International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures

A new Greek based campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles has been launched recently, called Bring them back“>Bring them Back.

From:
America Blog

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Bring back the Elgin Marbles
by John Aravosis (DC)

Back around 1800, when Greece was still suffering from 400 years of Turkish occupation, the British ambassador, Lord Elgin, got permission from the Turks to remove a good chunk of the Parthenon and bring it back to London, for display in the British Museum. Now that the Turks are gone, the Greeks would like their Parthenon back.

It’s an interesting issue. I can sympathize with the argument that you can’t ask that ever piece of antiquity from everywhere around the world be returned to its nation or origin, or you’d empty every museum in the world. Having said that, how does this story differ from the Nazi’s pilfering the Louvre? While I’m sympathetic to the notion that not every artifact should go home, the Parthenon is a big deal. And taking massive chunks of it during a foreign occupation is, well, tacky. Now that the Greeks have a new modern museum to house the “Elgin Marbles,” the British lose their number one argument – that the antiquities were better preserved in England than in Greece, where they could be better cared for. Not anymore.

Below is a cute video that demonstrates the problem. It’s tied to a Web site called “Bring them back.”

I wrote before about Nick Clegg’s support for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. Some newspapers (predictably) aren’t particularly thrilled with this aspect of him though.

From:
Daily Express

UK NEWS
GENERAL ELECTION 2010: EU ZEALOT NICK CLEGG’S BID TO RETURN ELGIN MARBLES

DOUBTS over Nick Clegg’s commitment to British interests in the EU intensified last night after it emerged he once led a campaign to return the historic Elgin Marbles to his friends in Greece.

As an MEP, the Lib Dem leader berated the British Museum for guarding the statues, saying it was like displaying Big Ben’s clock in the Louvre. He told a Tory MEP who dared to criticise his campaign: “you appear to have lost your marbles.”

The issue highlights his strident pro-European views and helps shatter his attempt in Thursday’s leaders’ debate to portray his party as moderate on EU affairs.

GENERAL ELECTION 2010: GET THE LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS HERE…

A Sunday Express survey of his 12 MEPs’ voting records reveals them to be among the most fanatically pro-EU politicians in Europe. They have consistently spearheaded efforts to transfer sovereignty away from Britain and boost a bureaucratic superstate.

They have voted against reforming MEPs’ expenses and against holding a sleaze inquiry into a ­senior official but they have voted for the promotion of the grand EU project in British schools.

Mr Clegg, who is married to a Spaniard and whose father is half-Russian, was a Euro MP for the East Midlands between 1999 and 2004. In 2002, he helped organise the Marbles In Exile conference in the Strasbourg parliament where he demanded Britain return them to the Parthenon in Athens.

The statues were taken with the permission of the Ottoman Empire by the Earl of Elgin in 1801.

When Tory MEP Roger Helmer objected to EU resources being used to promote the campaign, Mr Clegg wrote back: “During the opening of the Marbles In Exile exhibition yesterday, I took the opportunity to read out your message. Everyone agreed that you appear to have lost your marbles.”

In a bid to appeal to floating Eurosceptic voters, Mr Clegg tried to portray a more ­moderate stance during Thursday’s leaders’ debate, saying he would offer a referendum on future major transfers of powers to the EU, such as were contained in the Lisbon Treaty.

His shift was branded “opportunistic” and came as he tried to soften his previously ardent ­support for the euro.

He now says he is glad Britain did not join the single ­currency but as an MEP in 2002 he tried to justify giving up the pound by saying blind and partially sighted people would find the euro easier to use.

In March last year all Lib Dems voted to exclude details about MEPs’ allowances and expenses from a new law designed to imp­rove transparency.

In 2008 they tried to give Brussels more powers over taxation by voting for a single rate of corporation tax throughout the continent.

The year before they voted to end Britain’s £4billion annual budget rebate and last November they supported moves by Brussels to force countries to share Europe’s asylum seeker problem.

The Sunday Express has also learned that in 2002 Mr Clegg and Lib Dem MEPs signed a European parliament resolution calling on the EU to legalise drugs.

The resolution “strongly” urged policy makers to de-criminalise “certain substances”, partially de- criminalise cannabis and make heroin “available under medical supervision”. They believed it would help fight drug traffickers.

Richard Allan, whilst an MP, founded the Parthenon 2004 campaign in 2002, which was later re-branded as Marbles Reunited. Richard stood down as an MP in 2005.

Following the recent General Election, a Dissolution honours list has been released (as happens every time there is a new Parliament), of new Peers & Life Peers. Richard Allan has been named as one of the new Life Peers who will be entering the House of Lords, where he will hopefully be able to resume some of his efforts in lobbying for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.

A number of other former MPs who were strong supporters of the campaign for reunification of the Parthenon Marbles are also due to enter the House of Lords.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Dissolution honours: the full list of new peers
This is the full list of the new members of the House of Lords created in the Dissolution Honours.
Published: 8:00AM BST 29 May 2010

Labour life peers:

Hilary Armstrong, chief whip under Tony Blair, stood down as MP for Durham North West at general election.

Des Browne, former defence secretary, stood down as MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun at general election.

Quentin Davies, Ex-Conservative MP who defected to Labour and became a defence minister but lost seat of Grantham and Stamford at general election.

Beverley Hughes, former children’s minister, stood down as MP for Stretford and Urmston at general election.

