King’s Classics Department is hosting a competition to produce creative writing pieces of audio description (AD) that describe the Parthenon Marbles/ Sculptures exhibited at the British Museum.

The competition is open to King's students of all levels from all Faculties.

Entries can consider the whole of the Parthenon Marbles/ Sculptures, individual monuments, or anything in between. Inspiration could include helping someone visualise the sculptures, providing a historical or interpretive overview, or sharing a subjective response to the artwork.

Judges for this year’s contest are:

Tom Harrison (Keeper of the Department of Greece and Rome, British Museum)
Sarah Howe (Lecturer in Poetry, King’s College London)
Jonny Marshall(blind art lover and Research Officer, Royal National Institute of Blind People)
Jaime Prada(Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, British Museum)
Will Wootton (Reader in Classical Art and Archaeology, King’s College London)

The deadline for submission is Wednesday 03 April 2024, and winners will be announced in early summer 2024.

For more information visit King's College London, news.

Yesterday, I spoke to British artist Tomas Watson, whose new exhibition of artwork, entitled: Kormos: Form and Transformation begins today in Sigri, on the island of Lesvos.

For Tomas, the Greek word "kormos" in the exhibition title carries significance as it is used here to mean “trunk, torso, and core". Whilst "trunk" in English has narrower meaning, for this purpose “kormos” captures more than one aspect of a physical form.

A former student of The Slade School of Fine Art, Tomas received a Greek government scholarship to come and paint in Greece and has been living there since 1994. “What drew me to Greece was the light.” he explains. He has lived in Athens, the islands of Astypalaia, Andros, and Lesvos, where he runs the painting and creative writing retreat, he recently founded with his partner the writer, Efrosini Camatsos.

In 1998, Tomas received the BP award for a self-portrait and composition set within a colourful Dodecanese kitchen on the island of Nisyros, where he was staying at the time.

On the back of his BP win, a portrait of the novelist and philhellene John Robert Fowles was commissioned and put on show at London’s National Portrait Gallery in 2001.

Tomas remembers the sitting well, “I happened to be reading The Magus, which moved me. He was always jotting notes in his little notebook whilst I was painting him, and sometimes would doze off. One of these times, his notebook fell off his lap, and as I picked it up, I saw he had been writing about me: “T.W.: your dark eyes, cautious to comment.””

Tomas’s aim for the current show is for it to travel, to be seen widely in Athens and beyond.

The show consists of forty-one works. It ranges from drawings in charcoal, ink, pencil, and gouache, etchings, and collage, to oil on canvas. The smallest work is 24 x 30 cm, and the largest 150 x 200 cm. Eighteen of the forty-one works are of the Parthenon Marbles.

“The images have been arranged to create dialogue between differing forms,” he says.

The painting of Hermes (figure H, west pediment) hangs next to a painting he made of a male torso from a live model in a similar position to the statue and is next to an ink drawing of a petrified trunk.

The rising goddess painting (figure K, east pediment) has been placed next to a painting of a seated woman in rich drapery. 

On the inspiration behind these artworks, he further explains:

“I happened to be in London for three weeks in February 2020 and decided as I couldn't work in the house I was staying in, I would draw from sculptures in museums, as I used to do when a student at The Slade. I started with the Horse of Selene and continued with several of the Parthenon Sculptures. I photographed the sculptures which interested me visually, then, Covid hit, and I had to return to Greece. 

During the severe lockdown that followed, I continued working on the studies I had started in charcoal, gouache, and tempera, and also began much larger works in oil on canvas or linen. Initially, what drove me to do this was a need to return to an aesthetic, which has been buried under the weight of uninspiring contemporary art, but which I feel is becoming more valid and needed.

While doing these pieces over a period of two years, it became clear to me that in my own small way, as a British artist and in a symbolic sense, I was "returning" the marbles to Greece.

My work throughout my career has largely been based on the human figure. I have always painted human bodies; however, not in their entirety. I have concentrated on the part that I am particularly interested in – the torso, the back, shoulders, and often in the form of studies or fragments. So, when the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest approached me to do an exhibition, the theme organically came about. Whether it is petrified trunks of trees, fragmented torsos of marble sculptures, or my own studies from live human models, I found that I treated the subject in the same manner.”

To view the exhibition brochure, follow the link here.

Tomas Watson is represented by London’s Jill George Galleryand Accesso Galleria, Tuscany.

Kormos: Form and Transformation opens August 26, 2022, at the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest.

For details, visit lesvosmuseum.gr

For information about the retreat, visit sigriartsretreat.com

Interview by Christina Borg for BCRPM

Instagram borg_sketches and subscribe to Christina Borg's newsletter on borgs.substack.com

Many salient points made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ address at the 77th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 23 September 2022) and that included the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0_Xdy_44cs

At 15.49', Prime Minister Mitsotakis also spoke about the Parthenon Marbles and Greece's continued efforts to reunite the sculptures in the Acropolis Museum.

"Our long and continued efforts to reunite the Parthenon Sculptures back in Greece, in this effort we have received support from the vast majority of member states as well as from UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee. We thank you for that support."

"No matter how long it takes, the Parthenon Sculptures will eventually be coming home."

"Collective multilateral solutions can make a difference in many aspects of our world but also with regards to safeguarding culture and upholding respect for cultural heritage." Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece speaking at the United Nations 77th General Assembly. 

The new Acropolis Museum may prove to be the most lavishly appointed white elephant in history. Nothing will change the view of the British Government that the intended centrepiece, the magnificently sculpted Elgin Marbles, must remain permanently in the British Museum.

Not that the museum will be empty. There will be 4,000 exhibits including the remaining Parthenon sculptures. But the crown jewels, the 247ft of the original 524ft frieze, 15 of 92 metopes and 17 figures from the pediments, all dating to the 5th century BC, will remain 1,500 miles away in London.

Britain has long argued that when the Earl of Elgin took the Marbles between 1801 and 1805, he was acting legally and that, had he not done so, they would have suffered further deterioration. The Parthenon was already a ruin. Also, fearing their destruction in the conflict between the Greeks and the Turks, Elgin got permission from the Turks, whose empire then ruled Greece, to remove the antiquities.

