The President of the Acropolis Museum, Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, sadly passed away on Wednesday 14 September 2022

Dimitris Pandermalis was admired and liked by many people, but his special gift to the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles was in overseeing the creation of what has become the strongest of all the arguments for our case, the New Acropolis Museum. Not only was he its President, for more than a decade from its opening in 2009 but, for years before that, his achievement was almost as great as he pressed for the project, at times amid defeatist rumours and changes of Government. When the Marbles are finally reunited, his name should stand very high in the list of those credited for this act.

Professor Anthony Snodgrass, Honorary President, BCRPM

I only met Professor Pandermalis properly when we were in Athens, in April 2019 and thought him one of the most delightful and certainly one of the most knowledgeable gentlemen I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. I realised that the great Acropolis Museum was in perfectly wonderful hands, and I am most upset to hear he has gone as his presence there was very special. His fine guardianship will be continued of that there is no doubt, but his personality, his gentleness and great scholarship, will be missed. I send my condolences to his family and my sad greetings to the staff of the Museum which so flourished under his command. Floreat!
Janet Suzman DBE, Chair, BCRPM

I was honoured and privileged to count Professor Dimitris Pandermalis as not only a brilliant colleague (a superb archaeologist, especially known for his Dion excavations and site display, as well as outstanding Museum director) but also a friend - as well of course as a comrade-in-arms for the reunification of all the Parthenon Marbles/Sculptures where they rightfully belong. In my short address at the recent 'Parthenon and Democracy' conference, held shortly after his sudden and very sad death and held in the Auditorium of the Acropolis Museum that now, happily, bears his name, I called him a προμαχοσ, 'champion' (one of goddess Athene's most prominent titles), both of the Acropolis and of its Museum.

As a friend, he was also persuaded - by Annie Ragia of the excellent Melissa publishing house - to write a graceful and informative foreword specially for the Greek translation of my Archaic Greece: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2009, revised edition 2011). It was due to him surely too that the artwork for that beautifully presented edition was the handiwork, the craftsmanship, of the peerless Prof. Manolis Korres, architect of the Parthenon restoration. Dimitris will always be in my thoughts, as he will be in those of all of us, not least those of us of the BCRPM and IARPS, who cherish the goal of Parthenon Marbles/Sculptures reunification.

Professor Paul Cartledge (Vice-Chair, BCRPM, Vice-President IARPS, Commander Ταξιαρχησ of the Order of Honour (Greece), and Honorary Citizen of Sparti Επίτιμος Δημότης Σπαρτιατών)

When the new Acropolis Museum was being built, I ventured to go up to the barrier and ask if I and my friend could see round. To my amazement a young woman came out and took us on a tour of the nearly completed structure. On learning of my particular interest, she informed Professor Pandermalis, who also came to talk to us, gave us a broken fragment of the white marble being used to wrap the new museum in its glorious coat and invited us to return once it was functioning. This extraordinarily warm welcome was repeated whenever we went back to Athens and Dimitri Pandermalis extended its embrace to the entire building, making it one of the most loved, best visited and deeply appreciated of all modern museums. What an extraordinary capacity to inspire, to create and to secure this great achievement! How deeply he is missed, and will be forever remembered.
All my thoughts with his family and colleagues,
Professor Judith Herrin, member of BCRPM
Duff Cooper Pol Roger Prize 2020 for Ravenna. Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe
Heineken Prize for History 2016
Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow, Department of Classics, King's College London

Most of my friends and colleagues know me as a philhellene, so whenever any of them visits Athens for work or holiday, I get a text asking for recommendations. I always reply with express instructions, whatever else they do, to visit the Acropolis Museum.
The Museum is now rightly recognised as one of the world’s greats, inside and out. Although such institutions are the vision of huge teams of people, Prof Pandermalis deserves his share of credit for that global statement at the foot of the Acropolis.
I hope the museum, its staff, and its curation remain a testament to his life’s work and his love of Greece’s sumptuous past. Να ζήσουμε να τον θυμόμαστε.
Stuart O’Hara, BCRPM member

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Professor Pandermalis, whom I had the great pleasure to meet on a number of occasions over the years and who always welcomed me most warmly to the Acropolis Museum whenever I visited. I met him for the last time earlier this year when I was kindly invited by the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation to give the keynote speech at the Acropolis Museum in honour of International Womens Day. I knew almost nobody else at the function, but when, on his arrival, he spotted me across the Parthenon Gallery, he approached with a beaming smile and said, “Ah, welcome Doctor Flynn!” I confess I fought back the tears. Not only was I impressed that he remembered me, but I could also immediately sense that he had grown quite frail since our last meeting some years ago. Nevertheless he approached the rostrum and delivered a moving introductory welcome to the symposium and I realised then what a rock he has represented for so many of us for so long. His deep knowledge, quiet diplomacy and good grace will be sadly missed by everyone involved in the campaign to reunify the Marbles in Athens.
Dr Tom Flynn FRSA, Art Provenance Research & friend of BCRPM 

Tom with Dimitrios at the Acropolis Museum, 08 March 2022 

I can only echo Tom’s reflections on Professor Pandermalis, his irreplaceable loss to Greek archaeology and his towering contribution to the case for reuniting the Parthenon sculptures, made unanswerable through the building of the Acropolis Museum.

I met Professor Pandermalis for the first time at the UNESCO Conference on cultural restitution held in Athens in 2008. The new Museum, which he masterminded, was nearing completion, and delegates were treated to a guided tour by the great man. I was struck by the quiet dignity and authority of Professor Pandermalis, and as an Englishman, I was embarrassed by and ashamed of the gaps in the narrative sequence of Parthenon sculptures resulting from their removal by Elgin and their continued exhibition in London.

The very existence of that superb Museum, with its monumental top floor, a ‘vitrine’ to exhibit Phideas’ masterpieces in line of sight of the Parthenon under an Athenean sky, was a master stroke. It made the position to oppose the reunification of the sculptures an entirely untenable one.

Though we will miss him, Pandermalis’ legacy will long be celebrated and will one day bear the fruit that he – and we – so devoutly desired.

Tristram Besterman,one time Director of The Manchester Museum and Chair of the Museums Association Ethics Committee, writer on museum ethics and facilitator for the repatriation of misappropriated material culture from UK museums. Long time influencer to BCRPM!

Professor Pandermalis and Eddie had great respect and regard for each other. They worked tirelessly together with Eleni and you, Marlen. Please pass my sympathy and very best wishes to his family for their loss and his colleagues at the museum. He leaves a wonderful legacy as we treasure the last time we travelled to Athens and met with him in 2014, a treasured memory that I hold dear to my heart at this sad time.
Margaret O’Hara (widow of past Chair of BCRPM, politician Eddie O’Hara)

Over the long years Professor Pandermalis was the driving force behind the creation of the magnificent [New] Acropolis Museum, I had the honour to work with him for the presentation of the plans, the progress of the works and, finally, the museum itself in a number of events in London, mainly at Senate House, the RIBA and the ICA. Even during the difficult times when the very construction of the Museum was uncertain, collaborating with him was always a source of inspiration and joy. His wry sense of humour and his pragmatic outlook helped resolve impasses, find creative solutions and move the project forward despite and against all odds.

His vision for the Museum remained clear throughout this difficult, lengthy process. One of his first concerns long before construction began was the creation of the Museum gardens and I remember long discussions over the plants to be chosen, their exact position etc. My personal abiding memory is the touching way with which he cared for a tiny olive tree I offered for the gardens at a particularly difficult moment of the design process, when it was not certain that the building would go ahead as planned. He kept it in his office for a long time and only had it planted in July 2008, just after the building work was completed. What I did not know when he took me to see it was that he had chosen the spot so that he could see the tree grow from his office window. I only found this out years later, from the Museum guard that helped Professor Pandermalis plant it.

It is heartening to think that he is now in a better place, in the company of Eleni, Eddie and Robert Browning. I am sure they are looking down at us, urging us to continue the quest.

Dr Victoria Solomonidis-Hunter FKC
Member, Governing Body, Melina Mercouri Foundation

Visiting Athens with Eleni from early on, over 23 years ago, and subsequently before, and after the museum opened, all meetings with Professor Pandermalis were a highlight. The camaraderie between Eleni and Dimitris was infectious. I also have him to thank for introducing me to bergamot spoon sweet, something I then became addicted to! But the real highlight was presenting to the British Guild of Travel Writers, which in turn gave the museum an award, presented here at the Savoy in London, twelve years ago. I will always be thankful that Professor Pandermalis was happy to talk to UK journalist, showing them around that magnificent top floor, which dismisses any arguments the British Museum, may try to use to continue to uphold this ludicrous division of a peerless collection of sculptures from the Parthenon. And, lastly for being thoughtful when Eleni passed away in April 2020 and agreeing that an olive tree might be planted for her and James Cubitt as the founders of BCRPM. Something we have yet to do but am sure that when we do, Professor Pandermalis will be watching with Eleni, James, Eddie, George & William ! We will remember him with huge fondness, and send our heartfelt condolences to his family and all of his colleagues at the museum.
Marlen Taffarello Godwin, member & Secretary of BCRPM

BCRPM's Hon President, Professor Anthony Snodgrass, Chair, Janet Suzman and Vice-Chair, Professor Paul Cartledge, plus the members of the committee were deeply saddened by the news of Marianna Vardinoyannis. Thoughts with Marianna's family and the team that worked tirelessly with her at the Foundation.

