Alberto Costa, the Conservation MP for South Leicestershire debated on Wednesday 30 April the British Museum Act of 1963 in relation to the Parthenon Marbles. 

Westminster Hall debates enable backbench MPs from any party to raise an issue, and receive a response from the government. They do not involve a vote on a particular action or decision. Instead, the aim is to: raise awareness of an issue, often as part of a wider campaign, seek to influence government policy, put the views of backbench MPs, opposition parties, and the government on record.

The debate on the Parthenon Marbles started at 11:00 am on Wednesday 30 April, and took place in the Grand Committee Room, the second chamber of the House of Commons. 

 Alberto Costa began: "I beg to move, that this House has considered the Parthenon marbles and the British Museum Act 1963.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I declare at the outset that I am the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Greece.

I am here today not for Greece but for my South Leicestershire constituents—who, like the constituents of many colleagues, are highly cultured people—and for all British people, who I think could benefit from a deal with Greece on the Parthenon marbles. The discussion about the Parthenon marbles, which reside in the British Museum, is very well known. I want to highlight at the outset that this is not a debate about the background to how the British Museum acquired these marbles, nor is it a debate about apportioning blame or arguing that the British Museum, its trustees or the British people have some form of moral responsibility to return these artefacts.

The sole and exclusive purpose of this debate is to put forward a proposition to benefit my South Leicestershire constituents and the constituents of all MPs across the United Kingdom, on whether a new and positive opportunity has presented itself to the United Kingdom, having left the European Union, to decide how it wishes to forge stronger relationships with each EU member state."

The Telegraphreported on this debate the day before stating that Mr Costa was looking for ways to entice cultural cooperation with regards to the Parthenon Marbles. He suggested that a request could be made  to the Acropolis Museum to wave the entrance fee for British visitors. That Greece offered rotating exhibitions of Greek treasures not yet yet seen outside of Greece and these could be shared across a umber of British museums. He was keen that no blame be proportioned nor that there was the need to rewrite history, but he felt it was about seizing post-Brexit opportunities for both the UK and Greece by embarking on "friendship, mutual respect and imagination in cultural cooperation."

During the debate, Mr Costa went on to ask four questions addressed to Sir Chris Bryant, the Minister for Creative Industries, Art and Tourism. Sir Chris Bryant is the Labour MP for Rhondda and Ogmore, and has been an MP continually since 07 June 2001. He currently holds the Government posts of Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport), and Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology).

 Minister Bryant responded at length, including stating: "The important point that I am trying to clarify—because I think there has been some misunderstanding—is that under existing law, it would be impossible for there to be a permanent or indefinite loan. The trustees would be required, in seeking a licence to export, to show that they were absolutely certain that the items were returning. I do not think that would be easy if they had arranged a permanent or indefinite loan —the point being that we would have to change the law. Member may ask is whether we are intending to change the law. We have no intention to change the law."

Telegraph 29 January 2022

Technology that allows archaeologists to make a millimetre-perfect replica paves way for a deal with British Museum, says Greek ambassador. The plan to copy the section of the Parthenon frieze in the British Museum comes from the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), which created a full-size replica of Syria’s Palmyra Arch which was blown up by Isis in October 2015.

To read this article in full, visit The Telegraph.

Ta Nea 31 January 2022

Yannis Andritsopoulos, UK correspondent for Ta Nea published an aricle on Monday:'New proposal for 3D copies of the Sculptures. The international Institute of Digital Archaeology is willing to make exact replicas with the ultimate goal of exhibiting them in the British Museum, as reported in ‘Ta Nea’ by the IDA’s director Roger Michel and the Greek Ambassador in London, Ioannis Raptakis.'

Speaking to ‘Ta Nea’ the head of the scientists who inspired the project explained that the innovative method developed by his team could create copies of the sculptures, which may convince the British Museum to return the fragment sculptures  in Room 18 to Greece. A move that is "justifiable and will be of benefit to both countries."

 "I want to see Boris Johnson and Kyriakos Mitsotakis shaking hands and smiling. There is a long history of cooperation between the two countries, which must continue. That's why we offered to make these copies. I think the British will realise that it is time for the Parthenon sculptures to return home. Nothing would make me happier than seeing them reunited in Athens," notes Roger Michel.

Initially, the Institute's scientists intend to "clone" a metope from the south side of the Parthenon located in the British Museum, which represents the struggle between a Lapithe and a centaur. "We're going to show people what this technology can do," Michel explains. This will take about three months and cost £50,000-70,000, a cost that the Institute itself will cover. "Then, we aspire to reproduce the entire parthenon frieze."

The Oxford-based institute has pioneered a technique known as 3D Machining. First a digital image is created using photogrammetry, then a robot-operated machine uses chisels in the same way as a human sculptor to carve a copy of the original.

"We will procure marble identical to the one used by Phidias," explains the director of the Oxford-based Institute, who will ask the British Museum to allow his team to scan the Sculptures on display in London.* 

The aim of the Institute is to exhibit the entire Parthenon frieze at the United Nations headquarters in New York and other cities of the world, until they are "installed" in London, if the British Museum allows it. "We hope the Museum will embrace our initiative and exhibit the copies, to facilitate the reunification of the surviving pieces in Room 18 with those in the Acropolis Museum.

"I am optimistic that the reproduction of the frieze will act as a symbol of Greek-British friendship and will lead to a gesture of goodwill that will correct a mistake that was made two centuries ago."

The Director of the Institute calls on the British Prime Minister to support his initiative. "Mr Johnson has been a great supporter of our work. Thanks to him, the copy of the Arch of Palmyra in Trafalgar Square was exhibited. I believe he can support us now. People change their minds and I think there's a chance it will help this call for the reunification also."

Speaking to ‘Ta Nea’, Greece's Ambassador to London Ioannis Raptakiswelcomed the Institute's initiative, which was inspired by his own intervention during an event in the British capital last Friday. "It is one step closer to meeting the respectful request for the return of the Sculptures to Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakishas put a number of proposals on the table. It would be amazing, if the British government were to take the initiative to correct this injustice."

"The new technology allows the manufacture of exact copies. I believe that the British Museum should present these copies in its collection. It is time to allow the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. It would be a magnanimous act of the British people and would be a recognition of our historic debt to Greece," Michael Wood, professor of history at the University of Manchester and member of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures (BCRPM), told ‘Ta Nea’.

To read the original article in Greek, follow the link to Ta Nea.

* In 2012, the BM gave Niall McLaughlin Architects permission to scan the frieze in Room 18  

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.