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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BCRPM wishes to thank the organisers and especially Maria Efthymiadou.

Date & Time: Monday 17 Octber, 18:30 

Place: LSE Lecture Theatre

Ground Floor, Centre Builing

Houghton Street

London

WC2A 2AE

A panel discussion about the cultural repatriation of national treasures, inspired by the current status of the Parthenon Marbles.

The debate over the return of the Elgin/Parthenon Marbles has gained greater attention recently. After the Black Lives Matter protests, initiatives have been taken to return national treasures to their countries of origin. For the Marbles, the British Museum has signalled a willingness to consider new options, and the Greek Prime Minister highlighted the issue on UK television. In this panel, we consider the implications of returning the Marbles back to Athens and the issues to be confronted.
The event will be followed by a reception that will take place in the LSE Lecture Theatre foyer area, from 8.00 pm. Participants are welcome to attend the reception.

Meet the speakers and chair:

Professor Paul Cartledge is AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College Cambridge and emeritus AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, Cambridge University. He has written, co-written, edited or co-edited over 30 books, the most recent being Democracy: A Life (O.U.P. 2018) and Thebes: the Forgotten City of Ancient Greece (Picador 2021). He is Vice-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) and a Vice-President of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (IARPS). He is a Commander of the Order of Honour (Greece) and an Honorary Citizen of Sparti, Greece.

Lord Edward Vaizey of Didcot was appointed to the House of Lords 2020, and sits on the Communications and Media Committee. Lord Vaizey was the Member of Parliament for Wantage between 2005 and 2019 and served as the Culture and Digital Minister from 2010-16. He was appointed a privy councillor in 2016. Lord Vaizey currently serves as a trustee of Tate, and is a governor of St Paul’s School, London. Lord Vaizey is a visiting professor at King’s College, London and Newcastle University; an Honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; an Honorary Fellow of the Radio Academy; and President of Didcot Town Football Club. In the private sector, Lord Vaizey is an executive-in-residence at LionTree, the leading global M&A advisory firm and is an adviser to a number of technology funds and technology start-ups.

Dr Tatiana Flessas is an Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage and Property Law at the LSE Law School. She has written on cultural heritage conflicts around the world, and has presented on the Parthenon Marbles, Museums and Repatriation, Dark Heritage, and other repatriation and restitutionary issues at conferences and panels internationally. Selected recent media on the Parthenon Marbles include ‘Comment on the Parthenon Marbles Dispute’, The Globalist, Monocle Radio 24, 17 November 2021; ‘The fight over the Parthenon Marbles’, Business Daily, BBC World Service, 20 Nov 2019. ; and ‘In Struggle Over Parthenon Marbles, Greece Gets Unexpected Ally: Xi Jinping’, The New York Times, Nov. 13, 2019. . Her recent and forthcoming work focusses on the difficulty of identifying future heritage when making decisions about present sites and monuments. Dr Flessas holds a BA from Wellesley College, a JD from Northeastern School of Law, and an LLM and PhD from the London School of Economics where she teaches Cultural Heritage Law, Art Law, and Property Law.

Professor Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in European Politics in the European Institute at LSE, where he is also Director of the Hellenic Observatory.