Marianna made a major bid in 2014 in conjunction with the Melina Mercouri Foundation to ‘relaunch’ the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles in Greece. It was aptly entitled: Return The Marbles, Restore Parthenon, Restart History. It was a privilege to be there with William St Clair.

BCRPM's presentation highlighted all of the committee's activities for the past 31 years, and included, as Marianna put it ‘so many voices’. 

Subsequent times when BCRPM members would have an opportunity to continue to meet with Marianna included the epic 2019 conference for the reunification, also held at the Acropolis Museum.

In December of 2021, the foundation was again in touch to ask if Tom Flynn would be willing to go to Athens and speak, at the Acropolis Museum, for International Women’s Day in March 2022.

And we reflect on Marianna's article, also on BCRPM's web site, where she quoted George Seferis:

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

Helen Glynn, from BP or not BP? said:

‘The Troy exhibition has inspired us to create this magnificent beast, because the Trojan Horse is the perfect metaphor for BP sponsorship. On its surface the sponsorship looks like a generous gift, but inside lurks death and destruction. This is our 40th performance intervention at the British Museum: for eight years our peaceful creative protests have been dismissed and the museum has continued to back BP. Now the planet is literally burning. So we invite everyone to come along to our mass action tomorrow and make sure the museum can no longer ignore the fact that, in order to have a liveable planet, BP Must Fall.’

Those that gathered on Saturday 08 February 2020 to support the activists and the performers, were all targeting BP’s sponsorship of the museum’s current Troy: Myth and Reality exhibition.

Multiple groups from around the world came together in the museum to make the links between climate change, fossil fuel extraction, colonialism, human rights abuses and workers’ rights, using the museum as a backdrop for calls for justice and decolonisation and reimagining what a truly enlightened, responsible and engaged British Museum could look like.

Room 18, The Parthenon Galleries was no exception. Groups gathered to hear Danny Chivers of BP or not BP? helped by Marlen Godwin of the BCRPM, to explain the connection of Saturday's protest againt BP sponsorship of exhibitions at the British Museum, with the unfair 200 year plus division of the Parthenon Marbles. The peerless collection of the sculptures from the Parthenon are mainly exhibited between the British Museum in London and the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

BCRPM has been campaigning for the return of the sculptures from London to Athens, since 1983. The 'new' Acropolis Museum was officially opened in June 2009, picking up an award in London in November 2010. In June 2019, it celebrated it's 10th anniversary and BCRPM helped Hellena Micy sing her song for the Parthenon Marbles in Room 18. Hellena sang  her song 10 times, once for every year that the museum in Athens has welcomed visitors from all over the world. To listen to Hellena's song, please follow the link here.

2020 is also Melina Mercouri year. With that in mind, BCRPM had t-shirts printed for the day and included in the presentations in Room 18 the background to Melina's pleas for the return of the sculptures. We would like to thank the Melina Mercouri Foundation for their kind permission to use the image of Melina on the t-shirt. If you would like to order one, kindly email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Celebrating the activist Melina Mercouri, who had championed for all freedoms, from the freedom of speech and to more, BCRPM also remembered their Chair, Dame Janet Suzman when she had campaigned and protested against  aparththeid in South Africa. These two activist women share a great deal, from acting to their passionate protests, to their love for the Parthenon and its sculptures. To this day Janet continues to be enthusiastic about protests in the BM, so much so that in 2018, she wrote words that Danny Chivers read out in Room 18.

In 2019 at another BP or not BP? protest, Cambridge University stdent Petros Papadopoulos also quoted Janet during his passionate plea for the 'RETURN' of the marbles to Athens.

 And so to the protest on 08 February 2020, Janet's words were heard in Room 18 once again: 

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 this year in June, the New Acropolis Museum will celebrate its eleventh 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 do the right thing. SIMPLE JUSTICE DEMANDS IT! GO BM! Do it! 

The protest was also covered in Ta Nea with an article by Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK Correspondent for Ta Nea, based in London. 

05 January 2022, The Telegraph

Nick Squires in the Telegraph: 'Britain should put best foot forward like Italy and give Elgin Marbles back, says Greece.'Athens museum chief hopes return of stone foot fragment from Sicily will put pressure on British Museum to return large friezes.'

“Good for Sicily,” said Janet Suzman, the chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. “We expect the British Museum to make a more magnanimous gesture.

I cannot think of a single argument in favour of keeping the legacy of Greece locked in Bloomsbury. Certain things must be returned and the Parthenon Marbles deserve to be reunited in the Acropolis Museum.”

To read the article in full, follow the link to the Telegraph.

The Guardian, Angela Giuffrida

Italy returns Parthenon fragment to Greece amid UK row over marbles.

Loan deal could renew pressure on Britain to repatriate ancient Parthenon marbles to Athens.

The Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo, Sicily, returns to the Acropolis Museum, the foot of a goddess for a loan period of four years to be extended by a further four years. However, the move back to Greece could eventually become permanent.

The fragment was loaned to Greece in 2002 and in 2008. Sicily’s councillor for culture, Alberto Samonà said the latest transfer could become permanent, but that it would be up to the Italian culture ministry to take the measures needed to make that happen.

To read the article in full, follow the link to the Guardian.

Acropolis Museum, 03 January 2022

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaking (in Greek) on Monday 03 January at the Acropolis Museum when 10 Parthenon Marble fragments were transferred from the National Archaeological Museum to the Acropolis Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gozU5WyrOoM

"Precious fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures were reunited today in the Acropolis Museum. It was a small but significant step, and I hope others now play their part in completing this important journey to reunify a truly unique monument of human civilisation."

'Leaving aside the “thin end of the wedge” argument for a moment, consider this: what if that act of restitution was regarded not as a loss, but as a gain?' writes and questions Charlotte Higgins, chief culture writer for the Guardian. 

Charlotte also talks to Esme Ward, Director of the Manchester Museum. After a £15m renovation, the museum will re-open on the 18th of February with 'a physical and ethical renovation'. Esme Ward says she has been determined to broaden the definition of the idea of “care” that sits at the heart of the idea of curatorship. She believes that curatorship should go beyond the basic obligation of a museum to preserve artefacts; it should also care for its community.

And so, after long conversations and exchanges, in 2020, Manchester Museum returned 43 sacred objects to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Esme Ward speaks about this as a gain for the Manchester Museum. "Above all it is a gain in knowledge; the kind of haptic, experiential knowledge of place and use that can be absent from dry descriptions of artefacts in museum catalogues. The gain is also by way of a relationship with the Australian institution – one that may result in long-term cooperation, including possible loans to Manchester. And even considered in bald binary terms, her museum has “lost” only 43 collection items out of around 4,000 relating to Aboriginal communities."

And we also know that the British Museum has over 100,000 Greek artefacts with just over 6,000 on display. We also know that for the last two decades, Greece has been suggesting that should the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles be failitated, Greece would lend the BM artefacts not yet exhibited outside of Greece.

Charlotte Higgins also quotes the BM: “we operate within the law and we’re not going to dismantle the museum’s collection as it tells the story of our common humanity. We are however looking at longterm partnerships, which would enable some of our greatest objects to be shared with audiences around the world. Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon Partnership are ongoing and constructive.”

We would add that no one wishes to see the BM break the law but basic moral decency is needed in this particular case. The case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles has been a steadfast request, made by Greece nearly 2 centuries ago, post independence. This requst has never been for ALL Greek artefacts to be returned. It currently asks for a peerless collection of fragmented sculptures to be given a new 21st century chapter in the Acropolis Museum. An opportunity for all of hmanity to celebrate the reunification of these sculptures, as close as it is physically possible to the Parthenon, which still stands and crowns the Acropolis: a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We've been around this block so many times, we're dizzy, and this October, BCRPM celebrates 40 years of campaigning. It seems we'll be embracing more campaigning before the solution to this historical impasse amongst two nations that are friends, might be respectfully found.

To read Charlotte Higgins' Guardian article, follow the link here.  

Yannis Andritsopoulos reports in Ta Nea on 21 September 2019: Britain has rejected Greece’s request to hold talks on returning the Parthenon Marbles after Athens proposed a meeting between experts from the two countries, it can be revealed.

Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper, has obtained a letter written last year by Jeremy Wright the then culture secretary, which states that the UK will not enter a discussion with Greece about the permanent reunification of the sculptures.

“If the expert meeting is being convened to discuss (the Marbles’) permanent transfer (to Greece), the British Museum cannot participate in further discussion on this issue,” the UK culture secretary wrote on December 3, 2018.

Wright was responding to a letter written by his Greek counterpart, Lydia Koniordou, in which she asked the British government to discuss the matter with Greece “at the appropriate interstate level”.

Koniordou sent her letter on August 10, 2018 and suggested that “a bilateral expert meeting” should take place in Athens “preferably in October or November 2018”.