John Hutton, former defence secretary, stood down as MP for Barrow and Furness at general election.

Jim Knight, former schools and employment minister who lost his Dorset South seat to the Conservatives this month.

Tommy McAvoy, former whip, stood down as MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West at general election.

John McFall, former chairman of the Treasury select committee, stood down as MP for West Dunbartonshire at general election.

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, stood down as MP for Hull East at general election.

John Reid, former home secretary, stood down as MP for Airdre and Shotts at general election.

Angela E Smith, Parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown and former Cabinet Office minister, lost seat of Basildon at general election.

Michael Wills, former junior minister in the Ministry of Justice who stood down from his North Swindon seat at the election.

Labour working peers:

Sir Jeremy Beecham, first Chairman of the Local Government Association and former Labour council leader in Newcastle.

Paul Boateng, former MP for Brent South, ex-minister and British High Commissioner to South Africa 2005-2009.

Rita Donaghy, former Chairman of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service who led Labour inquiry into safety in the construction industry.

Jeannie Drake, former Deputy General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union.

Dr Dianne Hayter, Chairman of the Legal Services Consumer Panel and former Labour Party chairman and Fabian Society leader.

Anna Healy, chief of staff for Harriet Harman, married to Jon Cruddas, the Left-wing MP and former deputy leadership candidate.

Roy Kennedy, Director of Finance and Compliance for the Labour Party.

Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland.

Roger Liddle, chairman of Policy Network think tank, former adviser on Europe to Tony Blair and to the European Commission.

Jack McConnell, former First Minister of Scotland.

John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trades Union Confederation.

Sue Nye, long-time aide to Gordon Brown, she was blamed by him for the encounter with a pensioner in Rochdale, who he was later overheard calling a “bigot”.

Maeve Sherlock, Equality and Human Rights Commissioner, former chief executive of the Refugee Council and former adviser to Gordon .

Wilf Stevenson, friend of Gordon Brown since university and former head of the Smith Institute.

Margaret Wheeler, Director of Organisation and Staff Development for the public service union Unison.

Michael Williams, former Special Adviser on Foreign Affairs.

Conservative life peers:

Tim Boswell, former agriculture minister, stood down as MP for Daventry at the general election.

Angela Browning, former agriculture minister, stood down at MP for Tiverton and Honiton at the general election.

John Gummer, former agriculture secretary, stood down as MP for Suffolk Coastal at the general election.

Michael Howard, former Conservative leader and home secretary, stood down as MP for Folkestone and Hythe at the general election.

John Maples, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, stood down as MP for Stratford-on-Avon at the general election.

Sir Michael Spicer, former chairman of the 1922 Committee, stood down as MP for West Worcestershire at the general election.

Conservative working peers:

Guy Black, Executive Director of Telegraph Media Group, former director of the Press Complaints Commission and former press secretary to Michael Howard.

Dame Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association.

Edward Faulks, QC, barrister specialising in crime and personal injuries cases.

John Gardiner, Deputy Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance.

Helen Newlove, campaigner against crime and antisocial behaviour whose husband, Garry, was murdered after confronting a gang of drunken youths.

Dolar Popat, millionaire care home and hotel company owner and Conservative adviser.

Shireen Ritchie, councillor in Kensington & Chelsea and step-mother of Guy Ritchie, the film director.

Deborah Stedman-Scott, Chief Executive of Tomorrow’s People, an employment charity that works in deprived areas.

Nat Wei, founder of Teach First, an educational charity, who advises the new Government on the Big Society strategy.

Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next and Conservative donor.

Liberal Democrat life peers:

Richard Allan, Nick Clegg’s predecessor in Sheffield Hallam and Chairman of the Information Select Committee.

Matthew Taylor, Chairman of the National Housing Federation and former MP for Truro and St Austell.

Phil Willis, former MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough who chaired the Science and Technology Select Committee.

Liberal Democrat working peers:

Floella Benjamin, Charity worker and former presenter of children’s television programmes.

Mike German, former Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Assembly.

Meral Ece, councillor in Islington and Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Sir Ken Macdonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions.

Kate Parminter, former director Campaign to Protect Rural England and Trustee of the Institute for Public Policy Research.

John Shipley, Leader of Newcastle city council.

Democratic Unionist Party life peers:

Ian Paisley, former Northern Ireland first minister, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, stood down as MP for North Antrim at general election.

Crossbench life peers:

Sir Ian Blair, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who stood down in 2008.

Egypt’s conference on looted antiquities opened with the inimitable Zahi Hawass calling for unity & cooperation between the countries that are trying to retrieve artefacts.

From:
Zawya (UAE)

Egypt forum on looted antiquities opens with call for unity
By Christophe de Roquefeuil

CAIRO, Apr 07, 2010 (AFP) – Egyptian antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass on Wednesday opened an international conference on recovering ancient artefacts from abroad, saying countries must unite to recover their stolen heritage.

“We need to cooperate, we need a unification between our countries,” Hawass told antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 21 countries at the two-day Cairo meeting.

“Every country is fighting alone, every country suffered alone, especially Egypt,” Hawass told the delegates from countries that have seen their national heritage looted over the centuries.

“We will battle together,” he said, adding that “maybe we will not succeed in a lifetime (but) we have to open the subject.”

Hawass, who heads Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), urged delegates to draw up lists of artefacts missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad.