But the British Museum's ownership of the sculptures has been called into question by a challenge to the validity of a crucial 19th-century legal document. A specialist in Ottoman law says that without the signature and seal of the Sultan as supreme head of the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin had no legal right to remove the ancient sculptures from the Acropolis.

Professor Vassilis Dimitriadis, of the University of Crete, says that the document of 1801 — an Italian translation of an Ottoman firman or licence which the British Museum acquired two years ago as the only legal evidence of ownership — is invalidated by vital missing elements. More here.

The British Museum argues that the translated document is from a lost original firman in which the Sultan's acting grand vizier was authorised to permit Elgin to acquire the sculptures.

Professor Dimitriadis claims that the original was not a firman because only the Sultan could issue one by Ottoman law, that it lacks the Sultan's emblem (a tougras), and an invocation to God (da'vet tahmid).

More on this topic also here. (18 July 2000)

Culture and conflict often coexist in an uneasy and paradoxical manner; culture being an essential part of conflict and conflict resolution. Culture makes people understand each other better. Conflict resolution acts as a healing balm providing interaction between the concerned parties and the hope to overcome barriers.

Taking away and damaging the cultural heritage of a society is tampering with its identity. The history of art looting is lengthy and continuous. It begins possibly with Jason and the Argonauts looting the Golden Fleece. It continues with the habit of the Romans of looting art from conquered cities in order to parade it through the streets of Rome, before putting it on display in the forum. In Byzantium, the Hippodrome was adorned with looted art, and during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 the Crusaders looted the city itself. Cultural spoils were taken back to Venice to adorn the cathedral of St Mark, among them, the four gilded horses of the Apocalypse that remain in the city to this day.

In the ancient world, cultural pillage was an act of state planned to demonstrate the supremacy of the conqueror and underline the humiliation of the defeated. By the nineteenth century, however, such actions had been joined by the claim of the acquiring country to be the true heir of Classical civilization. Thus, Napoleon’s victorious armies began concluding a series of treaties with conquered states across Europe that allowed them to usurp artworks to stock the Louvre Museum.

From the colonial era to the Second World War, wars have provided opportunities for art looting on a massive scale, and the restitution of stolen cultural artefacts remains a dispute around the world. The trafficking of stolen art has become as widespread as drugs and firearms.

Private looting has always occurred alongside with state sponsored plundering, although it has evoked more disapprobation. The vandalism of the Parthenon sculptures by Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman court is the most notorious one and remains the archetypal case of looted artworks repatriation demand for more than 200 years.

Since the second half of the 20th century, states have adopted legislative instruments to regulate the illicit trafficking and the return of improperly removed cultural objects as part of a wider effort to enhance the protection of cultural heritage.

Restitution of cultural objects unethically removed from their countries of origin is a today’s global question. Cases concerning the circulation of cultural property are increasingly settled through diplomatic relationships. Museums are institutions representing reconciliation and as such, they have the duty to act ethically.

Antiquities of particular importance to humanity that were removed from the territory of a State in a questionable manner in terms of legality, as well as in an onerous way, need to be returned on the basis of fundamental principles enclosed in international conventions irrespective of time limits or other restrictions. They also need to be returned on the basis of legal principles, customary rules, and ethics. This need is also dictated by increased ecumenical interest for the integrity of the monument to be restored in its historic, cultural, and natural environment. Nobody may fully appreciate these antiquities outside their context. A characteristic example in this respect is the Parthenon Sculptures.

Lord Elgin was a fatal figure in the history of the looting of Greek antiquities. In 1799, he was appointed British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte at Constantinople. A year earlier, Napoleon had invaded Ottoman Egypt, and Britain hoped to become the sultan’s main ally in reversing the French conquest. The dispatch from London of a well-connected diplomat descended from the kings of Scotland who had previously served as a British envoy in Brussels and Berlin was itself a gesture of friendship toward the Turks.

As well as competing in geopolitics, the British were rivalling French for access to whatever remained of the great civilizations of antiquity. Elgin seizes the opportunity for personal gain to acquire a huge collection of antiquities. His attention was focused primarily on the monuments on the Acropolis (the Parthenon topmost) which were very difficult of access and from which no one ever had been granted permission to remove sculptures.

His marriage to a wealthy heiress, Mary Nisbet, had given him the financial means to sponsor ambitious cultural projects. While traveling through Europe en route to Constantinople, he recruited a team of mostly Italian artists led by the Neapolitan painter Giovanni-Battista Lusieri.

Their initial task was to draw, document and mould antiquities in the Ottoman-controlled territory of Greece. The initially cloudy mission of Elgin’s artistic team culminated in a massive campaign to dismantle artworks from the temples on the Acropolis and transport them to Britain. By using methods of bribery and fraud, Elgin persuaded the Turkish dignitaries in Athens to turn a blind eye while his team removed those parts of the Parthenon, they particularly liked.

Elgin never acquired the permission to remove the sculptural and architectural decoration of the monument by the authority of the Sultan himself, who alone could have issued such a permit. He simply made use of a friendly letter from the Kaimakam, a Turkish officer, who at the time was replacing the Grand Vizier in Constantinople. This letter, handed out unofficially as a favour, could only urge the Turkish authorities in Athens to allow Elgin's men to make drawings, take casts and conduct excavations around the foundations of the Parthenon, with the condition that no harm be caused to the monuments.

On 31 July 1801, the first of the high-standing sculptures was hauled down. Between 1801 and 1804, Elgin's team was active on the Acropolis, stripping, hacking off causing considerable damage to the sculptures and the monument. Eventually Elgin’s team detached half of the remaining sculpted decoration of the Parthenon, together with certain architectural members such as a capital, a column drum and one of the six caryatids that adorned the Erechtheion temple, as they could not found an available ship to take all six away! “I have been obliged to be a little barbarous,” Lusieri once wrote to Elgin.

London and Athens now hold dismembered pieces of many of the sculptures. Large sections of the Parthenon frieze, an extraordinary series of relief sculptures depicting the procession of Greater Panathenaia, the most important festival held in honour of the city’s divine patroness Athena, numbered among the loot.

Of the 97 surviving blocks of the Parthenon frieze, 56 have been removed to Britain and 40 are in Athens. Of the 64 surviving metopes, 48 are in Athens and 15 have been taken to London. Of the 28 preserved figures of the pediments, 19 have been removed to London and 9 are in Athens.