However, Wright’s response to this request arrived four months later. His letter was addressed to Myrsini Zorba, who had since replaced Koniordou as Greece’s culture minister.

In his letter, the British culture secretary rejected Greece’s invitation, telling his Greek counterpart that any request regarding the Parthenon Marbles should be submitted to the British Museum rather than the British government.

“As is very well known, the Parthenon sculptures in London are owned by and are the legal responsibility of the Trustees of the British Museum, which is independent of Government, and they have been on permanent and prominent public display at the museum for the last two hundred years,” the letter reads.

Wright goes on to say that “the Trustees believe that the British Museum is the best place for the sculptures to be seen in the context of their rich contribution to the history of the whole of humanity. The UK Government fully supports the Trustees' position on the sculptures.”

Responding to Greece’s request for a bilateral meeting in Athens, Wright stresses that it is the British Museum, rather than the government, that should participate.

“The British Museum would therefore be an essential contributor, and indeed lead on any meaningful expert meeting concerning the Parthenon sculptures in their collection and, accordingly, my officials have sought their opinion on Ms Koniordou's proposal.”

However, the British Museum advised that it would not take part in such talks. Subsequently, the Greek government’s request was rejected by the UK government.

“The British Museum's view is that if the expert meeting is being convened to discuss permanent transfer, they cannot participate in further discussion on this issue. Their position on this is very clear, including on the historical, cultural, legal and ethical dimensions of the case, which have been explored at length in recent decades,” the letter reads.

Wright adds, however, that “the Trustees will consider any request for any part of the collection to be borrowed and then returned, provided the borrowing institution acknowledges the British Museum's ownership and that the normal loan conditions are satisfied.”

However, Greece insists that it is the rightful owner of the Parthenon Marbles. The Greek government says that the sculptures were illegally removed from the Parthenon during the Ottoman occupation of Greece in the early 1800s.

‘Deep cultural trauma’

Responding to Wright, Zorba sent her counterpart a letter dated May 30, 2019, in which she says that the ‘dismembered’ Parthenon Marbles “constitute an open wound to a World Heritage Site of the stature of the Acropolis. This is nothing less than a deep cultural trauma in the eyes of mankind.”

Zorba adds that “the return and-re-integration of the Parthenon Marbles remains a firm demand”, stressing that maintaining a dialogue on the issue is “an objective of major importance and of cultural responsibility towards both History and the moral order.”

“We would be willing to participate in it, provided it will not be rendered unrealistic through the insistence on such kinds of prerequisites. We call upon you to re-examine all of the facts, in order for us to be able to resume a well-meaning sincere dialogue, free from prerequisites or binding admissions and able to bear fruit in the future,” Greece’s then culture minister says.

The UK government has not responded to this letter. However, on June 10, 2019, arts minister Rebecca Pow wrote a letter to Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, in which she repeated word for word Jeremy Wright’s response to Zorba.

Dame Janet had previously written to Wright, saying that “the Government and the British Museum must attempt to show respect for the Parthenon and therefore also for its sculptures”.

“Keeping these very specific sculptures divided smacks of imperialism, an era we surely cannot continue to pay homage to without seriously re-considering the mood of the world we live in. Continued excuses not to reunite this peerless collection ring hollow,” she stressed.

Athens has repeatedly called for the permanent return of the 2,500-year-old sculptures that Lord Elgin removed from the Acropolis temple. The British Museum has consistently ruled out giving back the marbles, saying they were acquired legally.

“With an overwhelming sense of awe for the comprehensiveness of the collections in the British Museum, I yet cannot help being equally overwhelmed by its sense of superiority. The same rather smug ownership song is being sung,” Dame Janet Suzman told Ta Nea.

“Can the Director and Trustees not see that there is a different mood in the world? Can they not see that the Duveen Gallery is just one of a myriad of world exhibitions under its impressive roof?,” she added.

“Can they not admit that millions of their visitors find that they have entirely missed the Marbles due to other fascinations? In any case the visitor figures the BM gives out never indicate a figure for those who specifically visit the Marble galleries.”

“The New Acropolis Museum in Athens has an entirely more focussed task; it stands in sight of the Parthenon, and every floor of it is concentrated on the glories that were Greece. The spaces that should be filled by the BM’s Parthenon collection are a painful lacuna.”

“Every decent impulse for reunification should be awakened and seriously discussed by the both the BM Trustees and the British Government instead of repeatedly providing statutory replies. Depressingly they are not. When will they both wake from their Rip van Winkle-ish slumbers and realise the world has changed? The Empire is so very over.”

“Ex-Director Neil MacGregor himself says that the British think of their past in order to comfort themselves, whereas the Germans (he is a student of German history) reflect on their history in order to look to the future. They should start to emulate that honesty before another period of intellectual arthritis sets in,” Dame Janet added.

Published in Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper (www.tanea.gr)    

Publication date: 21 September 2019   

English version: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exclusive-uk-turned-down-greek-request-experts-return-andritsopoulos

Original version (in Greek): https://www.tanea.gr/print/2019/09/21/politics/agapitoi-ellinescrta-glypta-anikouncrsto-mouseio-mas/

Calls for return of Parthenon Sculptures mount as Acropolis Museum celebrates 11th anniversary

Βy Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper 

Boris Johnson loves Ancient Greece. He studied classics at Oxford, he used to speak ancient Greek at home with his siblings, his hero is Pericles and he often tries to impress his audience by reciting extracts from the Iliad.

His love for the ancient Greek civilisation seems to be so deep that, apparently, he wants to keep a piece of it forever: the Parthenon Sculptures. They have been on display in the British Museum since 1817, a year after they were sold to the British government by Lord Elgin who had controversially removed them from the Parthenon.

Just over 200 years later, Britain's refusal to engage in talks with Greece about the Marbles’ return has sparked an international backlash.

On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Greek Culture minister, three British MPs and the Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles are calling for the Parthenon Sculptures’ return in exclusive comments published in Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper.

British Museum Director Hartwig Fischer told Ta Neathat the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum “are complementary in their approach,” adding that the museum “looks forward to continuing our collaboration and fruitful dialogue with our colleagues at the Acropolis Museum.”

Opinion polls show that the British people think the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Athens. The most recent YouGov survey was released in June 2018 and it indicated that 56 percent said the Marbles belong in Greece.
However, the British government and the British Museum say the issue is out of the question.

A UK government spokesperson told Ta Nea: “The UK’s position on the Parthenon sculptures remains unchanged – they are legally owned by the British Museum. This will not be up for discussion in any future trade negotiations.”

A British Museum spokesperson confirmed that the institution's position on the issue has not changed. The museum has previously said that a permanent return of the Parthenon Sculptures is not being considered, and if Greece wants to borrow them, it must first acknowledge the British Museum's ownership.

Mr Johnson is opposed to the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. He has said that the Marbles “were rescued, quite rightly, by Elgin” and has criticised George Clooney for suggesting Britain should return them to Greece.

However, his father, Stanley Johnson, has said there should be “a fruitful dialogue between the Greek and the British authorities (on this issue).”

 Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni told Ta Nea:

“Perhaps the main argument that the British Museum has been making for years in order not to return the Parthenon Sculptures - since 1982, when Melina Mercouri raised the issue at a UNESCO Conference of Ministers - was that Greece did not have a modern museum that could house the masterpieces of Phidias.

“Since September 2003, when the construction work for the Acropolis Museum began, Greece has been systematically demanding the return of the Sculptures which are on display in the British Museum, because they are products of theft.

“The current Greek government - like any Greek government - is not going to stop claiming the stolen sculptures which the British Museum continues to hold illegally contrary to any moral principle.

“The British government, which is washing its hands of the issue, is in stark contrast to the British public, the vast majority of which support the return of the Sculptures to their homeland.

“It is sad that one of the world's largest and most important museums is still governed by outdated colonialist views of the 1880s, and keeps on dismissing basic values of modern scientific ethics.

“Let's not forget that it was not only Elgin who mauled the Sculptures, but also the British Museum itself, using inappropriate and unscientific methods during their conservation.

“It is time for the British Museum to do what moral law and the monument (of the Parthenon) itself demands, which is also what the international public opinion is increasingly demanding.”

Dr Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, told Ta Nea:

“We send our colleagues at the Acropolis Museum our very best wishes on the occasion of their 11th anniversary: the museum provides a fantastic window into classical Athens, and is one of the great museums of the world.

“The Acropolis Museum and the British Museum are complementary in their approach, one providing an in-depth view of a major ancient city, the other a sense of the wider context and sustained cultural dialogue with the neighbouring civilisations of Egypt and the Near East in antiquity, and more recently.

“We look forward to continuing our collaboration and fruitful dialogue with our colleagues at the Acropolis Museum, which in recent years has included scholarly workshops, staff placements and sharing knowledge from researching ancient polychromy to questions of display and presentation.”

Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale told Ta Nea:

“While I do not hold to the view that all artefacts should be returned to their country of origin it does seem to me that the Parthenon Marbles have a good home to be returned to and a facility in which they can be properly displayed in home surroundings for the benefit and enjoyment of visitors from all over the world.”