“This conference shows the importance many countries place in joining forces,” said Elena Korka, who is in charge of protecting Greece’s cultural heritage.

Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum, and Egypt has been fighting for the Rosetta stone from Britain and a bust of Nefertiti from Germany.

A major aim of the conference is to call on the United Nations cultural body UNESCO to amend a 1970 convention banning the export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after that date.

The convention prohibits the illicit import, export and sale of cultural property, but stipulates there will be no “retroactive” measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed.

Over the years, Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artefacts the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25,000 ancient artefacts, including a stone axe dating back 200,000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

But Hawass is still eyeing the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The iconic Rosetta stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was found by French forces in Egypt in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.

Its discovery led to a breakthrough in deciphering hieroglyphics, as it gives the same text in the ancient Egyptian script, plus the demotic Egyptian that was the common language and Greek, which was the language of officialdom.

As for the Nefertiti bust, Germany has repeatedly rebuffed Egyptian claims to the rightful ownership of it and says the priceless sculpture was acquired legally nearly a century ago. Egypt says it was spirited out of the country.

Last year Egypt broke off relations with the Louvre Museum until France finally returns stolen steles chipped off a wall painting in the ancient tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Since becoming head of antiquities in 2002, Hawass has helped Egypt reclaim 31,000 relics from abroad. Last year he insisted that “what has been stolen from us must be returned.”

Thirty countries were invited to attend but only 21 have sent delegates: Austria, Bolivia, Chili, China, Cyprus, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria and the United States.

Britain, France and Germany which have been repeatedly accused by Egypt of holding Pharaonic artefacts are not attending.

I came across this interesting re-interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze recently. Be sure to follow the link to the original post to see the images of the actual artwork.

From:
Designslinger

Sculpturally Alive

I hadn’t visited the blog, eternallycool, in awhile and found this stunning artwork in one of
their recent postings. Spanish photographer, Eugenio Recuenco, along with art director assistance by Eric Dover, and make-up artist Lewis Amarante, photographed live models and created his interpretation of Greek classical sculpture, inspired by the marble figures of the Parthenon.

We have included only a portion of the entire panel, but you’d have to agree that it is a
stunning reinterpretation of the sculpture found in the pediments and friezes of the Athenian temple. The tonal quality he has chosen and his use of chiaroscuro lighting effects, gives us the opportunity to look at the well-known marble figures with a new, dynamic perspective.

You can see the real thing up close and personal at the British Museum, or in Athens, at the
old Acropolis Museum. On our first visit to London several years ago, we visited the Duveen Gallery, where the infamous Elgin/Parthenon Marbles are housed, but I haven’t seen the statuary at the Acropolis Museum, or the few remaining fragments still attached to the Parthenon itself. I was surprised at how moved I was by this collection of sculpture as we wandered around the crowded gallery. It was a pretty intense experience, though I wonder what the impact would be seeing those last remnants high up in the pediment, and frieze, of the actual building in their original location. As the viewer, you are so far removed from them, since they are ten stories above you, can you entirely appreciate their power without the more intimate, eye level museum experience?

It is one of many arguments made in relation to the Elgin Marbles. Should they be in Britain at all,
or should they be returned to Athens, even if on their return they would still be housed in a museum. One of the reasons sited for keeping them in London, is that there was no place to display them in the old Acropolis Museum. Well, the Greeks have sought to rectify that issue in constructing a brand new museum with the intent of providing a gallery dedicated to the Marbles just as they British did with the Duveen. It is a debate that has been going on since the marble figures were removed from Athens 207 years ago.

If you have never seen the actual Parthenon sculptures, the Recuenco figures are not a substitute,
but they will elicit a response that is in keeping with the spirit of the originals.

Egypt is holding a conference on stolen & looted antiquities, bringing together representatives from many of the nations that are requesting returns. Hopefully, many other countries can learn from some of Egypt’s recent successes in this field.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 01:23 GMT, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 02:23 UK
Egypt hosts meeting on recovery of ’stolen treasures’

Global culture officials are to meet to discuss how to recover ancient treasures which they say have been stolen and displayed overseas.

Sixteen countries will be represented at the two-day conference in Cairo.

It has been organised by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), which wants many pharaonic items returned by Western museums.

The SCA said the forum would discuss “the protection and restitution of cultural heritage.”

Representatives will include cultural officials from Greece, Italy and China, all of which have lost ancient artefacts over the centuries which that they now want back.

Stolen artefacts

At the conference, representatives will announce their wish-lists and consider strategies to persuade museums overseas to respond to their demands.

They are also expected to call on the United Nations cultural body, Unesco, to amend a convention banning export and ownership of antiquities stolen after 1970 – so that they can pursue items that were snatched earlier, says the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo.

In recent years, the Egyptian authorities have stepped up their efforts to recover stolen artefacts, with the head of the SCA, Zahi Hawass, attracting international attention for his efforts.

Last year, he broke off ties with the Louvre museum until France returned fragments chipped from a wall painting in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

He has repeatedly asked for the Rosetta Stone – which has been kept in the British Museum for more than 200 years – and a 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display in Berlin, to be given back to Egypt.

From:
Al Jazeera

UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Egypt hosts antiquities meeting

Antiquities officials from around the world have gathered in Cairo to map out a strategy to bring back artefacts they say have been taken away from their countries and displayed abroad.

Antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 16 countries are attending the two-day meeting.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said the forum will discuss “the protection and restitution of cultural heritage”.

Delegates will also draw up lists of artefact’s missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad, treasures they have been demanding be returned, the SCA said.

The conference will also call on the United Nations cultural body Unesco to amend a convention that bans export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after 1970.

The convention deals with the “means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property”, but stipulates there will be no “retroactive” measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed in 1970.

Retrieving ‘loot’

Over the years, Egypt’s antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artefact’s the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

Thirty countries were invited to attend but only 16 are attending: Bolivia, China, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korean, Spain, Sri Lanka and Syria.

Officials from Iraq, whose national museum saw one of the biggest lootings in modern history following the US-led invasion in 2003, will attend the conference.

al-Atroshi, Iraq’s deputy culture minister, told Al Jazeera: “The number of antiquities stolen from the Iraqi national museum in 2003 is estimated at 15,000 pieces. Many of them date back to the third millennium BC.

“We have recovered around 7,000 pieces and we are still chasing the rest in neighbouring countries, Europe, Americas and Israel. The Israelis were interested in antiquities written in Hebrew.”

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25,000 ancient artefacts, including a stone axe dating back 200,000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

Egyptian efforts

But Hawass is still eyeing two high profile objects: the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The iconic Rosetta stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was found by French forces in Egypt in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.

As for the Nefertiti bust, Germany has repeatedly rebuffed Egyptian claims to the rightful ownership of it and says the priceless sculpture was acquired legally nearly a century ago. Egypt says it was spirited out of the country.

Last year Egypt broke off relations with the Louvre Museum until France finally returns stolen steles chipped off a wall painting in the ancient tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Greece, one of the countries attending the conference, will chair a session devoted to “problems facing the countries in their attempt to retrieve their antiquities,” Hawass has said.

Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.

From:
News 24 (South Africa)

Egypt hosts stolen artefact meet
2010-04-06 22:51
Ines Bel Aiba

Cairo – Antiquities officials from around the world gather in Cairo on Wednesday to map out a strategy to recover ancient loot they say has been pillaged from their countries and displayed abroad.

The two-day conference will be attended by antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 16 countries that have seen some of their national heritage stolen over the centuries.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said the forum will discuss “the protection and restitution of cultural heritage”.

Delegates will also draw up lists of artefacts missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad, treasures they have been demanding be returned, the SCA said.

The conference will also call on the UN cultural body Unesco to amend a convention that bans export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after 1970.

The convention deals with the “means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property”, but stipulates there will be no “retro-active” measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed in 1970.

Crusader Hawass

Over the years, Egypt’s antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artefacts the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25 000 ancient artefacts, including a stone axe dating back 200 000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

But Hawass is still eyeing two high profile objects: the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3 400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The iconic Rosetta stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was found by French forces in Egypt in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.

Its discovery led to a breakthrough in deciphering hieroglyphics, as it gives the same text in the ancient Egyptian script, plus the demotic Egyptian that was the common language and Greek, which was the language of officialdom.

Luxor and the Louvre

As for the Nefertiti bust, Germany has repeatedly rebuffed Egyptian claims to the rightful ownership of it and says the priceless sculpture was acquired legally nearly a century ago. Egypt says it was spirited out of the country.

Last year Egypt broke off relations with the Louvre Museum until France finally returns stolen steles chipped off a wall painting in the ancient tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Greece, one of the countries attending the conference, will chair a session devoted to “problems facing the countries in their attempt to retrieve their antiquities,” Hawass has said.

Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Musuem.

Since becoming head of antiquities in 2002, Hawass has helped Egypt reclaim 31 000 relics from abroad. Last year he insisted that “what has been stolen from us must be returned”.

Thirty countries were invited to attend but only 16 are sending representatives: Bolivia, China, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korean, Spain, Sri Lanka and Syria.

- SAPA

This review seems to like some bits of the New Acropolis Museum, but not others. I guess I shouldn’t have expected unequivocal praise from a site called Grumpy Traveller. In some ways, its liking of the interior far more than the exterior echoes the comments Mary Beard made last year.

From:
Grumpy Traveller

Athens, Greece: Review of the new Acropolis Museum
David Whitley has mixed feeling on Bernard Tschumi’s new showcase for the treasures of the Parthenon.

New Acropolis Museum in Athens

If ever something was on a hiding to nothing, it’s the new Acropolis Museum in Athens. It cost EUR130 to build, is designed to hold many of Greece’s most important national treasures and is already being promoted as a tourism flagship.

Naturally, the critics had a field day before it was even opened. Some pointed to the cost, some to the position at the foot of the Acropolis rather than on it, others to the fact that a Swiss architect – Bernard Tschumi – was employed rather than a Greek.

Bernard Tschumi’s building

Tschumi, predictably, has taken most of the flak. His modernistic building hasn’t won universal acclaim. There are none of the Doric columns that grace the Acropolis’ centrepiece, the Parthenon, and a contemporary building by ancient Greece’s key site is always going to be controversial.

It isn’t the Doric columns that the new Acropolis Museum really misses, however – it’s the subtle curves. Tschumi’s museum just looks a little clunky and blocky from the outside – it’s all straight lines, glass and concrete. One suspects that it may date very quickly. The phrase ‘large municipal library’ springs to mind.