The shipping of these precious antiquities to Britain was fraught with difficulties. One ship sank and the sculptures, after prolonged exposure to the damp in various harbours, eventually arrived in England three years later. In London, they were shifted from sheds to warehouses, because Elgin had been reduced to such penury by the enormous costs of wages, transportation, gifts and bribes to the Turks, that he was unable to accommodate them in his own house. So, after the mortgaging of the collection by the British state, he was obliged to sell the Parthenon Sculptures to the government, for £35,000—less than half of what Elgin claimed to have spent. Finally, the British Government transferred the Sculptures to the British Museum in 1817. In 1962, they were placed at the Duveen Gallery. Even after they arrived at the British Museum, the sculptures received imperfect care. In 1938, for example, they were “cleaned” with an acid solution.

Prior to the transaction a Committee was appointed to consider the purchase and the evidence, it gathered was placed before Parliament. A debate took place, where many voices expressed their scepticism and disapproval. Even thoughts about the return of the Marbles were expressed for the very first time. Hugh Hammersley, a Member of Parliament, first raised the question in the House of Commons. Strenuous objections were heard outside Parliament as well, the most impassioned being that of Lord Byron, a poet and fellow member of the Anglo-Scottish aristocracy. Elgin was denounced as a vandal in sonorous verses by Lord Byron.

Contrary to Elgin’s stated fears, the sculptures that remained in Athens did not vanish. After 1833, when the Ottomans left the Acropolis and handed it to the new nation of Greece, the great citadel and its monuments became a focus of national pride. Protecting, restoring and showcasing the legacy of the Athenian golden age has been the highest priority for Greeks since then.

The removal of the so-called Elgin Marbles has long been described as an egregious act of imperial plunder.

Not surprisingly, the British Museum has so far refused all requests to give up one of its most popular exhibits. The Parthenon sculptures have become the most visible, and notorious, collection of Acropolis artifacts still housed in museums across Europe, often with the justification that such objects are emblematic of European civilization, not just of Greek heritage.

The British Museum relies on the supposed legality of an Act of Parliament. The Trustees shelter behind the argument that it is the law – that they are entrusted with these artefacts and cannot divest themselves of them. In reality, as the late Eddie O’Hara, former MP and Chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) stated, “the government simply needs to legislate to say ‘yes, this is possible.’ – as they did with Nazi loot.”

Even this most difficult of disputes can be resolved with the support of both Museum of Trustees and the UK Government by amending the 1963 Act or by enacting separate legislation. An Act of Parliament could be an Act of Conscience! As Janet Suzman, Chair for the BCRPM declared, the Trustees of the British Museum must get their heads together and break the shackles preventing the just return of Greece’s precious heritage to Athens.

Today, the defenders of keeping the Parthenon Sculptures in the U.K. are looking increasingly lonely. A particularly important development in the long-running request marks both the transformation of British public opinion and the changing trend of museums for the repatriation of cultural treasures, together with the eloquent request for reunification by Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, submitted to his counterpart, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during his visit in London last November.

Even, The Times, the flagship newspaper of the British establishment, made a historic turn to support the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures: "Τhey belong to Athens, they must be returned”. The main article of The Times, in an unprecedented fashion, stating that it is like taking Hamlet out of the First Sheet of Shakespeare’s works and saying that both can still exist separately, recognizes the uniqueness of the Parthenon Sculptures!

This support for Greece's request is welcomed by all those that have reinforced the diplomatic route for the reunification of the sculptures, applying constant and methodical pressure and garnering assistance from the international community. It was preceded by the unanimous decision of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Commission for the Return of Cultural Property to Countries of Origin (ICPRCP), which at its 22nd Session on 29th September 2021, adopted for the first time, in addition to the usual recommendation, a text focusing exclusively on the return of Parthenon sculptures. This new text, acknowledging the intergovernmental nature of the subject, was in direct contrast to the British side, which has consistently argued that the case concerns the British Museum. The Commission calls on the United Kingdom to reconsider its position and hold talks with Greece.*

*quotation of the text presented by the Greek delegation to UNESCO's ICPRCP.

Last week, the Μuseum’s chairman George Osborne said: "I think there is a deal to be done – whereby the marbles could be shown in both Athens and London, and as long as there weren’t “a load of preconditions” or a “load of red lines”. Since then, a number of British Lawmakers have also voiced their support for the return of the marbles, and a group of scholars and advocates of the sculptures ‘demonstrated', at the British Museum on the occasion of the 13th birthday of the Acropolis Museum.

The Acropolis Museum’s director general, Professor Nikos Stampolidis, responded with a statement, in which he described the Parthenon Sculptures as representing a procession that symbolized Athenian democracy. “The violent removal of half of the frieze from the Parthenon can be conceived, in reality, as setting apart, dividing and uprooting half of the participants in an actual procession, and holding them captive in a foreign land,” Prof. Stampolidis said. “It consists of the depredation, the interruption, the division and dereliction of the idea of democracy. The question arises: Who owns the ‘captives?’ “The museum where they are imprisoned, or the place where they were born?”

A precursor to the return is the agreement between Italy and Greece. The “Fagan fragment” of the Goddess Artemis, became the first permanently repatriated marble fragment of the sculptures to be restored on the Parthenon frieze, from the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeology Museum in Palermo, on June 4. It was taken at the same time as the forceful removal of the Parthenon Sculptures by Lord Elgin, and later sold to the University of Palermo.

Meanwhile European governments are rushing to announce policies to return cultural goods to their countries of origin. France returned 26 items, 16th and 17th century bronze art pieces, of unparalleled art to Benin last October, and Germany announced that it would return to Nigeria, the spoils of Benin. In April, Glasgow city council voted to return 17 Benin bronze artefacts looted in West Africa in the 19th century. The Belgian government as well, has agreed to transfer ownership of stolen items from its museums to African countries of origin. Lately, the Plenary Session of the 76th UN General Assembly adopted the decision promoted by Greece for the return of cultural goods to their countries of origin.

