belonged," adds the Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Marbles.

And three months later Jonathan Williams proposed a "Parthenon Partnership" with the Acropolis Museum, and the "sharing" of the sculptures. Knowing full well that sharing cannot be accepted by Greece, to which these sculptures belong both culturally and historically," concludes Dame Janet Suzman.

"We can only hope," she continues, "that the scandalous revelations of mismanagement will shake the British Museum's view that it is supreme, one of its kind. The time has come to return the Greek masterpieces that were stolen, with bribes, by a shadowy privileged aristocrat. Priority must be given to respect for the cultural heritage of other nations. Patience is running out," she concludes.

“Any holders of Parthenon Sculptures outside Greece to return them forthwith to Athens, where they can be reunited with their brothers and sisters”, the distinguished historian of the University of Cambridge, Dr. Paul Cartledge, stated in Kathimerini. Vice-Chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles and a 50-year scholar of ancient Greek history, he congratulates the tireless struggle of the Greeks for the return of their stolen antiquities, while stressing the favourable climate in the UK for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

“YouGov polls regularly register above 60 percent support for reunification” argues Professor Cartledge, explaining that “The UK’s main journal of record, The Times, has recently flipped its longstanding editorial policy – from a retentionist to a reunificatory stance”.

Regarding the problems of the sculptures' storage at the British Museum, Cartledge, critical of the British Museum, also stresses their poor conservation, focusing among other things on the issue of dampness in Room 18, as well as the series of thefts by the former curator of the Greek and Roman wings. According to Dr. Cartledge, «The Museum’s repeated claim to have been an exemplary caretaker of ‘its’ Marbles since 1817 has also been exploded on two academic fronts: a) by the late William St Clair, exposing the hushed-up, irreparable damage (‘skinning’) inflicted on frieze sculptures on Lord Duveen’s orders in the late 1930s; and lately b) by international human rights lawyer Professor Catharine Titi exposing the fragility of the UK’s original claim to legality of purchase in 1816”.

The timeline of the sale of the sculptures is set four years after the removal of the sculptures from the Acropolis, but personal debts lead Lord Elgin to submit a proposal to the British Museum to sell the stolen sculptures, estimating their value at £35,000, with the British Parliament accepting Elgin's offer. From then on, the sculptures began to be exhibited at the British Museum with the newly-established Greek state making the first request for their return in 1835.

But did Lord Elgin have the right to sell the sculptures? According to Dr. Cartledge, who relies on the legal assumptions presented in the book, “The Parthenon Marbles and International Law”, “the UK does have legal title to ‘ownership’ of the British Museum holdings, but only with regards to domestic law. Contrariwise it is evidenced that Lord Elgin’s title to what he sold to the U.K. for £35,000 in 1816 was anything but Acropolis rock-solid. So far, despite rigorous searches in Ottoman archives, the best that ‘retentionist’ defenders of the UK and the BM can dredge up is an Italian translation of a permit issued by an Ottoman high-up, not formally carrying the imprimatur of the Sultan himself, allowing Elgin’s men to pick up marbles lying around on the ground and copy stones bearing figures – no mention of hacking worked marbles off the extant Temple itself and having them shipped at great risk of further damage to the UK”.

“Conclusively, one of the issues at the heart of that ancient-history debate is the existence or nonexistence of any sort of official Ottoman firman authorizing Elgin and his cohorts to damage the Acropolis. On the other hand,”, Professor Cartledge adds, “the reunification requires at least one, possibly two Acts of Parliament to be either amended or rescinded: a) of “1816” about the purchasing of and the claim to ownership of the Elgin Collection including the Parthenon Sculptures and, b) of “1963”, “Museums Act”. That requires parliamentary time and support. The present (Tory) UK government is dead against even talking about any legislative change, for example, witness the UK PM’s recent extreme discourtesy to the Greek PM. The Chair of the British Museum Trustees is, therefore, unable to help the Greek government directly, even if he wanted to; his talk about a ‘deal’ is just that – “hot air”.

After two centuries of claims by the Greek State, the provocative fashion show in the Duveen Hall, in front of the Greek antiquities, provoked the anger of the Greek Ministry of Culture, with the Minister of Culture Lina Mendonispeaking of "zero respect", while the British media reiterated the conflict between the two governments and the Greek demand for the return of the sculptures.