Minimalist interior

Mercifully, the interior is far more impressive. Tschumi has wisely gone for a minimalist look, allowing the exhibits to do the talking. It’s a light, spacious combo of steel pillars, glass walls and marble.

The sensation of ascending to the Acropolis is recreated by themed collections over different levels. The sloping entrance hall takes visitors through the lower levels of the world’s most famous hill, with artefacts from sanctuaries and temples dedicated to nymphs, heroes and lesser gods. The remains – such as a marble table used for funeral sacrifices – are complimented by fascinating explanatory panels. These cover everything from relative popularity of cults to wedding customs.

The route through the galleries leads steadily upwards, past dioramas of the Acropolis from different eras. The museum becomes a highly impressive field of statues, busts and sculptures, all plucked from various temples and sanctuaries that once stood proud.

The museum also incorporates great views of the Acropolis, but let’s face it, the Greeks haven’t spent EUR130m so that people can look out on something they’ve probably already climbed up.

The new Acropolis Museum’s golden crown comes at the top; it’s what makes every cent spent worth it.

Parthenon Gallery

The Parthenon Gallery, as the name would suggest, is an attempt to simulate what is arguably the greatest work of architecture from the ancient world.

The outer walls are all glass, allowing for 360 degree views of the city, and the whole floor is at a different angle to the rest of the building. It runs precisely parallel to the Parthenon, and the displays are to the exact same dimensions.

In the middle there is a large-screen video presentation which explains the Parthenon’s history and the meaning of the many works of art that adorned it. It uses state-of-the-art graphics to recreate what the building once was before the ravages of time, fire and trophy hunters had their wicked way.

The real wow factor, however, is generated by the actual sculptures and carvings from the Parthenon themselves. The roof is recreated in the same dimensions, with natural light shining upon it from the same angles. The intricacy of the stonework can be appreciated; the friezes depicting scenes from the Battle of Troy, mythical encounters and centaurs fighting lapiths are displayed in order. All have been cleaned using laser technology.

Missing stones – the Elgin Marbles

Where the originals are missing – a fair few have been destroyed or are on display in the British Museum – plaster imposters are put in their place. Diagrams and explanatory panels tell the stories.

The pediments are the most impressive, with the sculptures gradually decreasing in size from the centre to fit the slope of the roof.

They also highlight the new Acropolis Museum’s greatest weaknesses and what could be its greatest achievement. The display looks so good, but many of the major figures are in London. They were taken by Lord Elgin whilst Athens was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century. Greece has made repeated calls for the Elgin (or Parthenon) marbles to be returned.

The British response has largely been to stick fingers in ears and burble “la la la, can’t hear you.” But one of the major cited reasons for not returning the marbles has been the lack of a suitable place to display them.

Athens now has the perfect pedestal, and the British argument for retention looks increasingly feeble. Hopefully the remnants of the Parthenon can be reunited before long. But until then, the new Acropolis Museum has instantly leapt into the company of the world’s greatest museums.

On 8th – 9th July 2010, Manchester University’s Centre for Museology is organising a two day conference on Museums & Restitution.

For more details of the conference & to book a place on it, go to their website.

A provisional programme of the conference is also available to download.

From:
Centre for Museology

Museums and Restitution – International Conference
Museums and Restitution is a two-day international conference organised by the Centre for Museology and The Manchester Museum at the University of Manchester. The conference examines the issue of restitution in relation to the changing role and authority of the museum, focussing on new ways in which these institutions are addressing the subject.

Restitution is one of the most emotive and complex issues facing the museum world in the twenty first century. Its current high profile reflects changing global power relations and the increasingly vocal criticisms of the historical concentration of the world’s heritage in the museums of the West. The 2002 Declaration of the Importance and Value of Universal Museums, which was signed by the directors of eighteen of the world’s most prominent museums, pushed the subject to the forefront of debate as never before.

Over recent years, the issue of restitution has taken on a new complexion with different processes emerging. We have seen an increasing emphasis on museums working with source communities, and with new forms of restitution other than object restitution – such as visual and knowledge restitution. The language of discussion too has changed, with the term ‘reunification’, for example, rather than ‘repatriation’ now often being used in relation to the Parthenon Marbles. The opening of New Acropolis Museum in Athens in June 2009 has added a further dimension to the debates. We are also seeing new countries gaining increasing prominence in restitution debates: for example, the official response from the government of the People’s Republic of China to the Yves Saint Laurent auction of Chinese looted bronzes at Christie’s in Paris in March 2009. This is a trend clearly set to continue.

This conference will bring together museum professionals and academics from a wide range of fields (including museology, archaeology, anthropology, art history and cultural policy) to share ideas on contemporary approaches to restitution from the viewpoint of museums.