Since regaining independence in 1832, successive Greek governments have petitioned for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. Melina Mercouri, Greek minister of Culture, reenergized the repatriation campaign, by making a request in 1982 for the Greek government to return the Parthenon Sculptures to the UNESCO General Conference on Cultural Policy in Mexico.

The new Acropolis Museum of Athens, which opened in 2009, was built within sight of the actual Parthenon with the goal of eventually housing all the surviving elements of the Parthenon frieze. The Museum’s magnificent glass gallery, bathed in Greek sunlight and offering a clear view of the Parthenon, is the perfect place to reintegrate the frieze and allow visitors to ponder its meaning.

Greece's constant demand for the reunification of the stolen Parthenon Sculptures with the mutilated ecumenical monument is a unique case based on respect for cultural identity and the principle of preserving the integrity of world heritage sites.

As Professor Paul Cartledge, Vice President of BCRPM rightfully said: ‘The key word is ‘Acropolis’. The Parthenon, a UNESCO World Heritage site, derives its significance ultimately from its physical context. A good deal of the original building has miraculously been preserved and in recent times expertly curated. The gap between the Acropolis Museum’s Parthenon display and that in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum is simply immeasurable. Over and against the alleged claim of legality, there is on our side the overriding claim of ethical probity. Times change, and mores with them.”

The United Kingdom can only benefit from the long-awaited gesture, not of generosity, but of justice. The reunification will finally be given its time.

*The article above formed part of a presentation thatSophia Hiniadou Cambanis gave at the Thessaloniki International Conference : “Art communicating conflict resolution: An intercultural dialogue” co-organized by the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the UNESCO Chair “Intercultural Policy for an Active Citizenship and Solidarity” of the University of Macedonia, on June 30th 2022.

**Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis is Attorney at Law and Cultural Policy & Management Advisor at the Hellenic Parliament

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.

Professor Louis Godart speaking with Dimitra Papanou

"Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his interview with BBBC News commenting on the havoc caused by Elgin's theft of the Parthenon Marbles and the constant refusal of the British authorities and the British Museum to return Phidias' sculptures to Greece, used a beautiful image: he said it would be as if the Mona Lisa were torn into two pieces. Therefore, it is necessary to reconstruct what existed before the dismemberment of the temple of the goddess.

I would like to add a suggestion in Mitsotakis' speech: the Mona Lisa is the work of a Renaissance genius, while Phidias' sculptures are masterpieces belonging to the people who invented democracy. In this regard, they are worth much more in the eyes of the world than any other masterpiece produced by people's art.

The British Prime Minister wanted to cancel the meeting with his Greek counterpart for one simple reason, in my humble opinion: he is ashamed and continues to argue before world civilisation that Britain does not intend to return the ill-gotten gains. Mr Sunak, knowing full well that he is wrong, behaves like a vulgar recipient of despicable theft and prefers to get away with those who, like Mitsotakis, demand the return of an asset belonging to Greece for their country. This attitude is unworthy of the Prime Minister of a large country like England.

In 1940 its pilots RAF saved the world in a crucial battle, defeating Nazi planes. Today, however, England does not seem worthy of its past.

May the cries of protest from all over the world open her ears."

Professor Louis Godart, is the former Professor of Aegean Civilization in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Naples Federico II. From February 2002 to 2016 he has been the Counsellor for Artistic Heritage of the President of the Italian Republic. Now he is Counsellor of the Minister of European Affairs.He is also the Chair of the Italian Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, and past President of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr Johnson has yet to reply.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today, 18 October 2020, is an extra special day as it marks the 100th birthday of a visionary actress, activist, campaigner and Minister of Culture for Greece, Melina Mercouri. And although she passed away in 1994, the iconic Melina inspired the world, so much so that Greece's Ministry of Culture declared 2020 as the Melina Mercouri year. To this day we continue to reflect on her tireless campaign to reunite the Parthenon Marbles with special thanks and gratitude to Victoria Solomonidis.

Victoria Solomonidis pictured here in the Houses of Parliament with the late Eddie O'Hara

From 1995 until her retirement in 2015, Victoria Solomonidis was a Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Specialist Consultant on Cultural Affairs, with the rank of Minister Counsellor, serving at the Greek Embassy in London.  The issue of the Parthenon Sculptures was high on her agenda: she worked in close association with the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures from its inception in 1983 and actively promoted in the UK all aspects connected with the design, building and completion of the New Acropolis Museum. In 2015 she joined the Governing Body of the Melina Mercouri Foundation. 

Victoria agreed in 2016 at the request of our then Chair Eddie O'Hara, to present Melina Mrcouri and the campaign for the reunification of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon, the 200 Commemorative Event held at Senate House.

The presentation had the audience glued to Victoria's words. The final slide was a short clip, a video, which we have added across all our social media platforms: facebook, twitter and Instagram. Do watch it here too. Melina's words are as pertinent today as they were then, the campaign will go on until the day that the sculptures currently in the British Museum are reunited with their surviving halves in the Acropolis Museum.  

Photo from the archives of Victoria Solomonidis. From left to right: Melina Mercouri (Minister of Culture for Greece), Eleni Cubitt (founder of BCRPM), Graham Binns (the then Chair of BCRPM) in the British Museum's Duveen Gallery June 1986

In 1986 Melina made her memorable speech at Oxford Union, when PM Boris Johnson was then President of the Oxford Union. Melina's speech concluded with these timeless words: “We say to the British government: you have kept those sculptures for almost two centuries. You have cared for them as well as you could, for which we thank you. But now in the name of fairness and morality, please give them back. I sincerely believe that such a gesture from Great Britain would ever honour your name.”

Melina Mercouri, the then Minister of Culture for Greece in conversation with Boris Johnson the then President of the Oxford Union, 1986.

Melina Mercouri sadly passed away in 1994 and did not have the chance to see the superlative Acropolis Museum. Nor marvel at the superb display of the peerless sculptures from the Parthenon in the Parthenon Gallery or the uninterrupted views to the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

Janet Suzman's obsevations on  the campaign in February 2019 included the article  published by Yannis Andristsopoulos in Greek on Saturday 09 February 2019, in Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper. It was also re-printed in Parikiaki, a Greek Cypriot London community paper. At the start of this article Janet mentions Melina's impact:

"Melina Mercouri came whirling into Britain many years ago like a mighty wind, to stir up the clouds of dead leaves that often litter the venerable institutions of this land. She demanded the return of the marbles. She is long gone, but the wind still blows, sometimes stronger, sometimes just a breeze to disturb the quiet. Those winds have started up again." To read  Janet Suzman's statement in its entirety, please follow the link here.