As vice-chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, Professor Cartledge argues for the reunification of the sculptures on Greek soil, stressing, “Outside Athens and Greece any Parthenon Marbles held abroad risk looking like imperial loot without much if any current cultural-political significance”. At the same time, he underlines, “The Parthenon was a temple of as well as on the Acropolis, so any sculptures therefrom that survive but cannot be re-placed on what remains of the temple itself should be reunited in the dedicated Acropolis Museum”.

Highlighting the historical and cultural value of the Parthenon, the distinguished academic elaborates on the argument of return by explaining that, “due to a series of historic conjunctions, like the liberation of the new state of Greece from the Ottoman empire, end of the Ottoman empire, growth of representative democracy, the increased importance of the Parthenon as a symbol of the world’s first democracy or ‘people-power’, division of Europe – and the world -  between democracies and autocracies, Parthenon stands as a symbol of both cultural excellence and political freedoms, and even more importantly so. Therefore”, he adds, “any holders of Parthenon Marbles/Sculptures outside Greece to return them forthwith to Athens, where they can be reunited with their brothers and sisters in a fully appropriate space”.

In summary, the Emeritus Professor of Cambridge argues that the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece will influence the global debate on the return of stolen antiquities to their place of origin, pointing out that, “The Parthenon Marbles is, in fact, a unique case, without implications for the fate of any other ‘restitution’ case, but, even so, reunifying the Parthenon Marbles back in Athens would have a mega impact on other legitimate claims for repatriation currently being lodged against the British Museum, above all perhaps that for the Benin Bronzes”.

This article was first published in ekathimeriniand writte by Athanasios Katsikidis.

To read the article in Greek, follow the link here.

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. 

If only..... 

Page 76 of Private Eye Annual 2021, available from booksellers including Waterstones.

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 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.

22 September 2018

When the Parthenon in Athens fell into ruins in early the 1800s, a British ambassador with permission from the Ottoman Empire preserved about half the sculptures, which are now at the British Museum. But Greeks for centuries have wanted them back; the deal was made before their country fought for independence from the monarchy. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Christopher Livesay reports.

Watch the PBS Newshour podcast here or listen to the audio here.

Read the Full Transcript

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

A highlight of London's British Museum is one of its earliest acquisitions, the Parthenon Marbles. These sculptures once decorated the great 5th century BCE temple on the Acropolis in Greece. Considered among the great achievements of the classical world, they depict mythical creatures, stories of the gods along with average people.

• HANNAH BOULTON:

They are very significant and important masterpieces, really, of the ancient Greek world.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

Hannah Boulton is the spokesperson for the British Museum. She admits that how these classical works came to be in England is a sensitive subject, one the museum takes some pains to explain.

• HANNAH BOULTON:

I think it, obviously, has always been a topic of debate ever since the objects came to London and into the British Museum. It's not a new debate.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

The story starts in the early 1800s. The Parthenon had fallen to ruin. Half the marbles were destroyed by neglect and war. Then, a British ambassador, Lord Elgin, made an agreement with Ottoman authorities who were in control of Athens at the time to remove some of statues and friezes. He took about half of the remaining sculptures.

• HANNAH BOULTON:

And then he shipped that back to the UK. For a long time it remained part of his personal collection so he put it on display and then he made the decision to sell the collection to the nation. And the Parliament chose to acquire it and then pass it on the British Museum. So we would certainly say that Lord Elgin had performed a great service in terms of rescuing some of these examples.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

But Greeks don't see it that way. For decades now, they have argued that the Ottomans were occupiers, so the deal with Elgin wasn't valid, and the marbles belong in Greece. Why does Greece want to have the Parthenon Marbles back in Athens?

• LYDIA KONIORDOU:

It's not just bringing them back to Athens or to Greece. That's where they were created. But this is not our claim. Our claim is to put back a unique piece of art. To put it back together. Bring it back together.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

Lydia Koniordou was Greece's Minister of Culture from 2016 to 2018. We met her at the Acropolis where the Parthenon temple stands overlooking Athens.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

So first it was Lord Elgin who removed 50 percent.