Possible themes

* New museums, new developments
* Visual, knowledge and digital repatriation
* Authority and power: voices listened to, voices heard
* Beyond ownership? Loans, travelling exhibitions, exchanges
* Reflections on returns

*New* Lunch-Time Discussion on Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, Prague’s Terezin Declaration and latest legislation. Find out more and get involved.
Confirmed Keynote Speakers

- Tristram Besterman (Former Director, The Manchester Museum. Writer, adviser and mediator on museums and cultural issues)
Title of Keynote: ‘Cultural equity: an ethical paradigm for the sustainable museum’

- Prof. Piotr Bienkowski (Former Deputy Director, The Manchester Museum. Cultural, heritage and museums consultant, writer and researcher and Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester)
Title of Keynote: ‘Authority and the Power of Place: Exploring the Legitimacy of Authorised and Alternative Voices in the Restitution Discourse’

- Maurice Davies (Head of Policy and Communication, Museums Association)
Maurice will lead the onference closing session and discussion on Friday 9th July
Programme Panel

* Dr Sam Alberti, The Manchester Museum / Centre for Museology
* Dr Kostas Arvanitis, Centre for Museology
* Malcolm Chapman, The Manchester Museum
* Dr Zachary Kingdon, National Museums Liverpool
* Dr Helen Rees Leahy, Centre for Museology
* Prof. Sharon Macdonald, Social Anthropology
* Louise Tythacott, Centre for Museology

Registration

Standard Registration Fee: £100 (£50 per day)
Student Registration Fee: £50 (£25 per day)

Please complete the conference booking form and e-mail it as an attachment to:

Hannah Mansell at: Hannah.mansell@manchester.ac.uk

Or post it to:

Hannah Mansell,
Martin Harris Centre,
The University of Manchester,
Oxford Road,
Manchester
M13 9PL
UK.

Tel.: + 44 (0)161 275 3319
*Spaces are limited. Book early to avoid disappointment! – Please register by Monday 7th June 2010*
Key Dates
Call for Papers Deadline: 11th December 2009
Notification of Acceptance: March 2010
Registration Opens: March 2010
Registration Closes: June 2010
Conference Dates: 8-9 July 2010

Provisional Conference Programme [17/5/10]
MUSEUMS & RESTITUTION
International conference, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester

DAY 1: THURSDAY 8TH JULY 2010
9.15-9.45, Conference Room
Registration and coffee

9.45- 10.00, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Welcome and introduction
Nick Merriman (Director, The Manchester Museum)
Kostas Arvanitis and Louise Tythacott (Conference convenors)

10.00-10.45, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Key speaker (Chair: tba)
Tristram Besterman (Writer, adviser and mediator on museums and cultural issues). ‘Cultural equity: an ethical paradigm for the sustainable museum.’

10.45-12.30, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Overviews: power, politics, authority (Chair: Helen Rees Leahy, University of Manchester)
Maurice Davies (Head of Policy and Communication, Museums Association): ‘The UK’s inconsistent policies on return – politics, power and influence’
Neil Curtis (Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen): ‘Repatriation requests and museums in Scotland (provisional title)’
Conal McCarthy (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand): ‘Decolonising museums: the poetics, politics and pragmatics of restitution in New Zealand museums.’
Eleni Korka (Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism): ‘Voluntary returns of cultural property.’

12.30-1.45, Conference Room: LUNCH
Provisional Conference Programme [17/5/10]

1.45 –3.15, Kanaris Lecture Theatre Reflections on returns (Chair: Louise Tythacott, University of Manchester)
Maureen Matthews (University of Oxford): ‘Repatriating agency: animacy, personhood and agency in the repatriation of Ojibwe artefacts.’
Koki Agbontaen-Eghafona (University of Benin): ‘After restitution what next? An appraisal of public attitude towards the museum and museum objects in Benin City, Nigeria.’
Reesa Greenberg (Art historian and museum consultant): ‘Restitution exhibitions and identity politics: a case study of displaying art and artifacts stolen from Jews during the Second World War.’

1.45 –3.15, Martin Harris Centre, G16a Seminar Room Digital, visual and knowledge repatriation I (Chair: Malcolm Chapman, Manchester Museum)
Sophia Sambono (National Film and Sound Archive, Australia): ‘Restitution of intangible cultural heritage from an Australian audiovisual archive.’
Catherine Moore (University of Kent): ‘Mimesis and recognition – the flash of the past in the present? The Powell-Cotton film archive in contemporary Namibia.’
Hein Vanhee (Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium) and Jasper Chalcroft (University of Sussex): ‘The idea of digital restitution: reflections on digital cultural heritage as a political concept and practice.’

3.15 –3.45, Conference Room and Martin Harris Centre: TEA

3.45 – 5.30, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Local and national power relations (Chair: Sam Alberti, University of Manchester) Bryan Sitch (Manchester Museum): ‘Lindow Man and restitution.’ (provisional title) Demelza Van der Maas (VU University Amsterdam): ‘Debating the restitution of human remains from Dutch museum collections: the Case of Urk.’ Eava-Kristiina Harlin (Norwegian Sámi museum): ‘Repatriation – political will and museums facilities.’

3.45 – 5.30, Martin Harris Centre, G16a Seminar Room
Second World War spoliation (Chair: Sharon Macdonald, University of Manchester) Evgeny Steiner (SOAS, University of London): ‘The point of no return? The problem of the WWII “Trophy Art” in Russia.’ Katenhusen Ines (Leibniz Universität Hannover): ‘A box in the basement. On the works of Kasimir Malevich loaned to the Hannover Museum.’ Michael Franz (Koordinierungsstelle Magdeburg): ‘The Internet database www.lostart.de as an international service mean for museums.’

6.00-7.00, Martin Harris Centre: RECEPTION (including films relating to restitution).

