Lord Alf Dubs just after 3 pm, in the House of Lords, made a pertinent and heartfelt plea for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles:

"In the British Museum there are over 108,000 Greek artefacts of which six and half thousand are currently on display but more importantly will he accept that my plea that we should consider returning the Parthenon Marbles is based on the fact that they are a unique piece of art. That they belong together and have a proud history in terms of the Greek historical traditions, surely we should think again."

Sadly also listening to the well rehearsed replies by Lord Parkinson, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, other lines came to mind:

'tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time'

When will solemn and honest dialogue begin to reunite this peerless collection of sculptures so senselessly divided, mainly between two great museums? Isn't it time to appreciate the efforts made by Greece to showcase these works of art as close as it is physically possible to the building they were a part of for over two and half millennia? Isn't it time to prove that as people of nations that respect and care about cultural heritage, we can do the right thing?

The Parthenon Gallery in the Acropolis Museum is the one place on earth where it is possible to have a single and aesthetic experience simultaneously of the Parthenon and its sculptures. There are no reasons remaining to prevent the UK from entering into dialogue with Greece now about the terms of and conditions under which return might be considered.

09 February 2022, Ta Nea

UK Correspondent for Ta Nea, Yannis Andritsopoulos has published his article, which can be read online at Ta Nea. He notes that yesterday's ten-minute debate in the House of Lord was held at the initiative of the Lord Dubs, who asked the government to reconsider the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. 

'In response, the British Under Secretary of State cited the Johnson-Mitsotakis meeting, in which, he said, the British Prime Minister "underlined the long-standing position of the United Kingdom that this is a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum, who are the rightful owners of the Sculptures". He then reiterated that "the government fully supports the position of the Museum's Trustees ( that the Sculptures should stay in London)", adding that Johnson "made this clear to the Greek prime minister when they met".'

We would add that UNESCO's ICPRCP recognised last September, the intergovernmental nature of the request for the Parthenon Marbles and that Prime Minister Mitsotkis stated this in his discussions with Prime Miniser Johnson in November 2022.

What was equally uplifting in yesterday's discussions was the addition of more voices in the House of Lords. These voices were suggesting that it was time for the UK to give this request the serious deliberation it deserved.

We continue to be reminded that when these sclptures were forcibly removed, Greece had no voice. Today, Greece's voice is loud and clear and the support for the reunification here in the UK, and elsewhere is equally loud and clear. There's no better time than the persent. And the case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles has been wrapped in immeasurable patience, time for the UK and the British Museum to show the love and respect that we all share for these sculptures.

Elgin Marbles
Volume 834: debated on Thursday 14 December 2023

2:06 pm

Lord Lexden: "To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of proposals to loan the Elgin Marbles to Greece."

And Lord Lexden began with:

"My Lords, the Elgin marbles—or Parthenon sculptures, as some prefer—are famous for two reasons. The first reason is of course because they are magnificent treasures of civilization, part of the heritage of our world. The second reason that they are famous is as regrettable as it is persistent. These great treasures have an almost infinite capacity to provoke heated arguments about their ownership and their location. It is almost impossible to mention them in everyday conversation without instigating a dispute on these points."

To read the entire exchange in the House of Lords, follow the link here.

BCRPM wishes to thank Baroness Chakrabarti for her input, including:

" Regardless of arguments about legality, past or present, the British people know better than too many of their leaders how to make friends by being the bigger person. Most of them support returning the artefacts to the people to whom they mean so much more. A few minutes, let alone hours, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens would lead any noble Lord to understand just how much these artefacts mean to the people of Greece. Few have been fooled by years of buck-passing between museum and government around this issue, when technological advancement should make sharing and return so much easier than ever before."

And Lord Dubs, whose support for our campaign stretches back to when Eddie O'Hara was our Chair, also made pertinent points including: 

"Then there is the argument about loaning or returning them. I appreciate that there is a difficulty because of the 1963 Act. Nevertheless, I think the right answer, in the fullness of time, will be to return the marbles to their rightful place in Athens. If it needs a change in legislation, that could be achieved—but, for heaven’s sake, we cannot forever fall out with our Greek friends on this issue."

Lord Allan of Hallam must be thanked too for pointing out that there are new stories waiting to be made, and remembering our founder Eleni Cubitt:

"Artefacts also add new elements to their stories over time; this is especially true for the Parthenon sculptures. As well as Lord Elgin himself, their story now includes Melina Mercouri, who kicked off that campaign 40 years ago, and Eleni Cubitt, who ran the UK campaign for their return over many years. Our current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has now become part of the story; George Osborne may be an even bigger figure if he leads the trustees to agree to some form of display in Athens. It is certainly my hope that we will find a way to have the entire set of sculptures singing their story out from the new Acropolis Museum, while the British Museum continues to tell its rich stories through other fabulous Greek objects from its own collection or from loans."

Lord Frost has received most of the coverage in the UK media as he voiced his personal view:

"Personally, I have never been so convinced by the moral, artistic and cultural arguments for the position we take. The Parthenon marbles are a special situation and we should try to find a special solution. They are one of the supreme expressions of ancient Greek, hence western, art. They were created for a specific building and a specific cultural context. In contrast to much ancient sculpture, we know exactly what that context was and what the work of art was intended to signify. These are not just random museum exhibits and, for as long as they are not seen as a whole, they are less than the sum of their parts."