"Melina was an actress, I am an actress; that probably means we are basically open-minded. Acting requires you to be non-judgemental about a character and thus to depict its point of view, often very far from your own in real life, as truthfully as possible. I am no scholar, no academic. My position on the BCRPM Committee is one of a perfectly ordinary museum visitor and as such I can see so clearly that the marbles are in the wrong room. They need the sweet Attic sunlight shining on them and a blue sky beyond; they ask to be re-connected to their other half in the New Acropolis Museum where a space for them awaits. They need to be seen in sight of the Parthenon itself, which still astonishingly stands, in full view of that space, so that I, the visitor could turn my head and exclaim “Now I see - that’s where they came from!” No more gloomy light, no more orphaned statuary. They need to be re-joined to their other pedimental half which sits in this fine museum so that I, the visitor, can understand the whole silent conversation between them." Janet Suzman, 2020

With thanks also to Viola Nilsson from SverigeSRadio for her time to interview BCRPM and the Swedish Committee on Melina Mercouri, you can hear the programme 'Stil' dedicated to Melina by following the link here.

 Melina Mercouri – Greece's brightest star and greatest ambassador..... Actress and politician Melina Mercouri put Greece on a whole new map through her passionate commitment to both culture and politics. This year, 2020, she would have turned 100.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, gave his first interview with a European newspaper since becoming the UK’s Prime Minister. In his response to the question of the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, he told Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK Correspondent for the Greek newspaper Ta Nea that the sculptures held in the British Museum would remain in Britain because they had been legally acquired.

“I understand the strong feelings of the Greek people – and indeed Prime Minister Mitsotakis – on the issue. But the UK government has a firm longstanding position on the sculptures, which is that they were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time and have been legally owned by the British Museum’s trustees since their acquisition.”, Mr. Johnson said.

Greece's Minister of Culture and Sport, Dr Lina Mendoni issued a statement on the same day to counter Prime Minister Johnson's stand on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures.

"Upon careful review of the statements made by U.K. Prime Minister, Mr. Boris Johnson, it is clear that he has not been properly informed by the competent state services of his country, of the new historical data regarding , that show that there has was never a legitimate acquisition of the Parthenon Sculptures by Lord Elgin and, therefore neither has the British Museum ever acquired the Sculptures in a legitimate manner. The Ministry of Culture and Sports can provide the necessary documentary evidence that can inform the British people that the British Museum possesses the Sculptures illegally.

For Greece, the British Museum does not have legitimate ownership or possession of the Sculptures. The Parthenon, as a symbol of UNESCO and Western Civilisation, reflects universal values. We are all obliged to work towards this direction."

To read Minister Mendoni's statement in Greek and in English, follow the link here.

 Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Dr. Lina Mendoni

A timely reminder of  Annex A in the Publication on the UK Parliament Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence:

Was the Removal of the Parthenon Marbles by Elgin Legal?

 24. Abdullah Pasha issued the letter that survived in translation, as a gesture of gratitude to the British Ambassador who was at that time at the peak of his influence at the Porte because of the successful outcome of the war in Egypt. But Abdullah Pasha would not dare to issue a firman to the same effect because he would need the approval of the Sultan himself, who would probably reject Elgin's request. Consequently, the document upon which the "legality" of the removal of the Acropolis monuments is based had neither the strength of a law nor even that of a legal order of the Sultan's government, as it would have if it was a firman, but it is simply a "reference letter" supplied to the British Ambassador by the deputy of the Grand Vezir, succumbing to his persistent demands and his powerful influence at the time. The fact that such a document of inferior authority was enough for the authorities in Athens to allow the ravage of the Acropolis should not surprise us. Elgin himself later said that: "in point of fact, all permissions issuing from the Porte to any distant provinces, are little better than authorities to make the best bargains that can be made with the local magistracies"

07 December 2021

Thanos Davelis, Director of Public Affairs for the Hellenic American Leadership Council, talks to Janet Suzman, the chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, on 'The Greek Current' to discuss Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ recent visit to the UK and the momentum it has given to the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

Listen to the podcast here 

THE GREEK CURRENT PODCAST EPISODE NOTES
Is there a new momentum for the return of Parthenon Marbles to Greece? That’s what Janet Suzman, the chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, argued in her latest op-ed for Kathimerini. Janet's article came after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the United Kingdom, where he raised the issue of the Parthenon Marbles in his meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Despite Johnson’s refusal, Greece has vowed to use “every means” in its quest to persuade London to relinquish the Parthenon sculptures, with a campaign that will focus on winning over the hearts and minds of Britons. Janet Suzman joins Thanos Davelis on 'The Greek Current' podcast to talk about Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ visit to the UK and the momentum it has given the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

Read Janet Suzman’s op-ed in Kathimerini here: New momentum for return of Parthenon Marbles.

The new director of the British Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan in an interview with Richard Morrison for the Culture section of the Sunday Times, 15 September 2024.

“I’m going to lead the biggest transformation of any museum in the world,” Nicholas Cullinan declares. “Physically, our masterplan is a huge project. But intellectually, too, it’s an enormous challenge. Yes, fixing the roof is urgent. But if you’re going to address those physical problems you should also do something really exciting with the collections and the way we present them to the public.”

Music to our ears, as we have looked to the BM to embrace the 21st century and the continued call for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

Read the full article by Richard Morrison.

Post the 2,000 thefts, then the controversial 50 million pound donation from BP earmarked for the BM's masterplan with the transformation of the building and the campaign for reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, now in it's 41st year, is Nicholas Cullinan leading the way to a brave new era at the BM? 

The decision to digitise the whole BM collection, all eight million items means, in the future, if an item is stolen and offered for sale, it will be easy to check it against the BM’s database. “But it also gives us an opportunity to create an incredible website that could reach well beyond the museum’s walls,” adds Nicholas Cullinan.

Last month five architectural teams were shortlisted to work on rethinking the galleries that include the rooms housing the Parthenon Sculptures, Rosetta Stone and mummies. 