Labour MP Mary Glindon told Ta Nea:

“I have enjoyed several classical tours of Greece and a highlight of those tours has always been the visit to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. But it’s sad that the Parthenon Marbles are in London. While they are seen in the British Museum by many people, as many, if not more, would appreciate seeing the Marbles as part of the amazing cultural experience to be enjoyed when visiting the Parthenon and the Acropolis Museum. The Marbles belong in Athens.”

SNP MP Margaret Ferrier told Ta Nea:

“The Acropolis Museum has enabled the sections of the frieze and the metopes to be enjoyed in their original context and it is now time for the Parthenon Marbles to join them. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Brexit negotiations are continuing at pace and calls are growing for the Marbles to be returned to Greece. Returning them would be a sign that the UK is genuinely committed to looking outwards to the world after Brexit.”

Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, told Ta Nea:

“There’s always an anniversary to celebrate. June 16th marked the 44th year since the student uprising in Soweto that was a turning point in the downfall of the apartheid state. A global reaction to the murder of a black man in America is sweeping the world, and those same students, grown much older if they survived at all, want to honour that murder by urging “a move away from a world centred on white supremacy and violence to one centred on justice and equity”.

“That argument was taken further when last week a statue was torn down from its plinth in the city of Bristol in England and thrown into the waters of the harbour where the slave ships used to anchor. Bristol, aware too well of its past, has decided that the statue should now be placed in the city museum with a full explanation of how the trader became so rich. Visitors can then understand that the defaced bronze figure is not just a benefactor of the city but a man who grew rich on other people’s misery, by exploiting the cruellest of white supremacies - the slave trade.

“And in Greece, the end of the Ottoman Empire’s occupation will be celebrated next year. Taking over bits of the world and ruling them according to your own values is an occupation that the British know only too well; at its height that Empire ruled a third of the world. So when Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman court, decided he wanted to send back bits of the Parthenon to adorn his house in Scotland, he didn't bother to ask the subject Greeks, he greased the palms of functionaries from Istanbul, persuaded his own king to provide a ship and made off with the glory that was Greece. They landed up in Room 18 of the British Museum and for 200 years have been one of its star attractions.

“So we need to ask The British Museum, hiding from the tsunami of anti-colonialist feeling sweeping the whole world, whether they would have the decency to provide visitors with the full story: how did these incomparable pieces of sculpture torn from the greatest building in the western world get to sit - out of context - in the grey grandeur of Room 18? Reunification of the Marbles would seem to be a move away from white British exceptionalism and a move towards a world the survivors of Soweto are desperate to see. While supremacy stole them away and a white sense of justice should see them restored. But until that time comes, as it surely must: tell the story. Let the people judge the fairness of their captivity in London. There is a museum waiting for them in Athens.”

Published in Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper (www.tanea.gr)
Publication date: 20 June 2020
English version: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/calls-return-parthenon-sculptures-mount-acropolis-andritsopoulos
Original version in Greek (paywall): https://www.tanea.gr/print/2020/06/20/lifearts/lifestyle/epistrepste-lfta-glypta-lftou-parthenona/

Thursday 25 April 2019, Cambridge Union Debate 

This House Would Return Looted Art Back to its Country of Origin

Proposition:

Alice Procter:
Alice is an independent tour guide and art historian, best known for running the often sold-out Uncomfortable Art Tours, telling the ‘ugly truth’ about the artefacts in Britain’s museums.

Dame Janet Suzman:
Dame Janet is a renowned actor and director of both stage and screen and an Academy Award nominee. She is currently co-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, a significant lobby group working to ensure the Marbles’ return to Athens.

Professor Lord Colin Renfrew:
Hailed as, ‘The Great Restitutionist,’ Lord Renfrew is an archaeologist and Senior Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. He is a former Master of Jesus College and a former President of the Union.

Opposition:

Dr. Kevin Childs
Kevin is a writer and lecturer on art history and has recently developed a series of pieces looking at the contribution to culture and history made by LGBT people over the millennia. He writes regularly for Independent Minds and the Independent.

Neil Curtis
Neil Curtis is Head of Museums and Special Collections at the University of Aberdeen. He is Convenor of University Museums in Scotland, Vice President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and a member of the Ethics Committee of the Museum Association.

Lewis Thomas                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Lewis is a third-year historian at Sidney Sussex College.

Below Dame Janet Suzman's prsentation

Mr President,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The burning of Notre Dame should remind us all how much a building can mean to a people.

               Fellow debaters, ladies and gentlemen,

               I am here pleading for some exquisite pieces of stone to be returned to their birthplace. They have been given shelter for 200 years and now they need to go home. They can no longer be kept hostages to time.

              I am not the first by a long shot -

              In 1986, Melina Mercouri - in a similar debate in what you no doubt call the Other Place - the Oxford Union - was tremendously moving on this special case - specialbecause of what the Parthenon means to the Greeks…

               …means to the world.

               You might say all of Western culture is predicated on this building. It is the logo of UNESCO. Every classical building in the ancient - and modern world - springs from its genius.

               It's where democracy was born.

               And single-mindedly, incomprehensibly, a mere lordling from these isles cut bits off that edifice, which, so perfect in its symmetry, is a work of art in itself.

               The temple tells the thrilling story of the pan-Athenaic procession - carved in relief by Phydias' incomparable team - surging at a gallop round the entire building; Olympians and their creatures once adorned the pediments.

              These marbles were wrenched from a building that belonged - not to 'the one true god', not a tyrant, nor a king - but to the people.

              And there - astonishingly - it still is. After two thousand years plus it still stands atop the sacred rock, bloody but unbowed, and in the eye-line of millions of Athenians going about their business down below. It is embedded in their national identity.

              Imagine the dome of St Paul's sitting in Potzdammerplatz? A Stonehenge dolmen standing in the Tuileries - no, there IS no national equivalent here.

             I was privileged to have had a meeting with His Excellency, President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos in Athens last Monday the 15th April, while I was attending a conference on the subject of these marbles.

               He wanted to make a very clear point - that the Greek government has never asked for any other piece of statuary in any other museum in the world to be returned to them. And that it never would.

               On the contrary, he said - the Greeks are very proud that the Louvre has the Winged Victory of Samothrace - they are happy to see it there.  

              They are NOT happy that Elgin attacked the Parthenon. They want their marbles back where they belong.

               The British Museum, via the Dept of Culture, stays tight-lipped. That insulting silence is way past its sell-by date.

              The reply to the President's latest request to re-consider by the Culture Secretary prompts me to offer him this simple advice: "Do NOT attempt to 'follow the logic of restitution to its logical conclusion', Mr Wright". Museum acquisitions were not exactly logically obtained, why should restitutions follow suit?

No slippery-slope-ism allowed; each case on its merits if you please.

                              --------------------------------------------------------

               A brief reminder: Greece was under Ottoman occupation when Lord Elgin was appointed Ambassador to Athens.  

               Napoleon was invading Egypt. So, on the principle of 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' sacrificing the Parthenon's glories to Elgin's whims was probably for the Sultan a mere bagatelle.

               However, exactly what 'glories' was Elgin allowed to take? Did the Sultanate specifically designate which?

               Proofs, if they exist, have hitherto skulked in murky clouds of smoke and mirrors.

               There is vague wording in an Italian transcript of a 'firman' - an official permission - in the Elgin archives - which give him leave to take 'qualque pezzi di pietra' - the word qualqueindicating 'some' or 'a few pieces of stone'.

               He was permitted to 'copy, draw, mould and dig' around the base of the Parthenon only.

              Dr Tatiana Poulou, an archaeologist working on the Parthenon site today likened his depredations to the destruction by ISIS of Palmyra. That is, catastrophic.

               Prof Dimitrios Pandermalis, Director of the New Acropolis Museum, understates these barbarisms of Elgin's as: 'at least surrealistic…' as he wryly points out the upper part of this horse and the lower legs of that.

              Scholars have known, and further Turkish research has confirmed that there exist no permissions to take the friezes and pediments, and none to take down the metopes.

               Hence this headline in the Greek edition of The NY Times: Dated April 16th - the day after my meeting with the President:

               "Acropolis Museum director says Ottoman archives debunk the claim Lord Elgin had permission to remove sculptures".

               The historian William St Clair knows more about the smoke and mirrors than anyone and is soon to publish his further findings, and I think he won't mind if I say that the headline above will not rock his boat.       

                                             -------------------------------------------------

               Ladies and gentlemen - there is far too much to say about the manner of Elgin's acquisitions: his huge bribes to Ottoman high-ups, his trail of 'shattered desolation' - as a witness described the rape of the metopes - the ship that sank with the marbles aboard (Poseidon briefly rejoiced!), Elgin's bankruptcy forcing him to sell to the nation instead of hiding them in his Scottish pile. Yes…he had wanted them for himself!

              Elgin was a terrible imperialist, but the truly colonial-imperial act was that of the British Parliament in 1816 in recognizing Elgin's title to his loot by buying it from him. That Act of Parliament thereby claimed 'ownership'.

               But the BM is not a private company with a board of directors. Trustees are required solely to look after things entrusted to their care, not play at politics.