Adding: "My personal view is that it is a time for a grand gesture, and only the Government can make it." Indedd, the magnanimous gesture called for by so many over such a long period of time has yet to find a UK Prime Minister to support it. Whilst the public support grows, the political will at the top remains fixed.

Most of the voices yesterday afternoon in the House of Lords accepted that there was a unique case in the division of these sculptures. With many supporting the reunification. We urge more voices to join these right thinking folks on a matter of cultural heritage that deserves our collective respect. Greece's ask is wholly justified.

In TA NEA today, an article by Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK corresondent.

Below quote from two exceptional supporters in the UK House of Lords, exceptional because of their support for our campaign too.

“I believe Rishi Sunak's decision to cancel the meeting with the Greek PM was shocking and discourteous. It was embarrassing for the UK to be behaving like a small child,” Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer, said.

He added: “I hope we can repair UK relations with Greece, maybe we'll need a Labour government to do that. I believe the Marbles should be returned, maybe on a long-term loan if necessary.”

"The adolescent petulance of cancelling the Greek premier is unworthy of any aspiring statesman. Contrast Mr Sunak’s cringe-worthy job interview with Elon Musk and our Prime Minister’s leadership looks even more erratic,” said Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer and former shadow attorney general for England and Wales.

“One minute he hosts international summits on Advanced Intelligence; the next he spurns so-called foreign courts in both London and Strasbourg over his treatment of refugees. Basic intelligence suggests Britain needs friends not enemies. We need cultural exchange not culture war,” added Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who is a member of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM).

“A Labour Government should strive to reunite the Parthenon Sculptures in their beautiful Athenian home,” she said.

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles are grateful to both Alf and Shami for their continued support to this cause, and our campaigning.

Boris Johnson says ‘2021 is a significant year for Greece and a very exciting year for Britain to be invigorating our relationship with the Greek people’. If only. If only that good brain of his endowed with an impeccable classical education would dare to think outside the boring old box. Go on, Boris, reinvigorate the relationship with the one thing that would do it instantly: give back those Parthenon marbles. The old refrain that they were legally acquired is an invention, a factoid; say something often enough and people begin to believe it. Boris is a master of that sort of sell. There never was any proof of permission to export those figures, and the laws of the time have become inappropriate and dated. These sculptures represent the very heart and soul of Periclean Greece and so of the modern Greek state. The Ottomans are long gone. After 200 years the Marbles have done their job of enlightening and civilising the peoples of the West. The British Trustees do not own them they hold them in Trust, and to decide that the Greek people should in their celebratory year of 2021 have a chance to bathe in the aura of the originals would be a magnificent, and wholly decent gesture on their part. Those figures so brutally detached from the building still soaring above Athens, should be back where they belong, in sight of the Parthenon itself. A beautiful museum awaits them.

Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles 

 Now is the time, now is the hour, Prime Minister Johnson, to show that you are a true philhellene. That you truly respect not only what the brave Greeks of 1821 and following accomplished, against huge odds, in the name of liberty, but also what the Hellenes of the 5th century BCE achieved in creating a culture and a civilisation that has been an example and model to the world in the 25 centuries since. Consider what Pheidias, master-craftsman and master-designer, and architects Ictinus and Callicrates, would think if they knew that their masterpiece, the Parthenon, had been torn apart and kept apart - not only by a gunpowder explosion in the heat of battle with Venetians long, long ago but by British hands and minds, from the 7th Lord Elgin to the current Trustees of the British Museum even today. Do your duty by the Greeks, would-be philhellene PM Johnson! Reunify.

Professor Paul Cartledge, Vice-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) and the International Association (IARPS)

 ‘Our Prime Minister’s comments are very disappointing. He talks of friendship and cooperation with our European friends and claims that the Parthenon marbles were obtained legally. But the permit for their removal from Athens was granted by the occupying Ottoman forces and the Greeks themselves had no say in the matter.

I believe that works of art should not be returned to their country of origin save in the most exceptional of circumstances. In the case of the marbles their ownership is doubtful to say the least, the British Museum only has some of them and there is a rightful place for them at the Acropolis Museum where the surviving sculptures could be displayed in their entirety. If we are not prepared to return them permanently could we at least lend then to the Parthenon for the 2021 celebrations.’

Lord Alf Dubs, Labour Life peer

It is one of the wonders of antiquity and reunifying it would be an act of reverence, writes Alf Dubs.Letter published in the Guardian 27 February 2022.

It was with some surprise that I read the reunification of parts of one of the greatest works of classic antiquity described as a herald of “cultural cleansing” in a letter (16 February) on the question of the return of the Parthenon sculptures.

The removal of 75 metres of the Parthenon’s frieze, 15 metopes and 17 pedimental figures from Athens represents at best an abuse of power by Lord Elgin, and at worst an act of vandalism and spoliation that far exceeded the bounds of the dubious permission granted to him to “take away some pieces of stone” which were “preserved in rubble” around the Parthenon.