“It’s really a giant restoration project. The western range is largely the original Robert Smirke building from the 19th century, with its beautiful galleries. But they can be made even more beautiful. And at the same time we have to rethink how we navigate visitors round and best display and interpret the collection.” Continues Cullinan in the Sunday Times as he also points out that the 1963 British Museum Act stops the museum from deaccessioning anything in its collection, even if it wanted to. “The more interesting aspect to think about now is how we can work in partnership with other museums round the world to lend or exchange items,” he says.

The Sunday Times asks whether “a friendly lending agreement [would] end the seemingly eternal squabble over the Elgin [Parthenon] Marbles?” Cullinan responds: “This is not me trying to dodge the question but that issue is not within my purview. It depends on other parties…The more interesting aspect to think about now is how we can work in partnership with other museums round the world to lend or exchange items.”



 

THE GUARDIAN 16 November 2021

On Tuesday, 16 November 2021 in the Guardian Peter Walker and Helena Smith wrote that it has long been the official UK position that any return is a matter for the British Museum.

The wider debate about museums returning artefacts taken from other countries during colonial times, has so far been resisted by the UK with the mantra of “retain and explain”. And that the British Museum’s consistent view is that the sculptures were acquired legally, with Elgin receiving formal consent from the Ottoman empire to remove the section of sculptures. “His actions were thoroughly investigated by a parliamentary select committee in 1816 and found to be entirely legal, prior to the sculptures entering the collection of the British Museum by act of parliament,” the museum says on its website.

BCRPM Vice-Chair Paul Cartledge was quoted in the same Guardian article saying that this amounted to “a sleight of hand”.

“It’s a nonsense,” he added. “Even if the trustees agreed to relinquish them, the final decision to rescind the act of 1816 which declared the Elgin Collection to be owned by the nation would legally have to go through the British parliament. There is no doubt that the pressure is building up for genuine, post-imperial reconciliation in the cultural sphere and Johnson is trying to evade it.”

To read thst article in full, follow the link here.

THE TIMES

  Josh Glancey of The Times tweeted on the same day about the British Museum's website statement:

And BCRPM member Benjamin Ramm replied 

Variations in the British Museum's statements, half truths on the information provided in Room 18, have left generations questioning what really happened bewtween 1801-1805 for Greece to have lost to another country half of its surviving Parthenon Marbles, with the Parthenon itself still in Athens.

A helpful video can be found on the Acropolis Museum web site.

GBNews 18 November 2021

On Friday vening BCRPM's member Professor John Tasioulas joined GBNews and took a pragmatic approach on the issue too.

Today, Saturday 20 November, Simon Jenkins wrote in the Guardian and the article headline reads: 'Give the Parthenon marbles back to Greece – tech advances mean there are no more excuses. To read the full article follow the link here. 

THE GUARDIAN 20 November 2021

Simon Jenkins pragmatic approach concludes: 'This issue, so important to the Greeks but not to the British, could be sorted out with goodwill in an instant. Precisely such a negotiation on the marbles was demanded in September by UNESCO, and rejected by Britain. If it requires a “perpetual loan” or an act of parliament, then get on with it. If money is required, raise it. Johnson is being feeble in fobbing off Athens’ request as not being under his purview. The museum is a state institution. Instead of keeping his promise and doing the right thing by the marbles, he has performed another U-turn and funked it.'

THE DAILY MAIL 20 November 2021 

Prime Minister Mitsotakis wrote in the Daily Mail and adds: "Now, given the Prime Minister has told me he would not stand in the way of Greece establishing a formal dialogue with the British Museum over the future of the marbles, I can only assume things will be different – that he will not obstruct any future agreement and, instead, the Prime Minister would seek to amend the relevant legislation to allow the sculptures’ return."

THE TELEGRAPH 20 November 2021

The Telegraph published a double page spread in the main section of Saturday's paper, witten by Gordon Raynor, with the headline questioning:'Could we be on course to lose 'our' Marbles?'

BCRPM's Chair Janet Suzman is quoted:"The British Museum is demonstrably behind the curve.Other world-class institutions have started returning items, so it's a bit smug for the British Museum to refuse to engage. It just keeps trotting out the same mantra it has clung on for the past 200 years. It's terribly impolite for them to just stay silent on this."

The British Museum's reasons for keeping the Marbles in London and divided from their surviving half in Athens is that: " there is a positive advantage and public benefit in having the sculptures divided bewtween two great museums, because in Athens they are seen against the backdrop of Athenian history and in London visitors gain insight into how ancient Greece influenced other civilisations."

Janet adds that this is just "childish, finders keepers stuff. They were forcibly removed, they were brought to Britain, they have excited the western world and classical scholarship went up. They have done their job and it's time for them to go home. It is a moral obligation.

She continues:" Anyone who goes to the museum in Athens can see, that is where they should be displayed. In the British Museum the experience is quite depressing."

To read the full article, visit the Telegraph.

More on this also in the Greek Reporter.

In The Times on Saturday 27 March 2021, Oliver Dowden, was interviewed by David Sanderson, Arts Correspondent. In the interview Oliver Dowden was keen for the cultural world to reopen and shares similar views with Prime Minister Johnson with regards to the cultural treasures held by British Museums such as the 'Elgin' Marbles and Benin Bronzes. Johnson told Greek newspaper, Ta Nea, this month that the government’s “firm longstanding position on the [Parthenon] sculptures is that they were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time."

Dowden is quoted as adding: “Once you start pulling on this thread where do you actually end up? Would we insist on having the Bayeux Tapestry back? American institutions are packed full of British artefacts. Japan has loads of Chinese and Korean artefacts. There is an exceptionally high bar for this . . . because I just don’t see where it ends. You go down a rabbit hole and tie up our institutions. I think it is just impossible to go back and disentangle all these things."

Dowden said that while he loved the Benin Bronzes, he had “never related that much to the Parthenon Sculptures” until the museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer, “showed me around and told me the story in wonderful depth, revealing a whole different level of the artistry which I found really inspiring”. He added: “Would they have survived the Nazis rampaging through Athens during World War II. It is a slightly trite argument but there is a truth. Would the Benin Bronzes have survived various international conflicts?”

