British Museum 'huge breakthrough', a propaganda stunt according to the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

The announcement of a "huge breakthrough" by the British Museum, with the discovery of blue paint on some figures from the Parthenon Marbles, looks uncommonly like a propaganda stunt, timed to divert attention from the opening of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.

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.

Professor Anthony Snodgrass, Chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles commented "it hardly needs 'a new imaging technique' to tell us what we can see for ourselves."

No doubt the British Museum's sculptures also once preserved some of their colour - that is, until Lord Duveen's drastic "cleaning" operation of 1937- 1938, which was designed deliberately to erase any trace of patina or colour.

"By all means let the debates over the proper care of the Parthenon Marbles continue - but on a grown-up level, please" concludes Professor Anthony Snodgrass.

Professor Anthony Snodgrass is a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge. The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (www.parthenonuk.com) has been established since 1983.

Ends: Issued on behalf of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles on 26 June 2009, press contact Marlen Taffarello 07789533791/01780 46145 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.