               Does culture exist outside of politics? I think not.

               Anyway, look, it's done. The BM has them.

               The hornet's nest of Ottoman legalities still unravelling leads me to dwell rather on the NOW, not the THEN.

                                -----------------------------------------------------------

               Post-World War II, international laws should surely persuade parliament to re-think its position?

               Questions arise: does an occupying power have legitimacy to dispose of a vassal nation's heritage for the rest of history?

               Should Britain own a mass of foreign heritage for the rest of time?

               The ownership title that Britain exercises today surely should end at these shores?

              The BM's Director, Hartwig Fischer, has developed a trope about separation being a 'creative act'. Well, he would, wouldn’t he? The Marbles are one of the BM's star attractions.

               The Rodin show last year re-inforced the marbles' supremacy in execution and their diminished meaning in isolation.

               The BM once said the Greeks couldn’t look after their own marbles. The stunning New Acropolis Museum opened all of ten years ago, with the Parthenon serenely in view from every glass-walled gallery. One of them empty of its own. But waiting…

               We can't put Humpty together again but now you can visibly link the two - a revelation for visitors.

              The BM is a great encyclopaedic institution - and the Aladdin's Cave of conquest.

               There's a mood abroad that it must wake up to.

               A revolt against colonialist attitudes.

               The violence of the "Rhodes Must Fall" movement at Cape Town University made sure he did. That's the blunt end of hurt feelings.

              The Museums Association takes a more nuanced and ethical approach. When the balance of power was so heavily skewed towards imperial authority, blunt 'no's are not enough, it says. Polls taken in 2012 are 73% for the return of sculptures to Greece.

               The director of the Rijksmuseum recently said: "It's a disgrace that the Netherlands is only now attending to the return of colonial heritage…We should have done it earlier and there is no excuse".

                Guidelines for their return, he suggests, intend to offer a framework similar to existing directives for Nazi loot claims.

               The V & A is showing an open mind, Macron is thinking out of the box, St Mark's horses are back in Venice, Sweden has returned Icelandic Sagas, Easter Island will have its guardians back, Nigeria its Benin figures - and look! - the heavens have not fallen!

              It is high time the BM showed us a heart within the beast. Make models for heavens sakes! - but do the right thing!

             In the name of fairness and morality' said Melina in 1986 'please give them back. Such a gesture from Great Britain would ever honour your name'.    

20 June 2019

The New Acropolis Museum was officially inaugurated on 20 June 2009 and celebrates this year 10 tremendous years of successful activity. It has grown to be one of the best museums in the world and has received over 14.5 million of visitors. Between 13 and 20 of June the Museum has organised a series of festivities to commemorate its anniversary, with as a major event – on June 20 – the opening of the archaeological excavation underneath the museum. The architectural remains of Late Antiquity (4^th-7^th century AD) excavated during the construction of the museum give an unrivalled insight into the everyday life of an ancient neighbourhood at the foot of the Acropolis. From 21 June 2019 , this new archaeological site will be open to the public.

The history of the New Acropolis Museum goes back to the 1970s. The museum built on the Acropolis itself, whose initially construction dates to the 19^th century, was by then outdated and could no longer cope adequately with the large number of visitors. Moreover, important restoration and conservation works carried out on the monuments of the Acropolis from 1975 on rendered the exhibition space in the old museum too small to accommodate the sculptures that were being taken down from the various Acropolis buildings to preserve and conserve them from the urban pollution.

In 1976, less than two years after the restoration of democracy in Greece, President Constantinos Karamanlis conceived plans for the construction of a new Acropolis Museum and selected the site upon which the Museum was finally built, located in the historic neighbourhood of Makryianni, a natural extension of the south slope of the Acropolis hill. Between 1976 and 2000, no fewer than four architectural competitions were conducted, before the award finally went to the project by design architects Bernard Tschumi, Michael Photiadis and their associates.

The New Acropolis Museum is a three-storey building facing the Acropolis, a transparent construction of structural concrete, stainless steel and marble, with liberal use of glass for the facades and part of the floor. It achieves an interplay between the museum, where the antiquities of all periods of the Acropolis are on display, floating over the in-site excavation, and panoramic views on the Acropolis and the city. The concept of the building is ingenious, divided over four levels: the ground floor of the Museum is suspended on pylons over the archaeological excavation; a gentle slope ending up in a monumental staircase connects the ground floor with the first floor; the top floor or Parthenon Gallery is arranged around an indoor court and rotates slightly so that its orientation corresponds exactly to the orientation of the nearby Parthenon temple. The concept of the Acropolis Museum can thus be seen as an evocation of the topography of the Acropolis in ancient times: a Sacred Way leads visitors from the city up the slope of the Acropolis hill, then up the steps towards and through the Propylaea to the Parthenon.

The display of the artefacts in the Museum strengthens this image. The ruins of part of the ancient city of Athens are situated on the lowest level. The finds excavated on the slopes of the Acropolis in secondary temples, shrines and caves, are on display on the ground floor, along the gentle sloping path. The numerous sculptures and architectural fragments – most of them unique treasures of art – found on the Acropolis, including parts of the Archaic temples, the Erechtheion, the temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaea, are presented on the first floor and can be viewed from all sides. The ambient natural light in the exhibition rooms, changing throughout the day, particularly suits the sculptures on display. The top floor is dedicated to the surviving Parthenon sculptures in Athens, completed with plaster casts of the sculptures actually on display in the British Museum in London. This juxtaposition of original parts with plaster copies underlines the call for the return of the originals in the British Museum. The display in Athens (unlike that in the BM’s Duveen Gallery) is exquisite, the sculptures can be seen exactly as they were placed on the Parthenon, but in a lowered position for the convenience of the visitor. The glass enclosure provides ideal light and enables direct view on the context of the original environment of the Parthenon Sculptures.

The New Acropolis Museum is a thematic archaeological museum, geographically limited to the finds of the Acropolis, the slopes of the hill and its monuments, chronologically limited to artefacts dating from the earliest period to Late Antiquity. It is a “living” museum, constantly in motion and constantly replenishing its exhibition with new finds, as a result of the ongoing archaeological research and the restoration works conducted in the area by members of the Greek Archaeological Service.

In just 10 years, the Acropolis Museum has grown into a leading world museum, with a highly scientific programme, a very competent restoration and conservation department, a strong cultural-museological management, and a suite of dynamic projects for the future. Therefore, one can only regret the more deeply that not all surviving parts of the Parthenon Sculptures – a number of them are dispersed in other museums and collections besides the British Museum – are today reunited in this beautiful museum.

The most important collection of Parthenon Sculptures abroad is actually on – poor – display in the British Museumin London. They were “taken” by the British diplomat Lord Elgin with a view to decorating his mansion in Scotland, at the beginning of the 19^th century, at a time when Greece was under Ottoman rule. In the process several were destroyed. Financial problems too meant that he had to sell the Sculptures, which finally were purchased from Lord Elgin by Act of the British Parliament and entrusted to the care of the Trustees of the British Museum. The young free Hellenic State began negotiations for the return of the Sculptures as early as 1842. A crucial turning point came in 1984 when Melina Mercouri, then Minister of Culture, made a formal request to the British Museum for the return of the Sculptures to Greece and simultaneously a request to UNESCO, which was immediately entered on the agenda of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Return of Cultural Goods to the Countries of Origin. The claim from Greek governmental side for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures is regularly repeated, without reference to legality, but the stance of the British Museum Director and Trustees – a harsh ‘no’, without even a willingness to enter into formal discussions – remains unchanged until today.

The reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum in Athens is not only a claim made by Greece. It is supported by International Cultural Organisations and by individuals worldwide. The International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (IARPS), founded in 2005 and consisting of 20 national committees, spread over 18 countries, supports the claim for reunification, in close collaboration with the Greek authorities, who do not wish to engage in litigation at this moment, but prefer a policy of cultural diplomacy. A policy line that the IARPS respects. New approaches are therefore necessary to reach a breakthrough in the dispute. As the Parthenon Sculptures were made for and constitute an intrinsic part of the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis – an emblematic building, symbol of Western Democracy and recognised as a World Cultural Heritage, it is above all, a moral obligation to return and to reunify all the surviving Parthenon Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum, where they are in direct visual contact with the Parthenon temple. Only in this way they can continue satisfactorily to fulfil their mission: testimony of the great craftsmanship of the ancient sculptors in the 5^th century BC and a reminder of the origins of Democracy.

Dr Christiane Tytgat

Historian - Archaeologist

President International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures

President of the Belgian Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures

That Greek temples and sculptures were coloured, both with 'applied' polychromy (paint) and 'natural' polychromy (the use of naturally coloured materials such as gold and ivory), has been known for centuries. So it was surprising to see a flurry of articles last week (11 October) praising the British Museum for new research that makes this discovery exciting.

Paul Cartledge, Vice-Chair of BCRPM was disappointed that the articles had not credited the Acropolis Museum also.

The articles were published in The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Mail.

Professor Anthony Snodgrass, Honorary President of BCRPM, had released this statement in 2009, the press release issued then, can also be read here. 