• LYDIA KONIORDOU:

Almost 50 percent.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

All of the marbles, she says, have now been removed from the monument for protection from the elements. Then it was Greece that consciously decided to remove the remaining.

• LYDIA KONIORDOU:

Yes, the scientists that were responsible decided to remove and take them to the Acropolis Museum. It was nine years ago when the Acropolis Museum was completed.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

In fact, the Acropolis Museum was built in part as a response to the British Museum's claim that Greece did not have a proper place to display the sculptures. The glass and steel structure has a dramatic view of the Acropolis, so while you're observing the art you can see the actual Parthenon. The third floor is set up just like the Parthenon, with the same proportions. These friezes, from the west side of the temple, are nearly all original. On the other three sides, there are some originals but also a lot of gaps, as well as white plaster copies of the friezes and statues now in Britain.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

We believe that one day we could replace the copies with the orginals to show all this unique art in its grandeur. Every block has two or three figures and here is only one.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

Dimitrios Pandermalis is the Director of the Acropolis Museum where the story of the missing marbles differs widely from that of the British Museum. Presentations for visitors portray Lord Elgin critically. One film shows the marbles flying off the Parthenon and calls it the uncontrollable plundering of the Acropolis. You have these videos that actually show how the pieces were removed. Another film depicts how one of the marbles was crudely split by Elgin's workmen.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

He damaged the art pieces, yes.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

He did damage some of these pieces.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

Of course, it was to be expected.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

The British Museum disputes the claim Elgin damaged the sculptures. It also sees it as a plus that half the collection is in Britain and half in Greece.

• HANNAH BOULTON:

I think the situation we find ourselves in now we feel is quite beneficial. It ensures that examples of the wonderful sculptures from the Parthenon can be seen by a world audience here at the British Museum and in a world context in terms of being able to compare with Egypt and Rome and so on and so forth. But we feel the two narratives we are able to tell with the objects being in two different places is beneficial to everybody.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

But Pandermalis says rather than being in two places the sculptures should be reunified, literally. He showed us examples around the museum, including one that is almost complete save for one thing.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

So this sculpture is original except the right foot.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

And this. The chest of the god Poseidon. So the marble portion in the center where we can see clearly defined the abdomen, that's original but the surrounding portion in plaster, the shoulders, that's in London. So the piece has been completely split in half.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

Yes.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

And perhaps most dramatic, this frieze. So the darker stone is the original and the white plaster that represents what's in the British Museum.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

Yes. Exactly.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

And here it is in the British Museum. The missing marble head and chest floating in a display space.

• LYDIA KONIORDOU:

It just doesn't make sense. It's like cutting, for instance, the Last Supper of Da Vinci and taking one apostle to one museum and another apostle to another museum. We feel also it's a symbolic act today to bring back this emblem of our world. To put it back together.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

If you bring back this emblem, aren't there untold other emblems that need to be brought back. Is this a slippery slope?

• LYDIA KONIORDOU:

We do not claim, as Greek state, we do not claim other treasures. We feel that this is unique. This claim will never be abandoned by this country because we feel this is our duty.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

As for visitors to the Acropolis museum. How do you feel about the fact that half the collection is in the British Museum?

• MAN:

Not good.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

The Roscoe family is from Ohio. What do you guys think?

• JIM ROSCOE:

I think it would be nice to have them in one spot where they originated.

• EMMA ROSCOE:

You're coming here to see the history of it so it would be nice to see the complete history rather than replicas.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

You've seen them in the British Museum. So what do you think about the fact that the collection is kind of split.

• TIM:

It's sad. When you see this. I think this museum is a phenomenal place to display them. It's beautiful and they way it's been built almost waiting to have them back. It's interesting.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

As recently as May the Greek President, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, told Prince Charles that he hoped the Marbles would be returned. And the British opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he too is in favor of returning the Marbles to Greece. But the British Museum's position is the marbles in its collection are legally theirs. They would, however, consider a loan. After all, the British Museum regularly loans pieces from its collection to other museums around the world.