To read the full article, kindly visit The Times link here. 

Oliver Dowden's remarks sparked reactions from BCRPM's members, although many also felt that the Minister's comments were so poorly thought out it would be best not to comment at all. BCRPM member, Professor John Tasioulas, took to Twitter:

Further to the article in The Times on Saturday with Oliver Dowden, Greek Minister of Clture and Sport, Dr Lina Mendoni’s statement can be read below:

 "Yesterday's statements by the British Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden underline the fact that the arguments used to justify the retention of the Parthenon Sculptures in London, are threadbare. Dowden, having nothing else to say, revives the argument of the so-called phenomenon of "the floodgates for mass returns of antiquities" from Museums around the world to their countries of origin. This is a non-existent argument, given that only one request is pending before UNESCO's Special Intergovernmental Committee at the moment: Greece's request for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, tabled in 1984. So where are the massive demands of the Member States?

The British Minister of Culture is attempting to downplay the value of the Parthenon's unique architectural sculptures by comparing the Greek request with other claims. Greece claims only the dismembered forms of the frieze, the metopes and the pediments of the monument - a symbol of Western civilization - which were violently removed from the monument and the land of their birth. Greece claims only the Parthenon Sculptures in order to reunite entirety  the surviving sculptural components of the Parthenon, therby restoring the integrity of this outstanding monument.

As for the argument that Elgin supposedly rescued the Sculptures – since they could have been destroyed by others, if they had not been stolen by the noble Lord – we will remind Mr. Dowden of what one of his compatriots carved on the Acropolis at the time of the violent theft: "quod non fecerunt Gothi, hoc fecerunt Scoti" (what the Goths did not do, the Scots did )..."

In today's Ta Nea, UK Correspondent Yannis Andritsopoulos, writes that the response from Minister Mendoni to Oliver Dowden was baked by Janet Suzman, Chair of BCRPM and at the same time a letter has been sent to Prime Minister Johnsonby IOCARPM (the first Committee to be founded for the campaign to reunite the Parthenon Marbles), members of the International Association. The letter signed by Founder and Chair Emanuel John Comino and Secretary, Russell Darnley, can also be read in full here.

Janet's full statement:

"That Dowden could not relate to the Parthenon Marbles says more about Dowden than it does about these peerless sculptures. He should consider himself lucky to have had a private tutorial from Dr Fischer. Perhaps Fischer could oblige with personal tutorials for everyone and spend less time spouting truisms about the ‘creative act’ that separates these figures from their peers in Athens and which is nothing more than self-justifying piffle. It is not a creative act to have them apart, it is the opposite, and two hundred years of separation is enough. They have done their job by now, of inspiring the Western world and should go home, where context will give them what is sadly lacking in the grey of Bloomsbury."

To read  the Ta Nea article on line, please visit https://www.tanea.gr/print/2021/03/29/lifearts/voles-gia-ta-glypta-apo-ellada-vretania-kai-aystralia/

Josephine Quinn for the Guardian writes 'The legal case for giving them back to Greece is weak, but the marbles deserve to be seen in their original setting in Athens.'

To read the full article use the link :

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/14/parthenon-marbles-greece-george-clooney

'If the guiding principle is that our global cultural heritage belongs to all of us, and should be available to as many of us as possible, then more difficult decisions have to be made.

In this case, there's a persuasive argument that people should have the chance to see the marbles beside the Acropolis on which they were first erected. In the new Acropolis Museum, the Parthenon itself is visible through the windows of the room in which the marbles would be displayed together with the fragments that remained in Athens. The sculptures currently split in two – including a decapitated goddess and a great procession that disappears half way through – would be reunited, and would finally make all their sense. Athens is no less accessible than London to the rest of the world, and to see and think about this temple and almost all of its sculpture on the same morning, under the same Athenian sky, would be a privilege and a joy.' Josephine Quinn, the Guardian, 14 February 2014.

A centaur head, along with another head,a Lapith, from the Parthenon temple and a horse’s hoof, came to Denmark in 1688 as a gift to King Christian V, and have remained in Denmark. The three pieces are exhibited at the National Museum in Copenhagen.

Calls to reunite these pieces have not yielded a positive response from Denmark as the Danish museum’s director, Dr. Rane Willerslev, feels that the three fragments on display in Copenhagen are of “great importance for Danish cultural history and for understanding our interaction with the world around us at a time when democracy was taking shape.”

Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the National Museum of Denmark,  Dr. Rane Willerslev

The mystery of why parts of the centaur head are coated with a thin brown film, as are several other marble fragments from the Parthenon continues. The scientific investigation's conclusion is that the brown film are interesting, and remain unexplained.

There are two different brown layers with different chemical compositions, and it is likely that they have different origins. This could suggest that someone applied paint or a conservation treatment to the sculptures. Yet, since the traces of such substances have not been found, the brown film remains a mystery.

Visit the National Museum of Denmark's site to view the Lapith head, and the centaur head.

Thursday, 6 February 2020 from 18:00 to 20:00, Kings College London, a panel discussion: "Who owns history" with Geoffrey Robertson QC,  plus Professor Edith Hall, Department of Classics, King's College London and Professor John Tasioulas, Director of the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law, King's College London, Chaired by Professor Philippa Webb, Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London

Event was held at:

SW1.18, Somerset House East Wing
The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

The panel featured a discussion of Geoffrey Robertson's recently published book, "Who Owns History? Elgin's Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure".

The biggest question in the world of art and culture concerns the return of property taken without consent. Throughout history, conquerors or colonial masters have taken artefacts from subjugated peoples, who now want them returned from museums and private collections in Europe and the USA.

The controversy rages on over the Elgin Marbles, and has been given immediacy by figures such as France's President Macron, who says he will order French museums to return hundreds of artworks acquired by force or fraud in Africa, and by British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has pledged that a Labour government would return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Elsewhere, there is a debate in Belgium about whether the Africa Museum, newly opened with 120,000 items acquired mainly by armed forces in the Congo, should close.

Although there is an international convention dated 1970 that deals with the restoration of artefacts stolen since that time, there is no agreement on the rules of law or ethics which should govern the fate of objects forcefully or lawlessly acquired in previous centuries.