Anthony Snodgrass, in 2009, said : "The original presence of colour on the Parthenon Marbles has been a matter of common knowledge for years. What is more, ordinary viewers can still see, with their own eyes, traces of it (in this case, dark green) surviving on the drapery in at least one of the original slabs, from the West Frieze of the Parthenon, which is in the new museum in Athens. It hardly needs "a new imaging technique" to tell us what we can see for ourselves.”

In 2023, Anthony added:

'It was, I think, a Daily Telegraph journalist who described the new Acropolis Museum, before it was actually built, as 'a hideous visitor centre in Athens'. Perhaps it's asking too much for that newspaper to reconsider this judgment; but there might at least be some acknowledgment that this story of this 'huge breakthrough' by the British Museum, was first launched, in similar form, in 2009; and that even then it could be pointed out that the same Acropolis Museum holds at least one slab, from the Parthenon West Frieze, where you can still see the traces of coloured pigment, on one draped figure', with the naked eye.'

Is this news story published on the 11th of October 2023 more British Museum propaganda or just a diversionary story?

From Athens' Acropolis Museum, and the Director General of the museum Professor Sampolidis, a letterto BCRPM when we asked him about the polychromy of the sculptures.

We also reflect on Tom Flynn's writing, published fifteen years ago:

For generations it has been common knowledge among art historians and archaeologists that the Parthenon and its sculptures would originally have been decorated. Lawrence Alma-Tadema's painting of 1868 — Pheidias and the Parthenon Frieze— depicts the sculptor showing Athenian citizens around his team's handiwork high up on the scaffold.

By the mid-nineteenth century, a lively debate was raging in British scholarly circles over the question of polychromy, the colouring of sculpture.

Today, even virtual reality reconstructions of the Parthenon use nineteenth-century sources such as Benoit Loviot's Cross-Section of the Parthenon of 1879-81 (Ecole des Beaux-Arts Paris) as their guide to the use of colour on the Parthenon. These late nineteenth-century sources were themselves drawing on much earlier research by architects such as Jacques-Ignace Hittorff (1792-1867) and Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849) which had established beyond doubt that Greek temples and sculptures were coloured, both with 'applied' polychromy (paint) and 'natural' polychromy (the use of naturally coloured materials such as gold and ivory).

Today, Thursday 19 October, Yannis Andritsopoulos, London correspondent for Greek newspaper Ta Nea has published his article, and you can read the original online here or the translation into English. 

23 May 2020, Athens, Greece

Greece's  Minister of Culture and Sport,  Lina Mendoni restated the long-standing request for the British Museum to return the Parthenon Marbles, ahead of the 11th anniversary of the Acropolis Museum.

The British Museum in London continues to refuse to return the Parthenon Marbles. The 2,500-year-old sculptures were forcibly removed from the Parthenon, by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when Greece was under Ottoman Turkish rule.

Prior to the opening of the Acropolis Museum on 20 June 2009,  the British Museum had argued that Greece had 'no where to display' the Parthenn Marbles. Now nearly 11 years since the purpose-built Acropolis Museum was opened  to house the antiquities from the Acropolis, the British Museum continues to argue that the sculptures in London are best viewed in London as they can be seen in the context of world cultures.

On 24 January 2019, Ioannis Andritsopoulos, Ta Nea's UK correspondent , interviewed British Mumseum Director, Hartwig Fischer who said: "since the beginning of the 19th century, the monument’s history is enriched by the fact that some (parts of it) are in Athens and some are in London where six million people see them every year. In each of these two locations they highlight different aspects of an incredibly rich, layered and complex history."

"People go to some places to encounter cultural heritage that was created for that site. They go to other places to see cultural heritage which has been moved and offers a different way to engage with that heritage. The British Museum is such a place, it offers opportunities to engage with the objects differently and ask different questions because they are placed in a new context.We should cherish that opportunity." Concluded Dr Fischer.

On Sunday 23 February 2020,  the then Deputy Editor of the Sunday Times, Sarah Baxter wrote her modest proposal for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, aptly entitled: "The sane move is to give Greece back its Elgin marbles".

The first 'modet proposal' was written by Christopher Hitchens (pages 104 to 106) in the third edition of 'The Parthenon, The Case for Reunification'published by Verso in May 2008 and launched at Chatham House, London by the BCRPM. The second was written by Stephen Fry in 2011, you can read that heretoo.

Dr Fischer responded to Sarah Baxter's article with a letter to the Sunday Times, which was publish Sunday 01 March 2020:

Greeks should be glad we have the marbles

Sarah Baxter’s column on the Parthenon sculptures asks us to imagine how we would feel if Big Ben had been transplanted to Athens (“The sane move is to give Greece back its marbles”, Comment, last week). This is to ignore the many buildings and artworks that have been reused, reshaped and often moved across borders, such as Duccio’s altarpiece the Maesta, elements of which have been removed from Siena cathedral and are held in museums across Europe and America.

The Parthenon sculptures are fragments of a lost whole that cannot be put back together. Only about 50% of the original sculptures survive from antiquity. The Parthenon has become a European monument precisely because its sculptures can be seen not only in Athens but in London and other European cities. The public benefit of this distribution and what it means for our shared cultural inheritance is self-evident, and something to celebrate.

Minister of Culture for Greece, Dr Lina Mendoni  responded by saying that Dr Fischer's letter was as “unfortunate, if not outright unacceptable.” To read one of the article's quoting Dr Mendoni, follow the link here.

As expected, this was not well received by most, not just in the UK but elsewhere too. Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper, wrote an article following on from Dr Fischer's letter to the Sunday Times, quoting a number of BCRPM members including Janet Suzman, Alex Benakis, Dr Peter Thonemann and Professor John Tasioulas.

Dr Mendoni insists that “it is time for the British Museum to reconsider its stance ahead of the Acropolis Museum’s next birthday, which is on 20 June 2020. Does it want to be a museum that meets and will continue to meet modern requirements and speak to the soul of the people, or will it remain a colonial museum which intends to hold treasures of world cultural heritage that do not belong to it?” Smilar words were used by Dame Janet Suzman during her participation in the Cambridge Union debate on 25 April 2019. You can read Janet's speech here.

Minister Mendoni urged the International Committees (IARPS) to continue to support this long standing request as they also continue to support the Greek government in their quest for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

Congratulations to Chris Froome on winning this year's Tour de France. 

Chris also won the 2013 and 2015 races and is the first to successfully defend his title in more than 20 years. He finished this years epic race, arm-in-arm with his team-mates behind the peloton after Andre Greipel won the final sprint finish.

Cycling has also featured in the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. Three very different and very dedicated individuals, share their passion for cycling with a deep desire to see this peerless work of art reunited in the Acropolis Museum, in Athens, Greece.

Currently the surviving Parthenon marbles are mainly (and almost equally) divided between two great museums - the British Museum in London, where their collection has been displayed for 200 years and the Acropolis Museum in Athens, which recently celebrated it's seventh year. It is in Athens, that the sculptures can be seen in the context of the Parthenon itself.  

Decades of campaigning and centuries of requests to do the 'right' thing and return these fragmented sculptures has resulted in the main reason stopping the British Museum  from doing the right thing. In the BM, these sculptures form part of world history. Over six millions visitors  to the British Museum are  shown how they should 'see' history in the context of other objects and their stories.

Back to cycling. Healthy past time for many (of all ages) and a leading sport for many more. But how did three individuals bring cycling into the campaign for the reunification?

We have to start with the outstanding Dr Christopher Stockdale, a long serving BCRPM member, inspired by Anne Mustoe. He bravely cycled from the courtyard of the British Museum on 15 April 2005 to the foot of the Acropolis in Athens and made his way with his bike all the way to the Parthenon. It took Chris 3 weeks, 3 days, 5 hours and 26.6 minutes to complete this cycle. More on this story here.

On Tuesday 01 July 2014, Dr Luca Lo Siccoembarked on his first bicycle trip from the British Museum, across Europe to Greece and the Acropolis Museum, where he donated his bicycle to the museum. Professor Pandermalis, President of the Acropolis Museum sent him this letter. 

Luca continued his cycling the following year to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is here, in the National Museum of Denmark, there are two heads missing from a metope, which is in  the British Museum in London.

On 02 July 2014, the edition of the Yorkshire Post Life & Style Magazine, carried an article on formidable octagenerian, Michelle Patrax Evans. Also a keen cyclist, Michelle lives in Leeds and was looking forward to the tour de France of 2014 but she has been passionate about the sculptures from the Parthenon for decades.

Before her interview with journalist Sarah Freeman, Michelle frantically made contact to ask, was cycling a part of the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles! And was delighted to find out that its is.

Cannot describe Michelle's response when we did exlain that Dr Chris Stockdale had made an amazing trip in 2005 before the Acropolis Museum had opened and that Luca, a University lecturer living in Britain was embarking on the same journey on the 1st of July 2014.

The Yorkshire Post Life & Stylemagazine can be viewed on line and a small selected part of the article can be viewed here

And with cycling playing a significant role for campaigners of the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, we would like to add our heartfelt congratulations to Chris Froomeon winning the Tour de France yesterday and for the third time. A great achievement.

