Worth watching and listening to the many voices that continue to be inspired by the Parthenon and it's unique and iconic location on the Acropolis Hill. The images are arresting, as is the 15 million plus global visitors to date that have discovered the meaning of so many artefacts. The Acropolis Museum is an experience that many more will continue to enjoy for years and decades and centuries to follow.
As the world continues to look to the UK Prime Minister, his government & the British Museum, for the will and understanding that is needed to facilitate the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce hosted an online event on Saturday 10 April 2021, which included a virtual tour of the Acropolis Museum with Professor Pandermalis. The event was beautifully hosted by Chryssa Avrami. You can watch the event by following the link here.
After the welcome to the event, Chryssa Avrami introduced HACC President Markos L. Drakotos, Esq. who noted that “the Acropolis is the heart that breathes life into the Eternal Harmony of this world balancing our existence within time and space."
Avrami then introduced His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who also called for the return of the Parthenon Marbles which remain in the British Museum.
Consul General of Greece in New York Konstantinos Koutras, remembered his first visit to the Acropolis at a young age and reminded us all of the sense of pride he feels when foreign dignitaries visit the site and are awe-struck. So many of us can still remember President Obama's memorable November 2016 visit to the Aropolis Hill and the Acropolis Museum before he concluded his term as US President.
Mareva Grabowski Mitsotakis, the wife of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, spoke about the miracle of the Parthenon which saw the birth of democracy and so much more - the 'gifts' of civilization that continue to influence our every day lives even today.
Journalist Nikos Aliagas, academic Byzantinologist Helen Glykatzi-Ahrweiler, Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos,Olympic gold medalist Yiannis Melissanidis, Phedon Papamichael, Albert Bourla, John Coumantaros also added insights, as did actress, producer and musician Rita Wilson.
Marianna Vardinogiannis, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador also added her call for the reunification remembering Melina Mercouri's words before she passed away: "when the Marbles will return to Greece, I will be reborn."
Photographer Robert McCabe noted that the Acropolis changes in the light and weather conditions and is a never-ending kaleidoscope for a photographer. When asked to summarize the Acropolis in one word, McCabe said “continuity” as the Acropolis connects the present an ancient Greek civilization and language. We couldn't agree more that the Attica light is such an important element of how the ancient treasures on the Acropolis Hill and the Acropolis Museum are viewed and celebrated by visitors from all over the globe.
Musician George Dalaras, Fashion Designer Mary Katrantzou, Managing Partner IRI/Marshall Islands Registry Clay Maitland, composer Evanthia Reboutsika, Computer Scientist and 2007 Turing Award-winner Joseph Sifakis, Town & Country Magazine Editor in Chief Stellene Volandes, and composer Stavros Xarhakos also shared their thoughts.
A Q&A session with Professor Pandermalis, moderated by Sylvia Papapostolou-Kienzl, followed the virtual tour and concluded the event.
We reflected that the sculptures removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin at the start of the nineteenth century were once referred to by the ame Lord as 'stones of no value'. A man of position and influence, Lord Elgin had paid for the sculptures to be forcibly removed, originally destined for his Scottish ancestral home. A fire sale in 1816 has seen them exhibited the wrong way round in a room that has very little natural light in the heart of Bloomsbury at the British Museum's Parthenon Galleries, Room 18. They have been senselessly divided for over 200 years.
Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles states: "These sculptures are like no other and have done their job in London. It is time for them to join their other halves in the Acropolis Museum's Parthenon Gallery, as it is here, that visitors can have a single and aesthetic experience simultaneously of the Parthenon and its sculptures."
We wish to thank the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce for today's memorable event, it was uplifting and enlightening to hear so many voices calling for the reunification, there was light, φως...... in the voices and the images of this live event. We especially wish to thank Professor Pandermalis for taking us on this vitual tour, especially as many of us that annually visited the museum, have been unable to do so and cannot wait to return to see that light and those sculptures, the Parthenon Marbles.
