"A lack of political will means the UK is dragging its feet when it comes to returning museum artefacts to their country of origin, say experts. Politicians have been accused of “muddying the waters” on museum matters and the Government of lagging behind much of the rest of the world in returning UK museum artefacts."Writes Sally Guyoncourt for inews.

And we couldn't agree more.

Read the full article, on inews.

Lewis McNaught, founder and managing editor of ReturningHeritage.com supports the growing groundswell of opinion on changing heritage legislation.The question of political involvement has also been criticised by Mr McNaught, who said museum boards are populated by Government appointees, who push agendas “which are not necessarily the best interests of the museums.”

Lewis McNaught believes a reluctance for restitution from Government comes from a determination to maintain the UK’s past reputation. “To return is to damage that reputation of Britain as a great trading nation,” he said and added that there was also a feeling that if we “started to return one thing then there would be a deluge of things”, which had to be returned. However, in reality the number of artefacts being requested to be returned to their country of origin is just a fraction of the items held in British collections.

Stalling restitution in the UK has put  the UK “out of step” with much of the rest of the world, according to Mr McNaught, and the DCMS  is also standing their ground by saying that there are no plans to change the  museum's law. This was also highlighted by the provisions in sections 15 and 16 of the Charities Act 2022, reported in the Museums Association.

Amy Shakespeare is an International Repatriation Specialist based in Cornwall, England.

As an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded PhD Researcher at the University of Exeter,Amy's research aims to enable more UK museums to undertake repatriation through more anticolonial processes. She also focuses on how repatriation is interpreted for the public, and what is left behind following return.

Following a Smithsonian Fellowship at the National Museum of the American Indian, Amy founded Routes to Return - a website that aims to open up global networks, share information, and enable international repatriation. Amy is currently working for the Association on American Indian Affairs developing and implementing their International Repatriation Strategy. She also sits on the board of the Museum Ethnographers Group as their Repatriation Officer.

On Saturday 24 February, the 29th annual dinner dance of the Hellenic Engineers Society of Great Britain took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London. This society has 400 members from Britain and Greece.

The Society started off with around eighty Founding Members in 1995 and since then has increased in membership year on year, firmly establishing its presence within the UK maritime industry. 

Just over 750 members, guests including Greece's Ambassador to the UK, Yiannis Tsaousis, and friends from all five continents, attended this unique event at the spectacular Great Room of the landmark London hotel.

The president of the Association Dimitris Monioudis during his speech addressed the continued division of the Parthenon Marbles. This year’s event booklet  was dedicated to the Parthenon Marbles, an issue which the President and those that were gathered support. The President lamented the sculptures division especially as it concerned two democratic nations and their peoples. Two nations with so much in common, allies, which ought to be able to resolve this long running issue of cultural heritage.

The Lyceum of Greek Women in London presented traditional dances from all over Greece at the annual dinner. The evening also included performance by the all female electric string quartet Fortissimo, which followed music by DJ Avgoustinos Galiassos. Avgoustinos is also a member of BCRPM.

Part of the proceeds of this year's event are to be donated to a number of charities.

Read more about the 29th event of the HESGB here, and visit the society's site too .

The Guardian's film critic Peter Bradshaw reviews Dahomey, a documentary made by Franco-Senegalese film-maker Mati Diop. This documentary is the first major return of looted treasures from Europe to Africa, and has won the to the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the 74th Berlin film festival.

Peter Bradshaw writes:" an invigorating and enlivening film, with obvious implications for the Elgin/Parthenon marbles in the British Museum."

The on hour documentary borrows its name from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey, located in the south of today’s Republic of Benin, follows a hoard of 26 treasures on their 2021 return journey from Paris to Benin. Along with others these treasures were looted by French forces in 1892, almost a century and a half earlier.

To read Peter Bradshaw's Guardian article in full, follow the link here.

Speaking on the Berlinare's red carpet, Mati Diop said: "Am so happy that this film, brings a little hope and perspective."

This second win in a row for a documentary is a strong signal that the genre is having a moment, one that is celebrated.

This article in The Guardian on Sunday, by Chloe Mac Donnell is terrifically pleasing to BCRPM:

At Erdem Moralıoğlu’s show, held at the British Museum, the actors Kristin Scott Thomas and Ruth Wilson were guests of honour. The catwalk was staged in front of the Parthenon marbles – the fifth-century BC masterpieces that sparked Rishi Sunak’s recent diplomatic “blunder”. Moralıoğlu, whose collection was inspired by the American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas, said he had chosen the location to reflect how Callas had been “uprooted”. A booklet of images and notes left on each guest’s seat highlighted how, for Callas, “the absence of home was poignant and profound”.

It’s really very exciting that such a high profile fashion show was staged in front of the Marbles, because Erdem made a point of emphasising how for Callas - his Muse - “the absence of home was poignant and profound”. Just so.

Those present were facing away from Pheidias’s figures but from those silent stones at their backs they will have felt ‘Time's winged chariot drawing near’.

If those Marbles could only speak they would express the same haunting feeling of being uprooted, so we must speak for them. The day will surely come when those grievously uprooted sculptures will go home.

And on Wednesday 21 February in The Times, Victoria Hislop's thoughts on the fashion show too.

"An archaeologist pointed out to me, the volume of people present at Erdem’s show, plus the lighting and cameras, would have affected the temperature and humidity in the gallery. This could well have had a negative effect on these priceless works of art.

The sculptures are not indestructible — but they are irreplaceable. In London there are neoclassical buildings everywhere you look that could have been used for commercial promotion, all of them inspired by the architecture of ancient Greece. Yet the link between what the models were wearing and Medea or Greek sculpture seems spurious.

One irony is that the audience sat with their backs to the Parthenon sculptures — they wouldn’t have noticed if they were there or not. So why take the risk of damage? Of offence?" Asks Victoria.

Wonderful to hear Greek spoken and sung by talented school students and distinguished speakers at an event last Thursday that marked International Greek Language Day (February 9).

Defence Minister Nikos Dendias and Victoria Hislop, where among the guests that gathered at the Greek Ambassadors Residence to celebrate the Greek Language.

Following the message by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Giorgos Kotsiras on the 9th of February, Ambassador Yannis Tsaousis addressed this event speaking about the significance of the Greek language and its remarkable continuity through the centuries. He also highlighting the promotion of Greek language learning within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Strategic Plan for Greeks Abroad, and relevant initiatives by Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgos Kotsiras and the Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy, John Chrysoulakis.

Later on, in a thought-provoking conversation with Ambassador Yannis Tsaousis, Victoria spoke about herjourney learning Greek, and writing about Greece.

Oxford student Ethan Chandler shared his powerful personal account of how his love of Greece, motivated him to learn the language.

How charitable organisations integrate Greek language learning into their work was the focus of 2 presentations about the Daughters of Penelope initiative to promote play-based Greek education to Greek Diaspora children & Kind at Heart Foundation's educational project in Tanzania.

Representing both the Greece and Cyprus Diaspora in the UK, and making the evening truly special, were school students from the Greek Primary School of London and the Hellenic School of High Barnet. They gave an unforgettable performance of Greek songs and a great poetry recital.