Festive mood at the Acropolis Museum

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

Christmas carols 

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

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

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

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

Evening tours at the Museum and traditional recipes

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

Goblin …mischief

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

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

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

Registration: Limited to 30 visitors per program. 

Hidden stories of 20+1 masterpieces

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

Special gifts for the holidays

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

"Despite the certainty of Greek authorities that the Parthenon Marbles (previously called the Elgin Marbles after the diplomat who shipped them to England in 1812) were taken from Athens illegally, London’s British Museum is unimpressed by the claim. While they are willing to consider loaning some of the marbles back to Athens, the museum’s trustees have publicly stated that their primary objective is to keep them accessible to world audiences. It’s a perspective rooted in colonialism, one that suggests that Athens is an inferior global tourist destination to London. But the British Museum is firm in its convictions. Since the marbles can’t be returned to the Parthenon itself—any sculptures there today are replicas while the originals are housed in the Acropolis Museum—they believe that the ideal place for them is the one in which they can best be understood for their universal value to all humanity, not just to the descendants of those who carved them." Writes Shoshi Park in Fodor's Travel.

To read the complete article, follow the link here. 

Porcelain eggs

These four egg-shaped porcelain ornaments are inspired by the clay vessels dated to the 9th - 8th century BC. The exhibits are displayed in Showcase 1 of the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes on the ground floor of the Acropolis Museum.

Design: Treis Grammes Ceramics

Ceramic eggs

These ceramic eggs have bright abstract designs inspired directly by the ancient decoration on clay spindle whorls (weaving weights), which brides-to-be dedicated to the Sanctuary of Nymphe in the 6th century BC. The spindle whorls can be seen at the Acropolis Museum when visiting the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes on the ground floor of the Museum (Showcase 6, no. 128).

Design: Attikon Fos

Ceramic rooster

The little ceramic rooster takes its inspiration from the illustration seen on a clay plate of 520-505 BC. There, the rooster is depicted with a lotus flower and a lizard on the plate’s central well. The plate can be seen at the Acropolis Museum when visiting the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes on the ground floor of the Acropolis Museum (Showcase 6, no. 80).

Design: Attikon Fos

Ceramic hare 

This ceramic rattle is a free rendering of an ancient vessel for perfumed oil in the form of a hare dating to the early 6th century BC. The hole below its ears was used for suspending the vessel with a string or rope. The ancient vessel can be seen at the Acropolis Museum when visiting the Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes on the ground floor of the Museum (Showcase 6, no. 134).

Design: Antonis Palles

The Acropolis Museum celebrates the European Cultural Heritage Days 2024 with the thematic presentation ‘Health: tracing a universal and timeless good’.It is a journey into the world of health and wellness in antiquity, revealed to us by the relevant facilities in the ancient neighbourhood below the Acropolis Museum, but also by the multitude of objects on display in the newly established Excavation Museum.

Guided by the archaeologists of the Department of Educational Programmes, visitors trace the ancients' perceptions of health and wellness, the ways and means they used to take care of the body and soul, the science of wellness as well as the religious aspect they utilised to secure the most precious good. The programme is in line with this year’s pan-European theme ‘Tracing Routes, Networks and Links in Cultural Heritage’ and is part of the general spirit of the Council of Europe ‘Europe, a common heritage’.

Useful Information:

Sunday 29 September: 10 a.m. in English and 12 noon in Greek
Duration: 90 minutes
Registration: Limited to 20 persons per programme. Register online at events.theacropolismuseum.gr.
 

On the occasion of this year’s celebration, on Sunday 29 September 2024, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m., entrance to the Museum exhibition areas will be free for visitors.

Among the Acropolis Museum’s main concerns are the conservation and restoration of the works in its collections, taking preventive steps to ensure appropriate environmental conditions for its exhibits; and their presentation to the public in a fresh, contemporary way. To this end, the Museum encourages research, takes steps to promote scientific knowledge and introduces innovative ways of presenting exhibits.

In order to engage visitors to this exciting procedure, the Acropolis Museum participates in the celebration of the European Days of Conservation-Restoration 2024 with the program ‘From the soil to the Museum’ on 17, 18 and 20 October 2024. This is a journey in the complicated world of the restoration of antiquities brought to light in the excavation that extends beneath the Acropolis Museum building. The Museum’s conservators will share with the public their methods and the practices they followed to preserve the life of the buildings of the ancient neighbourhood, as well as the artefacts that were discovered, from the moment they were unearthed until they were displayed in the Excavation Museum.

European Night of Museums and International Museum Day 2022

The Acropolis Museum celebrates this year’s European Night of Museums on Saturday 14 May 2022 and International Museum Day on Wednesday 18 May 2022, with a series of events for its visitors: 

Saturday 14 May 2022

The Museum participates in the European Night of Museums with extended opening hours from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight, and free entry from 8 p.m. onwards. The Museum restaurant will remain open during the same hours. Visitors will be able to admire by night the masterpieces of its collections, while on the same day, within the context of the initiative ‘What does the Acropolis Museum mean to you?’, the most representative answers of visitors received recently by the Museum will be projected on a big screen.  

Wednesday 18 May 2022

Οn International Museum Day, the Museum will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with free entry for its visitors. This year’s topic is the ‘Power of museums’ focusing on achieving sustainability, innovating on digitalization and accessibility and community building through education. On this occasion, the Museum will offer its adult visitors the two new gallery talks ‘Hidden stories of the diaspora’ and ‘Digital Acropolis Museum. New interactive applications’. In addition, the new family trail titled ‘The Parthenon Sculptures. 6 short stories of separation’ will be available for children and their parents. 

Presentation ‘Hidden stories of the diaspora’ 

It is a worldwide fact that almost half of the Parthenon sculptures are in the British Museum in London, the result of the monument’s looting by the crews of Thomas Bruce, Lord of Elgin, in the early 19th century. There are, however, smaller fragments, and also other antiquities of the Acropolis, which today are scattered across European Museums. But how did they get there, what were their adventures and who starred in them? The Museum’s archaeologists invite you to discover together with them the answers to all these mysteries and the ‘unknown’, stories of the dispersal of some of the most important works of the Acropolis.

Day: 18/5

English: 12:00 & 14:00

Greek: 17:00 & 18:00
Participation: For registration, please refer to the Information Desk at the Museum entrance on the same day. 

The gallery talk will continue every Sunday from 22/5 until 18/2 (11:00 in English and 13:00 in Greek)

Family trail ‘The Parthenon Sculptures. 6 short stories of separation’

On the same day will be available the new family trail ‘The Parthenon Sculptures. 6 short stories of separation’. Our young visitors will walk towards the Parthenon Gallery on the Museum’s third floor, where they will discover the, perhaps most famous, sculptures worldwide! But not all of them… A part of these are located elsewhere... The details behind where, when, how and why they went missing will be discovered through the adventures of six famous sculptures showcased in the pamphlet. By the end of the activity, children will have the chance to describe their thoughts and feelings about the dispersal of the sculptures, through paintings and phrases, in the special pages of the pamphlet, which they will leave behind upon their exit from the Museum. The family trail will be available at the Information Desk, at the Museum ground floor. 

Presentation ‘Digital Acropolis Museum. New interactive applications’

Within the framework of the project ‘Creation of the Digital Acropolis Museum’, the Museum developed, among others, a series of applications with touch screens, which remain inactive due to covid-19 healthcare protocols. However, on May 18th, these touch screens will be turned on for three hours and the Museums’ archaeologists will be there to present these innovative digital applications that highlight various aspects of the exhibits and offer a unique experience by creating a new exciting world for kids and grown-ups alike.

Day: 18/5

Hours: 11:00 - 14:00

For more information online, please visit www.theacropolismuseum.gr

An exclusive by UK Correspondent Yannis Andritsopoulos in Ta Nea.

Experts believe that the British Museum has made a “massive shift” in its policy regarding the loaning of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, possibly opening the way for the first constructive discussions on the artefacts’ return after decades of dead-ends.

In what appears to be a softening of its earlier stance, a museum spokesperson told Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea that borrowers “normally” acknowledge that the lender has title to the objects they want to borrow.

This is significant because until now, the museum has insisted that the acceptance of the lending institution’s ownership is a “precondition” for any loan.

However, when questioned by Ta Nea, the museum’s spokesperson stopped short of reiterating the word “precondition”, used by the museum for many years, repeatedly nixing the concerted campaign for the Marbles’ return Greece has been carrying out since the 1980s. Instead, the spokesperson replaced “precondition” with the word “normally”.

Experts in art and museum law and cultural heritage, British campaigners and Greek officials said that the new language marks an “important shift” and indicates that the museum is taking a step back by demonstrating a “greater openness” towards negotiating a possible loan with Greece.

Successive Greek governments have rejected offers from the British Museum to discuss the possibility of returning the 2,500-year-old sculptures on loan, arguing that it would mean renouncing any Greek claim to Phidias’s masterpieces, which have been in London for more than two centuries.

The British Museum claims to have legal title to the fifth-century B.C. antiquities. Greece, however, insists that the museum possesses the sculptures illegally and has been demanding their permanent reunification with the rest of the Parthenon frieze.