7.30, Manchester Business School: DINNER

DAY 2: FRIDAY 9th JULY 2010

9.00-9.30, Conference Room
Registration and coffee

9.30-10.15, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Key speaker (Chair: Conal McCarthy, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Piotr Bienkowski (Cultural, heritage and museums consultant, writer and researcher): ‘Authority and the power of place: exploring the legitimacy of authorised and alternative voices in the restitution discourse.’

10.30-12.00, Kanaris Lecture Theatre The Parthenon Marbles (Chair: Kostas Arvanitis, University of Manchester)
George Vardas (Research Director of Australians for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures): ‘Who is afraid of the British Museum?’
Tor Einer Fagerland (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): ‘The Parthenon Marbles: national and global heritage in today’s Europe.’
Kalliopi Fouseki (Open University of Cyprus): ‘Displaying the Parthenon Marbles in the new Acropolis Museum: public perceptions within and outside the museum’s walls.’

10.30-12.00, Martin Harris Centre, G16a Seminar Room Digital, visual and knowledge repatriation II (Chair: tba)
Mark Turin (University of Cambridge): ‘Collect, protect, connect: the cultural politics of repatriation and curation in the digital age.’
Susan Rowley and Hannah Turner (University of British Columbia): ‘Developing the reciprocal research network.’
Friederike Krishnabhakdhi-Vasilakis (University of Wollongong, Australia): ‘The virtual museum of the Pacific: a digital ecosystem for a new museum environment.’

12.00-1.15, Conference Room: LUNCH

12.15-1.00, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Question & answer session (Organiser: David Glasser, Ben Uri Gallery) Discussion on museum responses to the protocols of Washington, Prague and the latest legislation.

1.15-3.00, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Africa and India (Chair: Laura Peers, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford)
Charlotte Joy (University of Cambridge): ‘The empty museum: contestation over world heritage in Djenné, Mali.’
Johanna Zetterstrom (University College London): ‘Reanimating cultural heritage in Sierra Leone: a search for the “source community”.’
Rick Asher (University of Minnesota): ‘Indian art in US collections.’ (provisional title)
Aoiswarjya Kumar Das (National Museum Institute, New Delhi): ‘Politics of restitution of cultural properties: A south Asian dilemma.’

3.00-3.30, Conference Room: TEA

3.30-5.00, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
North America (Chair: Piotr Bienkowski, University of Manchester)
Helen Robbins (The Field Museum Chicago): ‘In consideration of restitution: understanding and transcending the limits of repatriation under NAGPRA.’
Emily Moore (University of California, Berkeley): ‘Propatriation: possibilities after NAGPRA.’
Laura Peers (Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford): ‘Giving back: First Nations perceptions of restitution in two recent research projects.’
Sita Reddy (Smithsonian Institution): ‘Re-claiming culture: intangibles in museum restitution and repatriation.’

5-5.45pm, Kanaris Lecture Theatre
Conference closing session and discussion led by Maurice Davies (Museums Association)

Greek-Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize. When he meets the Queen, he says that he plans to ask her to return the Parthenon Sculptures.

While the Queen has not got the power to return the Parthenon Sculptures, her endorsement of campaigns for their return would carry a lot of wait. I wish him luck & look forward to hearing what the response was.

From:
Global Greek World

Monday, March 22, 2010
Global Greeks: Greek Australian Award Winning Writer Christos Tsiolkas – “I Will Ask the Queen to Return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece…”

Christos Tsiolkas is ‘one of Australia’s pre-eminent contemporary novelists’ (The Age).

Born, raised and educated in Melbourne where he continues to live, Christos is one of our Global Greek Writers and one of twelve of Australia’s best writers who recently came together at Melbourne Town Hall for a night of celebration and reflection, sharing the common and different experiences that define Australia’s past and present, to mark the opening of Australia’s newest cultural institution, The Wheeler Centre.

It was a night of storytelling, each writer reflecting on those tales that have been handed down to them through the generations, each giving voice to an inheritance of wisdom, of understanding, of identity.

This is Greek Australian Christos Tsiolkas’ very moving story, one that many of us in our Global Greek World can relate to and we thank him! (Thanks Konstantina M, Athens, for drawing it to our attention)
Teachings of my grandmothers
I NEVER really knew my grandparents. Both my grandfathers died in Greece before I ever visited there, and I met my grandmothers only twice in my life, once when I visited as a boy in 1975, and then again as a young adult in 1990.

For many of us, migration and distance has shaped the nature of our families and the cultures we believe we belong to. The stories I have of my grandparents’ lives are second-hand, filtered through the memories, longings and secrets of my parents.

I am grateful that I did have an opportunity to meet my grandmothers. They both shared the same name, Spiridoula. But even those encounters were made difficult by the limitations of my Greek and the overwhelming chasm of experience that separated myself, a privileged child of the First World, and those two women, each born on the eve of the 20th century, in a peasant Eastern Mediterranean world that was to be torn apart by two Balkan wars, two world wars, an occupation, two dictatorships, a civil war.

I remember sitting in a kitchen in Athens with my maternal grandmother, and she crying, wanting to know why her daughter had only visited her once in all the time she had been a migrant in Australia.

I tried to explain the distances involved, the expense.

My uncle Mitso, who was sitting with us, took me aside and explained that once in the early ’70s he was driving his mother from the village to Athens when they came to a fork in the road.