Who Owns History? delves into the crucial debate over the Elgin Marbles, but also offers a system for the return of cultural property based on human rights law principles that are being developed by the courts. It is not a legal text, but rather an examination of how the past can be experienced by everyone, as well as by the people of the country of origin.

Follow the link to read Professor John Tasioulas' paper in response to Geoffrey Robertson's 'Who Owns History' panel discussion at Kings College London.

The return of the British Museum's Parthenon Marbles to Greece, according to Reuters' report on Sunday, may be possible 'even if the two sides cannot come to an agreement over who owns the sculptures'.

Greece's request for the return of the sculptures began shortly after independence. The more recent request was made by the then Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri in 1983, when the Greek government formally asked the UK government to return the marbles to Greece and, in 1984, listed the dispute with UNESCO. The Greek government has always only requesed the return of the sculptures that Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon at the start of the 19th century.

The Pope last year announced that he would donate three fragmented pieces from the Vatican Museums to Greece. The signing of the agreement took place in Rome on  Tuesday 07 March 2023.

Talks bewtween Greece and the British Museum have been going on since late 2021, and were disclosed when Prime Minister Mitsotakis came to London in November of 2022 to address the LSE.

The British Museum's Parthenon collection could be returned to Greece under a long-term cultural partnership agreement, Reuters reported on Sunday 12 March.

The plans, which have been discussed with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and British Museum's Chair George Osborne, would see a rotation of Greek masterpieces offered to the British Museum, including some that have never been seen outside Greece*.(This was offered by Greece for the first time in 2000, 23 years ago!).

Such an arrangement could avoid the requirement for a change in the law to allow the British Museum to dispose of its artefacts, the same point raised in 2000 also.  And yet,  George Osborne has played down the prospect of a permanent return of the marbles, instead suggested an arrangement where the marbles can be shared by both museums and seen in London and Athens.

This story is set to run for a little longer.

Read the aricle by Liam Kelly, Arts Correspondent for the Sunday Times, and for those that read in Greek in Ta Nea, although there are paywalls.

28 July 2011

 John Melville-Jones writes for neokosmos.com

In recent years the nature of the document that was presented to the British Parliament in 1816, which authorised Lord Elgin to study and copy the ancient Greek sculptures on the Acropolis of Athens, has been investigated.

It is clear that it was not, as has so often been claimed, a 'firman' from the Ottoman sultan, because it lacks some of the formal elements that a true 'firman' would have had. Its exact nature is, however difficult to define. If an official 'firman' was ever issued (and no evidence now exists to prove that this happened), the Italian text that Lord Elgin laid before the parliament with an English translation may have been a précis of this. But it is more probable that it was a more or less accurate translation of an ad hoc document created by an Ottoman official in Athens. For this reason the translation of the document into English that was made by Lord Elgin's chaplain the Reverend Philip Hunt should have been faultless. But it contains a small but significant mistake.

The authorization to remove material from the Acropolis was repeated in the document, essentially in the same words (Hunt's translations follow): e quando volessero portar via qualche pezzi di pietra con vechie inscrizioni, e figure, non sia fatta lor' oposizione …'and should they wish to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions, and figures, that no opposition be made …' and: non si faccia opposizione al portar via qualche pezzi di pietra con inscrizioni, e figure … 'nor hinder them from taking away any pieces of stone with inscriptions, and figures …' Two other translations of this document have been made (as noted in the article by Williams cited above).
 
They all translate the Italian phrase 'qualche pezzi di pietra' in the same way, as 'any pieces of stone'. But this is wrong. Anyone who looks up qualche in an Italian-English dictionary will find that 'any' is one of its meanings. But dictionaries often lead the unwary astray, and 'any' is only a permissible translation in some circumstances. For example, hai qualche libro che posso leggere? might be translated as 'Do you have any book(s) that I can read?' But the proper translation of qualche pezzi di pietra is not 'any pieces of stone' but 'a few pieces of stone' (the Italian of the document is not the best in this case - it is normal to use the singular form of a noun with qualche, so we would expect to read qualche pezzo, but this is not important).

The only time, to my knowledge, that this phrase has been translated correctly into English was in a speech made by Melina Mercouri (the Greek Minister for Culture) to the Oxford Union in 1986.

This does not seem to have attracted any general attention. How many 'pieces of stone' would be implied by qualche pezzi? It is possible to suspect that the language is deliberately vague, but if you ask an Italian what number the phrase might imply, he will smile happily and make supportive gestures if you suggest three or five or seven, but when you reach ten or a larger number he will begin to look doubtful.

So if the conditions of the alleged 'firman' had been strictly observed, Lord Elgin would not have been allowed to take away as many pieces of stone from the Parthenon and other buildings as he did. And if the British Parliamentary Select Committee had had a more exact translation before it in 1816 when it was formed to discuss the possible acquisition of the Elgin Marbles, this might have led to some modification of their decision.

There is no record of any objection from the Ottoman authorities to Lord Elgin's removal of the large number of 'pieces of stone' that he did in fact take, so the mistranslation of this phrase in the 'firman' now has little force in the current argument concerning the repatriation of the Parthenon sculptures. But it is desirable to put the correct translation of the Italian text on the record.

John Melville-Jones is an associate Professor in Classics and Ancient History at University of Western Australia. This note has been prepared on behalf of the Australian Macedonian Advisory Council.

"Britain is isolated on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures. Greece's request for reunification will remain on the table, as it has been for more than four decades since it was submitted to UNESCO. We will continue our campaign and urge Greece to continue asking the Museum's trustees and Britain to do what is right: return the sculptures, but not as loans, to their natural environment, the Acropolis Museum," Paul Cartledge, professor emeritus of Greek culture at Cambridge University and vice-chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Marbles (BCRPM), told TA NEA.

"It is very sad that Mr Sunak has cancelled his meeting with Mr Mitsotakis. The Parthenon Sculptures were just one of the topics for discussion, among other very important issues. The dialogue between Athens and the British Museum, the pressure on the British establishment and politicians must continue. I am confident that in the end a satisfactory solution will be found, acceptable to all parties," Dr. Chris Tytgat, President of the International Association for the Reunification of Sculptures (IARPS), told TA NEA.

To read the full article that was published in Ta Nea on 29 November in English, kindy follow the link here.