The apparent softening of the museum’s wording made some experts and lawyers think that the UK might be open for discussion about a loan without the once non-negotiable precondition of acknowledging ownership.

The museum has always said in written statements that “a pre-condition for any loan is the acceptance of the lending institution’s ownership”.

Last week, however, a British Museum spokesperson told Ta Nea that the borrowing institution “normally” acknowledges the museum’s ownership of the object they wish to borrow.

Asked three times whether it still stands by its previous statement, the spokesperson declined to answer.

“All loan requests are considered in exactly the same way. Of primary importance is the conservation of historical significant and delicate objects and whether travel would impact on their condition,” the museum said in a written statement.

“Borrowers also normally acknowledge that the lender has title to the objects they want to borrow. The Greek government doesn’t agree that the British Museum has title to the Sculptures which makes discussion of loans very difficult,” the spokesperson added.

‘Major shift’

“This is a major shift – and an admission in part – in the carefully calibrated language of diplomacy,” leading cultural property lawyer Mark Stephens told Ta Nea.

“This marks a changing of the guard at the British Museum and a softening of their stance, indicating a desire to do the ‘right thing’: return the marbles,” he added.

Stephens, an expert on museum, art, and cultural heritage law, explained that “previously, the museum had been very clear about not allowing the Marbles to go; it was always a complete blockage. But now it appears that that's no longer the case. I think they're drawing the distinction between their own previous position and the current one”.

He said: “they’re saying that loan requests are considered in light of three subjects: Historical significance, delicacy and whether they would be damaged in transit. Obviously, the Acropolis Museum in Athens meets those three criteria.”

“Previously, there was a certainty; that a precondition for a loan was that the Greek government had to acknowledge the British Museum's ownership. Now, they're saying that borrowers also ‘normally’ acknowledge ownership, so they’re saying ‘we don't always require this’. They're not saying that it is a precondition anymore. So, what you are seeing is a massive shift. They're opening the door,” said Stephens, who has been twice listed among the “100 most influential people in London” by the Evening Standard newspaper.

“They also say that the Greek government doesn't agree that the British Museum is the legal owner, which makes discussions of loans ‘very difficult’, but not impossible”, he added.

“I think there is a difference here, and I think it's a very marked difference. And so I think now is the time to begin the discussion and see if they're as good as their word,” Stephens said.

A Greek official noted that the new wording "potentially gives some leeway as to how the two parties could negotiate the reunification of the Sculptures through a Palermo-style solution".

Last month, a marble fragment that once adorned the Parthenon was returned to the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Stone VI on the eastern frieze of the Parthenon was previously held by the Antonino Salinas Regional Archeological Museum in Palermo, Italy. According to the Greek government, the fragment was returned as a “long-term deposit (‘deposito’)”, which means that ownership was not mentioned in the agreement.

‘Greater openness’

“I think (the new language) marks a slight but very important shift in the British Museum's position,” Alexander Herman, Director of the UK-based Institute of Art and Law and author of the recent book Restitution - The Return of Cultural Artefacts told Ta Nea.

“For a long time, the British Museum referred to the 'pre-condition' that Greece accept the Trustees’ title before a loan could be considered. This pre-condition was always unusual, since nowhere else was it required by the British Museum: it isn't referred to in the British Museum's Loans Policy, meaning that it would not have been a requirement for borrowers other than Greece,” he said.

According to Herman, “the new language is more in keeping with how loans usually work at the British Museum and elsewhere. It might be assumed that borrowers will accept a lender's title (otherwise why would they borrow?), but one never sees this expressly worded in a loan agreement.”

“In fact, in most cases one sees the opposite: lenders warrant that they have title to borrowers, since borrowers usually need assurances to avoid the risk of third-party claims during the course of an exhibition.”

He said: “So the new wording is certainly less categorical and appears to indicate a greater openness on the part of the British Museum to negotiate around the possibility of a loan. This is sensible. In Chapter 2 of my book, I show an example of a long-term loan secured by a Canadian First Nations group from the British Museum in 2005 that is still in place today. So there is precedent, even though it might only relate to a single object.”

“I realise that in Greece the idea of recognising the British Museum's title and of accepting a loan are unwelcome, but as I wrote in The Art Newspaper in 2019 there are ways of putting title aside, so as to avoid any political fallout. And a loan was acceptable in the case of the Artemis foot from Palermo, so there appears to at least be some tolerance for the L-word in Greece,” Herman concluded.

“‘Normally’ is always put into such statements in cases where there's a (no matter how remote) possibility of the 'norm' being violated, i.e. an exception to it being made. Therefore, the Greek Government could seek to take advantage of the possibility of an exception. But I would guess that the British Museum’s Trustees would not be willing to make an exception in such a case as the Marbles and moreover in favour of another state's Government,” Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture emeritus at the University of Cambridge and Vice-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), told Ta Nea.

Growing pressure

Several recent repatriations of artefacts whose ownership has been in question has led to pressure being ratcheted up on the British Museum to follow suit.

The Parthenon Sculptures are regarded as some of the finest ever works of art and a symbol of the birth of Western civilisation. The campaign for their return was boosted by the recent about-turn by The Times, which argued for the ancient treasures to be returned to Greece. The newspaper had maintained for more than 50 years that the marbles should remain in the UK.

Ed Vaizey, who served as Culture minister under David Cameron, has also said that the Marbles should go back to Greece. In repeated polls, Britons have voiced support for the repatriation of the carvings.

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, has been accused of hypocrisy after Ta Nea unearthed a 1986 article in which he accused Lord Elgin of “wholesale pillage” of the Parthenon and urged the British government to return the artefacts to Greece in a complete reversal of the position he now holds.

In an exclusive interview with Ta Nea published in March 2021, Johnson claimed that the Parthenon Marbles “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.”

Asked if it would consider returning the Parthenon Marbles to Athens permanently and displaying identical copies in London (as was recently suggested by the Oxford-based Institute for Digital Archaeology and by two members of the House of Lords), the British Museum’s spokesperson told Ta Nea:

“The Parthenon Sculptures play a pivotal role in telling a world story at the British Museum. Together with the wider collection, they help modern-day audiences see how the world they know is shaped by the past. Millions of people visit each year to learn the stories of people and cultures from the earliest moments of human history to the present day”.

“There are replicas of the British Museum’s Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum, where they are displayed alongside the remaining sculptures removed from the Parthenon during the past few decades,” the spokesperson added.

“The British Museum’s purpose is to prompt debate, thought, understanding and learning. Only 50% of the Parthenon sculptures survive today, with much lost to history. Now two great museums share custodianship of the majority of the surviving sculptures. The British Museum is confident that these two institutions have well-defined roles.”

Asked about the possibility of a loan, the museum’s spokesperson said: “We have never been asked for a loan of the Parthenon sculptures by Greece or the Acropolis Museum. We have a strong relationship with colleagues at the Acropolis Museum and are very willing to explore any requests for a loan with them.

“We lend objects from the collection to countries all over the world. We believe in the importance of lending our collection, it strengthens the stories the collection tells and when displayed alongside other objects, they create new stories and conversations. In 2014 the museum lent one of the Parthenon sculptures to the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, on the anniversary of that museum's foundation.”

However, the museum did not respond when asked whether an ‘indefinite’ loan could be agreed upon.

Instead, it said that “the British Museum will lend only in circumstances when the borrower guarantees that the object will be returned to the museum at the end of the loan period (the Trustees will normally expect the borrower to provide assurance of immunity from judicial seizure or comparable assurance from a government body or representative of appropriate authority).”

“The British Museum is not changing its tune as it still persists in the myth that a full story is being told by keeping half the figures taken from the Parthenon in London while the other half is shown in Athens which is so obviously a concocted story. Try telling it to a child whose natural logic will instantly spy the hole in the argument; they know perfectly well that half and half makes a whole,” Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, told Ta Nea.

“The Marbles were made to be together and one day they will be where they belong. The same goes for all the disfigured reliefs, with half a horse here and the other half galloping over there, it’s crazy! The Fat Lady of Bloomsbury is still singing her old song, silly old thing, but the world is already tiring of it,” she added.

“The change in the wording from the British Museum has been noted. We sincerely hope this means a change of heart. Greece has been doing an exemplary job of conserving its ancient monuments on the Acropolis and in the Acropolis Museum. The primary historically significant story of the sculptures is that which they tell as one and in reference to the Parthenon, which still stands,” commented BCRPM's Marlen Godwin.

“The British Museum’s insistence that the narratives it creates with the fragmented sculptures it holds is of greater importance, is out of step with the changes that are already happening. Respect for such a peerless collection should trump any selfish need or greed to keep the sculptures so brutally (and criminally) divided. These sculptures belong to the Parthenon and that is still, firmly on Greek soil. Today’s inequalities of the past, such as the continued division of the sculptures isn’t going to erase the sublime display they command in Athens nor the understanding they provide to visitors. Here’s to the bright, best practice museum curators that are getting it right,” she added.

This news report was published in the Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea on 12 February 2022. To read it in Greek follow the link here or follow the link for the English version.