My giagia asked, ”Mitso, if we turn left instead of right, can we go and visit Georgia in Australia?” You have to remember, Christo, my Uncle said to me, this is a woman born in a time when women were doomed to illiteracy and the shadows. Your giagia can’t even read a map. And look at you, you are now a university student, you want to be a writer. You don’t know how proud that makes us. But if you ever forget where you come from, tha se sfaxo, I will slaughter you.

I want to share with you a moment with this grandmother. Not anything she said but something she showed me.

I was a 10-year-old in the village, visiting from Melbourne, and my grandmother took me to the chicken coop to get a bird to prepare for dinner. She pointed to the one of the chooks and said, Go, catch it and kill it.

Now I was an inner-city Australian child and poultry and meat was something I believed just magically appeared on butcher’s slabs and supermarket shelves. My giagia pointed to the bird and I shook my head.

No, I insisted, I can’t do it.

She was appalled. What do you mean, she said, you are nearly a man and you don’t know how to kill a chicken? What has your mother been teaching you?

She adjusted her headscarf, hitched up her heavy black mourning skirt, chased after the chicken and brought it to me.

Now, she ordered, wring its neck.

I started to weep. The bird was fluttering in her hand and I was too scared to go near it. Taking pity on me, she ordered me to sit down next to her and proceeded to break the bird’s neck. It was one swift stroke, a wrenching motion and the head pulled away from the body. There was blood and the beast continued to struggle in her hand. By now I was howling.

She ignored my tears and started to tell me how to prepare the bird for cooking. The hanging of the body in the cool of the cellar, putting the pot on the fire, placing the bird in the near boiling water, plucking the feathers first from the wings, the legs and then finally from the breasts.

When my mother arrived back from visiting her sister she was horrified.

What have you been showing Christo?

Something you should have showed him a long time ago, my giagia admonished her daughter.

That night we ate roast chook and I learnt something about the real meaning of placing food on the table.

I look at my nieces as they play with my father and mother, watch my aunt surrounded by her grandkids. I feel fortunate to have met my grandmothers, spent time with them, I feel a sadness that I could not have known them better, that I never met my grandfathers. I wonder what I could have learnt from them about war and occupation, dictatorship and democracy, poverty and suffering; but I also miss having been instructed on the smaller, just as important stuff, like how to prepare the grapes off the vine for wine, dry tobacco, build a shelter, tend a vegetable crop. I watch my nieces play with my father and mother and think this is what unconditional love is.

A few years ago a woman brought a dying bird into the veterinary clinic in which I am employed. The vet said there’s nothing we can do, we have to put it down. She explained that we could inject it with litho barb but it is easy to miss a vital organ in such a small creature and it can be a horrible death as it literally drowns and suffocates from the poison.

The most humane thing to do is to break its neck, she explained, do you want me to show you how to do that?

It’s OK, I answered, I can do it, my grandmother taught me…

About Christos Tsiolkas

Greek-Australian author and playwright, essayist and screen writer, Christos Tsiolkas’ first novel Loaded (1995) was made into the feature film Head-On (1998) by fellow Greek Australian, director Ana Kokkinos, starring Alex Dimitriades. His works are considered to be autobiographical to a certain extent, drawing on his many experiences growing up as a member of a cultural minority in Australia.

Other novels include The Jesus Man (1999), Dead Europe (2005), which won the 2006 Age Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award, and his most recent novel The Slap, where a man slaps a child (not his own) at a suburban barbeque, the consequences of which reverberate through the lives of all of the witnesses to the incident.

The Slap won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009 for best novel in the South-East Asia and South Pacific area.

In an interview with Neos Kosmos Newspaper in Australia, after receiving his award, we were delighted to read his answer to the question

What will you ask the Queen when you meet her?
(traditionally Commonwealth Writers Prize winners get to meet Queen Elisabeth, the Head of the Commonwealth)

I will ask her to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece!

From all of us in the Global Greek World, Christo, we congratulate you on your success, we thank you for the support and hope you do just that!

Although it was always agreed that the Parthenon Frieze fragment from Palermo was being loaned to Greece for a limited period, it was always hoped that this loan might be extended, or in some way made semi-permanent. Unfortunately it appears that this was not the case however.

One positive side to this though is it weakens one of the arguments from the British Museum for rejecting the possibility of loans to the New Acropolis Museum – That they only loan items that they expect to be safely returned at the end of the loan period.

Hopefully Italy will see the benefits of returning the fragment permanently at some point in the future.

From:
ANSA (Italy)

CULTURE: PARTHENON FRIEZE FRAGMENT RETURNS TO PALERMO

(ANSAmed) – PALERMO – A ship sailing from Naples has brought a fragment of the Parthenon’s frieze back from Athens where it has been on show since September 2008. The find had first been housed at the city’s old Museum of Archaeology, where it was visited by Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano, before being transferred to the new Acropolis Museum. The art treasure, a piece of stone measuring 34 by 35 centimetres, is being kept in Palermo in a double strong box before being returned to the region’s ‘Antonino Salinas’ archaeological museum, where it has been an exhibit for over a century. The stone is a fragment of Phidias’ eastern frieze of the Parthenon and features a foot of Peitho, the Greek goddess of persuasion. The piece had been part of the collection of a British diplomat before it was donated by his widow to the University of Palermo in 1836; it then passed into the collection of Palermo’s National Museum when it was founded in the second half of the 19thcentury. The fragment will be on view when the Antonino Salinas Museum reopens. (ANSAmed).