• HANNAH BOULTON:

I think we would certainly see there being a great benefit in extending that lending and trying to find ways to collaborate with colleagues, not just in Greece but elsewhere in the world to share the Parthenon sculptures that we have in our collection.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

But sharing the sculptures is not what the ancient Greeks who created them would have wanted claims Pandermalis.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

They would be very angry.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

The ancient Greeks would be very angry?

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

Yes

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

Why?

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

Because they were crazy for perfection. It was a perfection but today it is not.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

As for whether he will ever see all the remaining Parthenon Marbles together under this roof.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

I'm sure.

• CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

You' re sure that you will see them.

• DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS:

But I don't know when.

The French artist, Auguste Rodin drew inspiration from the headless ancient sculptures. The Parthenon Marbles were his favourite works of art during his 15 visits to the British Museum from 1881 to 1917. Yet this is no argument for the British Museum's director Hartwig Fischer to justify retaining the sculptures from the Parthenon in the British Museum.

The new exhibition Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece (26 April – 29 July 2018) at the British Museum may place the sculptures 'in the context of world cultures' but does not justify the BM's refusal to allow Athens to display the surviving pieces as united as possible, and with views to the Parthenon itself.

'Although the marble stonework of the Parthenon had proven its durability against the ravages of time, it was not indestructible. In 1687, Venetian forces laying siege to Athens shelled the ancient city, igniting a powder magazine stored inside the Parthenon. The resulting explosion was catastrophic, obliterating the cella and the elaborate frieze that had adorned its exterior. Attempts by the Venetians to remove statues from the pediments were similarly disastrous, as multiple sculptures fell to the ground and were shattered beyond repair. Most of the remaining statues and reliefs (known as the "Elgin" or "Parthenon Marbles") were later spirited away in the early 19th Century by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Controversially, these pieces are displayed in the British Museum to this day. Meanwhile, the Parthenon itself has since undergone rigorous restoration and preservation work, with much of the damaged peristyle reassembled to give modern visitors a glimpse of the temple's ancient splendour atop the hill where it has stood for over two thousand years.' 

If understanding world culture also means understanding history's mistakes, then (where possible) putting right old wrongs can promote cultural and international relations. Reuniting the Parthenon Marbles in Athens ought to be a possibility that supports world cultures for all the right reasons and promotes greater understanding, respect and compassion.

We are certain that Rodin's exhibition at the British Museum will be exquisite and enjoyed by many, however it can never replace the sheer inspiration that would be enjoyed, by many more, if we could hope to see the surviving sculptures reunited in the superlative Acropolis Museum.

Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, is also quoted as saying that although other artists had been inspired by the Parthenon sculptures, Rodin had responded "with a passion that was to last a lifetime". The passion and love for the Parthenon Marbles felt by millions of Acropolis Museum visitors will continue forever. A Rodin's exhibition at the British Museum would be equally possible with a loan from Athens to London too.

Whilst the BM might be trying to recontextualize the sculptures from the Parthenon, a building which still stands - it will never erode the natural thirst of millions of visitors to the Acropolis Museum, hoping to see the unity of this peerless work of art.

Letter from the Greek Ambassador, H E Dimitris Caramitsos-TzirasDimitris Caramitsos-Tziras to Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, 25 April  2018. 

More articles on this include:

British Museum claims French artist Rodin proves why Parthenon Marbles should stay in Britain

Rodin's work to go on show in London next to Parthenon marbles

Rodin's love of the Parthenon sculptures revealed

Article in the Evening Standard and letter from Chair of the BCRPM to the Evening Standard

Letters Page Evening Standard:

Dear Sirs,

I write as Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, to remind interested parties that although Rodin was much excited by the sculptures he saw in the Museum, and found them inspiring, he nevertheless lamented their exile from the sweet Attic sunlight beloved of Homer: "Toutes les lumières électriques n'ont pas la force de les empêcher de rechercher éternellement la douce lumière d'Homère".

Those sculptures, which we prefer to attribute to the Parthenon from whence they were grabbed rather than to Elgin the grabber, should now be relinquished back to the city they once crowned. They have inspired artists and thrilled the curious in their gloomy rooms in Bloomsbury for long enough and now the country of their origin deserves their glory, in the museum built especially to house them facing the Acropolis and the still miraculously upright building that they once adorned.

