'British Museum is right to keep Parthenon marbles, says new trustee. Historian Dr Tiffany Jenkins is one of the line up of new appointees that has raised cultural and historical hackles' are the headlines of Vanessa Thorpe's article in the Observer.

An ancient bronze griffin head stolen nearly a century ago to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, has been returned by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. This return  marks ongoing efforts by museum's to return significant artefacts that have been illegally removed to their country of origin.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has recently increased its efforts to review the history of its holdings, hiring additional experts to track the origins of objects in its collection.

Greek Culture Minister Dr Lina Mendoni attended a ceremony at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia and praised the efforts made by both sides, US and Greece for the return of the griffin.The griffin, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, symbolized strength and divine protection in ancient Greece. The bronze head will now be displayed alongside a similar griffin head already on display at the Olympia museum.   

Institutions across the world in recent years have begun to acknowledge the importance of returning significant cultural items while still promoting global access to heritage. As part of this framework, Greece has agreed to loan the griffin head back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for future exhibitions, Mendoni said.

The Director of the Metropolitan Museum, Max Hollein commented: “We are grateful for our long-standing partnership with the Greek government and look forward to continued engagement and cultural exchange.” 

Greece is also hoping that this approach will boost its long standing campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

The negotiations between the British Museum and PM Mitsotakis' team, which started two years ago, continues apace.

Channel 4's second episode of 'Ancient Greece by Train' aired on Saturday 22nd March.

Professor Alice Roberts took viewers on a her second leg of a train journey to explore Ancient Greece. This time she was headed to Athens, looking at the birth of Democracy, exploring the origins of theatre, discovering ancient inscriptions that ensured we learned so much about Greece's ancient past, not least meeting with Greece's Minister of Culture, Dr Lina Mendoni to ask about the continued division of the Parthenon Marbles!

This programme is one watch and we are grateful for Alice's conversation with Dr Mendoni too. As the British Museum appoints five new Trustees and is soon to begin the reimagining of the Western Range which includes Room 18 part of the British Museum's Parthenon Galleries, public opinion in the UK continues to support the return of these sculptures to Greece. It is Greece's only ask, an ask which we feel is totally justified especially as we consider that the BM holds 108,184 Greek artefacts, of which only 6,493 are even on display.

BCRPM's campaign, which begun in 1983 continues.

Professor Alice Roberts asks Dr Mendoni: "In your lifetime would you like to see the Marbles come back from Britain to the Parthenon?"

Greece's Culture Minister, Dr Lina Mendoni takes a moment when she is smiling and sighing before responding with a firm voice: "This is a very strong desire and goal for the Greek people at the national level. We have all been working on it now for the last years. The government has made systematic efforts. Prime Minister Mitsotakis himself has worked on this issue and continues to do so.

I believe that the tide is turning. Time is approaching when these sculptures will return to the Attic light. This is what we believe in and what we strive for, what we are talking about now, is not just about a return but reunification."

Alice goes on to also ask: "What would it mean to Greece to have those Marbles back?"

Lina responds with enthusiasm: "This means a lot. It means reclaiming a part of the identity of a monument, which is universal and belongs to the whole world. We modern Greeks see ourselves as custodians of this monument. However, this monument that symbolises Western civilisation is also part of the identity of the Greek people. This is not only the desire of the Greek people, it was also the vision of Lord Byron."

Alice: "Absolutely!"

Lina: "Byron was at the time, the one who witnessed first hand the violence and theft of the Parthenon. I think that the impression it made on him played a catalytic role not just for his political activities but his intellectual standing."

Alice: "I don't know why it seems so complicated, to me it is very straightforward, they should be back in Athens."

Lina: "Absolutely! And this will happen eventually. Let's hope it happens as we honour the memory of Lord Byron's 200th anniversary since his death."   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BCRPM wishes to thank the organisers and especially Maria Efthymiadou.

Watch the ERT news bulletin by Natasha Kantzavelou.

"The Parthenon is not Corpus Christi that can be broken and divided. It is a single entity such as Nature and Time, both are kept for all of us. 

It is time for the integral parts of the Parthenon to come back in their integrity for all the humanity, like time, without openings or gaps.

Today, the democracies of the entire free world should support the return and reunification of the Parthenon sculptures to Athens, the mother of Western civilization, the cradle of all democracies, so that their significance may once again be celebrated, united, under the light that it was created.

Greece is not asking this for itself alone, it is asking it for all of humanity, as an example of reunification of the symbol, of our fragmented world. For, it is not only important for a person to protect the past but also to rescue the present from the future."

The inspiring speech by the Director General of the Acropolis Museum, Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis, “The Parthenon Sculptures. The Abduction of Beauty”, took place this week on Thursday evening in Geneva, in the packed Louis Jantet amphitheatre. The atmosphere was rapped in enthusiasm and emotion.

The event was organised by the Swiss Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, Comité Suisse pour le Retour des Marbres du Parthénon (CSRMP), on the occasion of the retirement of its long-serving President (2008-2025), Professor Dusan Sidjanski, and the assumption of the Chairmanship of the Committee by Professor Cléopatre Montandon. Also present Mrs. Katerina Simopoulou, Ambassador of Greece, to Switzerland alongside Mr. Ioannis Gikas Greece's Ambassador to the United Nations. The Consul General in Geneva, Mr. Alexandros Yennimatas, introduced the event.

With thanks to Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis for the text and images.

Pictured above: Professor Dusan Sidjanski, Honorary President Swiss Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, Comité Suisse pour le Retour des Marbres du Parthénon (CSRMP) with Professor  Nikolaos Stampolidis, Director General of the Acropolis Museum, Sophia Hiniadou Cambanis and Chair of the Swiss Committee, Professor Cléopatre Montandon.

The Consul General in Geneva, Mr. Alexandros Yennimatas, introduced the event.

The Athens State Orchestra's "Musical Walks" welcomes spring with music at the Acropolis Museum.

On Monday 31, March 2025 join the "Musical Walks" performed by the Athens State Orchestra in the Parthenon Gallery.

This year's event is marked by a programme that presents the wide spectrum of Modernism in Music. With the ambiguous title "Dist(r)opia", the selection of music spans the breadth of the greatest 20th century artists. 

The acclaimed musicians of the Athens State Orchestra will present the following works: PAUL HIDEMIT (1895-1963) Introduction to Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman plus Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano BOHUSLAV MARTINOU (1890-1959), String Quartet No. 3 ALFRED SNITTKE (1934-1998), String Quartet No. 3.

Participants in the event included : Vassilis Soukas (violin), Iordanis Santos-Mastralexis (violin), Enkela Kokolani (viola), Angelos Liakakis (cello), Kostas Tzekos (clarinet), Thodoris Iosifidis (piano)

Due to limited availability, book tickets online @ events.theacropolismuseum.gr

The event includes a tour of the exhibition grounds with an Archaeologist at 5:30 p.m. and the musical event starts at 7 p.m. in the Parthenon Gallery.

THE ACROPOLIS MUSEUM'S SUMMER  TIMETABLE

From Tuesday, 01 April 2025, the Museum's summer opening hours begin.

01 April to 31 October

Monday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. 

Friday 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

The Museum's restaurant is open during the Museum's opening hours, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it remains open until 12 midnight.