Yours sincerely,
Janet Suzman DBE
London NW3 2RN

The Right Honourable Robert Jenrick published his thoughts in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday 07 April. You can also read the entire article on MP Jenrick's website.

The article, 'Our Museums have fallen into the hands of a careless generation', caused concern amongst all generations represented in today's electorate of the UK. It would seem that Robert Jenrick did not appreciate the British Museum talking to another nation about artefacts from countries of origin in the museum's collection. 

"As was revealed last week the museum is in talks with four foreign governments to part with its collections.

The published minutes of the board tell us less about their plans than parish council minutes would of changes to verge cutting. We do know, however, that it is negotiating the long term loan of its most celebrated objects, the Elgin Marbles." Writes Robert Jenricks

“Long term loan” is a legal fiction constructed to circumvent the museum’s statutory duty to maintain its collection. There is surely no realistic prospect of the marbles returning from Greece should they ever be sent there. Parliament, like the nation, is being treated like a fool." He concludes going on to suggest that UK's curators are happy to denude museum, that the 'slippery slope' and 'floodgates' is 'corrosive post-colonial guilt wracking the progressive Left.'

Janet Suzman, BCRPM's Chair responded: 

Robert Jenrick's petulant essay on his website about the Parthenon Marbles - one might dub them the star steal - is typically high Tory; feigning ignorance of the full story of the steal. Their continuing presence in Bloomsbury is lumped with Jenrick's 'finders keepers' philosophy about all the other objects in the BM which were questionably obtained by a once powerful empire. His nationalism is depressing since these Marbles have a unique history, but with any luck a more generous solution might be achieved by more thoughtful actors.  

And many took to Twitter including BCRPM member Stuart O'Hara.

You can read all of Stuart's thread, here. 

Mark Stephens added his response too:

Professor Louis Godart, is the President of the Italian Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures and the IARPS' past President. He wrote in Archeo, a monthly Italian archaeology magazine, which began publishing in 1985.

The article 'Saint Sofia is the challenge to cvilisation' covers the history of this unique museum, which has been re-instated as a mosque. To read the article in full, which is in Italian, please follow the link:Santa Sofia e la sfida alla civiltà.

Professor Godart starts by writing that this "grandiose basilica, reconstructed by Emperor Justinian on the ruins of a Constantinian building, is the very symbol of the city of Istanbul. In 1934, the father of modern Turkey, Kemal Atatürk, decided to transform this contested monument into a museum, giving it a universal status. That status, seems to be destined to be cancelled, perhaps forever....."

He conscudes with the words of Bartholomew I of Constantinople, echoed by Lina Mendoni, the Greek Minister of Culture and Sport: "the decision to convert Agia Sofia into a mosque is a provocation in front of all civilised nations." From here the sentiments of all who try to halt todays nationalistic resurgence, which disgraces our world stage. I remember French President François Mitterrand during his last speech to the European Parliament, when he concluded that " Nationalism is war." 

Statement written by Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles read out by Danny Chivers during Saturday's BP or not BP? protest at the British Museum.

These unmatched sculptures that you see before you have a home waiting for them. These figures, part of an ancient belief system, have been stranded in the grandest refugee centre you’ve ever seen - the great British Museum itself. But home is where they were created two and a half thousand years ago. 

In Athens stands a fine building especially built to house them, and next year this New Acropolis Museum will celebrate its tenth anniversary. On its top floor there are yearning gaps where these very sculptures should be sitting, joined with the other half of the pedimental carvings and in direct sight of the ancient building from which they were chopped, and which, astonishingly, still stands proud on its ancient rock. That fact alone makes these sculptures unique; we can still see exactly where they first displayed themselves, for they were never intended as separate 'works of art', but as part of the mighty whole of Athena’s glorious temple. Who, one wonders, was a mere occupying Sultan to sign away the genius of Periclean Athens? 

Now is the time to make a grand and generous gesture to the Greek people who in distant times laid the foundations of our modern democracies and who informed our artistic heritage. No sculptures have ever matched these languishing here. They are unarguably part of a history the Greeks feel profoundly. Modern Greeks may be as distant from their forebears as we to Anglo-Saxons but that never stopped a nation feeling viscerally connected to its antecedents. 

Let’s do so by celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Acropolis Museum in 2019 with the return of their prodigals. What a fabulous birthday present that would be! How civilised and decent of the British Museumto divest itself of dated strictures belonging to an era - now so over - of colonialist finders keepers. The time has come to do the right thing. Go BM! Do it! 

For more information on BP or not BP, visit here.

Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK correspondent for Ta Nea has researched UK's parliamentary archives and reported on his finding in today's Ta Nea. His article is aptly entitled: 'Research into the archives of the British Parliament: Two centuries of parliamentary battles over the Sculptures.'
"Mr. Churchill, would you consider the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece?" 

Yannis begins with a question, which follows a comprehensive report that takes us back to 07 June 1816 and concludes in February 2022. 

What business do Konstantinos Karamanlis, Melina Mercouri, Kostas Simitis, Evangelos Venizelos and Kyriakos Mitsotakis have in the House of Commons and the House of Lords?
As themselves, none. Their names, however, have been mentioned more than once by members of Britain's Upper and Lower Houses.
The reason was none other than the Parthenon Sculptures, the request for the return to Greece, which is as old as their purchase by the parliament of Albion 207 years ago.
As the in-depth investigation of "Ta Nea" in the archives of the British Parliament reveals, the issue has, over the past two centuries, occupied dozens of British MPs, ministers and prime ministers.
The first time London was asked to repatriate Phidias' masterpieces was in the parliamentary debate about their acquisition. On 07 June 1816, Congressman Hugh Hammersley slammed their then-imminent purchase, speaking of a "dishonest transaction" and "looting."
He suggested that "the Marbles, so shamelessly acquired, should be bought, kept in the British Museum, and returned, without further formalities or negotiations, when requested by the present or any future government of the city of Athens."

To read the artricle in full, and in Greek, visit Ta Nea, or for an English translation, the document here.

Successive UK governments when faced with the question about the reunification of these sculptures seem determine not to look at this request as a case in its own right. Yet, no matter how often the response remains unchanged, the thirst to see the surviving sculptures reunited in the Acropolis Museum's top floor, glass-walled Parthenon Gallery is never going to go away.

Saying 'no' repeatedly to Greece is not changing the growing attitude of museum visitors. Is this about power? Probably. Is it about one nation wanting to hang onto its past at the cost of another's need to conserve a peerless collection of sculptures that was removed from a building created over 2, 500 years ago, which still crowns their capital city? Tragically, it would seem just so. Is it disrespect of one nation towards another nations cultural heritage? We hope not.

Let us not forget, that Greece is not asking for all that was removed from the Acropolis before it gained independence. And let us also remember that the British Museum is never going to be denuded of Greek artefacts, it currently has 108,184 of which 6,493 are on display. And once these specific sculptures are reunited with their other surviving half, Greece has offered the UK more artefacts, not seen outside of Greece.

Janet Suzman: "a major piece of research by Yannis! Since these Commons attitudes there has been a huge shift in the public mind-set about cultural appropriations, hence the present majority of people who think the Parthenon Marbles ought to be returned." 

Dame Janet Suzman talks to Georgia Economou of NEWS 24/7: "The Parthenon sculptures belong to the country that "gave birth" to them, not to a cold museum in England."

Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) and an internationally renowned actress talks to the Magazine about the Parthenon Sculptures and their long-suffering plight, plus the campaign to reunite them in the country that "gave birth" to them, their country of origin.

The Parthenon sculptures continue to make headlines in news outlets all over the world, not least in Greece. One could say that Lord Elgin's bribes and the men he paid to  detach these sculptures from the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis, and their subsequent exhibition at the British Museum constitutes to a great cultural wound. Their return, is a great dream that is constantly being dashed even today when the world shows that it is moving forward, and that museum policies are changing, but also that the basic issues of national cultural heritage have now been resolved.

On 16 December,  it was announced, with the "blessing" of Pope Francis, that three fragments, sculptural decorations from the Parthenon, housed in the Vatican museums would be repatriated, "as a testimony and a sign of the desire to continue the ecumenical course of truth."

About a month ago, once again we experienced hope for the sculptures return to Greece. Many expectations were raised in a large part to the announcement made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis when he visited London, when he also met with King Charles (and not with the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak).

THE ELGIN MARBLES AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM (PHOTO: MARKOS CHOUZOURIS / EUROKINISSI)

We learned of secret meetings between the Prime Minister himself and the Director of the British Museum, George Osborne, while newspaper headlines claimed that we were closer than ever to a repatriation agreement. However, everyone's hopes were yet again dashed when Rishi Sunak's official spokesman made it clear that the British Museum is legally prohibited from dismantling its huge collection and that the British government is not considering amending or changing the museum's law.

It was certain that this would happen. That is why a few days ago we spoke with 4 leading researchers about how feasible a repatriation in the true meaning of the term was possible and not a "repatriation" using the model of the Stern collection.

After the publication of this article, we were contacted by the long established British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, as we had made a distinction  between the "British Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures" to which Matthew Taylor belongs. The latter on November 18, in an article published in "The Scotsman" wrote: "Solution for the "Elgins"? How the American multimillionaire Stern created a model for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures in Athens". In this article he expressed the opinion that "previous negotiations are stuck for the time being on the issue of property. But what if the British Museum recognised ownership of the works in Greece, while retaining the rights to exhibit them for the time being? Surely this could be a big step forward?"

The BCRPM recently referred to a New York Times report and to the statements of Gary Vikan, former director of the Baltimore Museum, who said: "If someone tells me that by sending the "Elgin Marbles" back to Greece, somehow the British Museum will be emptied, it is nonsense."

Janet Suzman AP

We spoke to the Chair of the British Committee and great actress, Dame Janet Suzman, and asked her questions about the reunification of the Marbles. She claims that the reunification of the Marbles is far from clear: "The road remains long and very unclear. We all need to have patience as diplomacy slowly moves towards a solution we hope for," she tells the Magazine.

What made you want to support the case of the Parthenon Sculptures? What does this "struggle" mean to you?

I was born in South Africa and so early on I was "introduced" to the blatant injustice committed by the strongest elements against a weaker opponent. I am talking about apartheid, of course. We who have lived in a police state know these things very well. In the 18th century, Britain was an extremely powerful country, and it took what it could - because it could - from many parts of the world.

As for the "Parthenon Marbles" that Lord Elgin took from Greece as Ambassador to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empite - the truth is that no written permission to do so ever came to light. Then, as now, people are open to bribery. And so it happened then. The injustice is clear. These sculptures were part of the Parthenon edifice itself. They were forcibly cut off from the monument and removed from the country, and now it is a matter of pure dignity to return them.

To be honest, I hadn't dealt with Greece at all until I left South Africa to study theatre in the UK. With a group of young graduates from the Department of Fine Arts of my University, we flew on a fine day in 1959 from Johannesburg to Europe. I will never forget the morning when, after a long overnight flight, our plane landed in Athens. Back then there was not the current airport, but a much smaller one. We descended the steps of the plane and walking on the asphalt to enter the arrivals building, the strong sunlight made us blink for a moment.

A beautiful blue sky was above our heads. This clarity "stayed" with us every hour and minute of the 5 days we were in Greece before leaving for London. It was magical. We watched "The Phoenicians", a performance at the Herodes Atticus Theatre starring the great Katina Paxinou and it was unforgettable - it was the best introduction to the ancient classical plays one could wish for. Many years later I played Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy in a renowned production called The Greeks, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1980 at The Aldwych Theatre in London. I was already fascinated by the Ancient World when Melina (Mercouri) stormed my life a few years later.

I quickly understood that these inimitable sculptures belong to the country in which they were created, and not to a cold museum in England.

What are the memories you have of Melina Mercouri?

Melina can only be likened to a force of nature. Her strong presence swirled around us on this trip to the UK in the 80s, when she began the movement for the "liberation" of the Parthenon Sculptures from the "grey" display room in the British Museum. She was asking for their return to Greece, where they belong. Vanessa Redgrave, also known for her commitment to various political causes, supported this issue as I did. I quickly understood that these inimitable sculptures belong to the country in which they were created, and not to a cold museum in England.

Janet Suzman, Melina Mercouri and Vanessa Redgrave at the Greek Ambassador's Residence in London in the 80's. Shutterstock 361013921

What is the purpose of the British Committee of Sculptures and how important is its contribution?

The Parthenon Sculptures are made of stone. They need an advocate to talk about them, particularly in English. Eleni Cubitt founded this committee to do just that. I knew Eleni and she knew I was in complete agreement with this just cause. Much later, when she was in a nursing home in Islington, in October 2016, I was asked to chair the British Committee for their Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

The cultural heritage of Greece has fully done its job in Britain: it has opened the gates of classical science to Europe. After so many years of struggle for the repatriation of these scuptures, they now belongs to where they came from and to the wonderful Acropolis Museum that was built to exhibit them as close as it is physically possible to the Parthenon, which still stands.

We are one of the many committees worldwide that want to see the Marbles reunited with their other halves. Being here in Britain, in the place where half of the surviving  Marbles are currently displayed, we can talk directly with the people holding the keys who will one day "unlock" their forced stay in the British Museum. And most importantly we can continue to feed this "flame" with information on our site, write letters and articles in British newspapers and try to make as much noise as possible, while following the policies of the Greek government itself.

What should be Greece's main argument in order to return the Sculptures to their place?

The cultural heritage of Greece has fully done its work in Britain: that is, it has opened the gates of classical scholarship to Europe. After so many years of struggle for their repatriation, she now belongs to where she came from and to the wonderful Acropolis Museum that was built for this purpose.

BCRPM image

Has the Greek government approached you?

Our Committee is in regular contact with the Greek Embassy in London, with the management of the New Acropolis Museum and of course with the Ministry of Culture in Athens.

Was the committee aware of the secret talks between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the British Museum?

They wouldn't be secret if we knew about them.

Recently, solutions have been proposed, such as the exchange of antiquities or the recognition of ownership with an exhibition of the sculptures in London. Do you think it might be one of the avenues to negotiate with the British Museum?

These potential exchanges are long-standing as proposals for the emergence of a 'give and take' agreement. The concept of ownership is separate as a matter and of course the most sensitive, yet to be negotiated.

 BCRPM image

Pope Francis has decided that the Vatican Museums will return three fragments of the Parthenon to Greece, amid a global account in which Western institutions have begun to return objects to their countries of origin. At the same time, we read in many articles that the Marbles belong to the "world" and therefore should be left where "everyone" can enjoy them. What do you think?

The British Museum has a unique collection of global artefacts. It has over 100,000 Greek artefacts. It is the ideal place to study "visually" the cultures of the whole world. However, fashion and opinions are changing...

The return of the Benin Bronzes recently from the Horniman Museum and the University of Cambridge, the fragments of the Parthenon returning to Greece from the Vatican, but also the rethinking of repatriations from other major institutions in the UK and Europe, mark a change of attitude and respect for other cultures. This is something that is to be warmly welcomed.

People are moving forward in Italy and I hope that the British Museum will follow this path.

I would also add that with Mrs. Cubitt, the Honorary Secretary of the BCRPM, we were in contact with the Vatican Museum even before the Acropolis Museum opened. They, too, were surprised that in the UK there was a Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles! At that time their own laws prevented an unconditional return, and therefore they loaned to the Acropolis Museum a fragment of about 20 centimeters. It comes from the northern frieze of the Parthenon and depicts the head of a young man carrying offerings in the Panathenaic procession. In 2008 our committee had contacted the then director of the Vatican Museums, Francesco Buranelli, who at the time spoke of the generosity of the spirit in the reunification of the fragmented marbles.

In 2016 Pope Francis appointed the first female Director of the Vatican Museum (Barbara Jatta, an Italian art historian) and now, in 2022, he has made this great donation to His Beatitude Jerome II, not only with one fragment, but with three. In other words, he did the right thing. People are moving forward in Italy and I hope that the British Museum will follow this path also.

How optimistic are you about the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles?

I am and have always been optimistic. The pressure is rising, the tide is turning, exciting exchanges I am sure will take place and modern technologies will certainly play an important role. All museums have to deal with the changes brought about by history (e.g. the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands and the Louvre) and some need, as we see, more time to find a way to respond while maintaining their glamour at the same time. And laws may need to be revised.

To read the original ariticle in Greek online, follow the link here.