The Trial (without result) of former Getty curator Marion True has been covered here many times before. The book “Chasing Aphrodite” aims to retell some of this story, as well as the background to it.

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum
Author: Ralph Frammolino
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
ISBN: 0151015015

From:
New York Review of Books

What Went Wrong at the Getty
June 23, 2011
Hugh Eakin

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum
by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 375 pp., $28.00

1.

On August 5, 70 BC, at 1:30 in the afternoon, a remarkable criminal trial began in Rome. A young prosecutor named Marcus Tullius Cicero was accusing a senior Roman political official, Gaius Verres, of extortion and misrule during Verres’s tenure as governor of Sicily. “For three long years he so thoroughly despoiled and pillaged the province that its restoration to its previous state is out of the question,” Cicero proclaimed in his bold opening statement.
Read the rest of this entry »

Once again, as so many times before, we see that the (admirable) aims to exhibit artefacts in the area where they were found, is acceptable for more recently discovered items, but when countries such as Greece request similar treatment it is described as cultural nationalism.

From:
BBC News

3 June 2011 Last updated at 13:24
Ancient gold jewellery returns to Rhayader Museum

Two rare troves of ancient gold are being displayed together for the first time in a new exhibition.

The treasures were found 55 years apart in fields in Rhayader, Powys, but have been kept at the British Museum and the National Museum of Wales.
Read the rest of this entry »

As long as there have been tourists, there have been people taking souvenirs – nowadays, there are far more laws in place to cover this, but in the past, it was seen by some as perfectly acceptable to bring back cultural artefacts, or parts of buildings that you had seen, to prove to others that you had been there. The thing is, that when it happens now, people are shocked and horrified by the sight of the looting process taking place, but somehow manage to forget that similar (unseen) processes formed part of the acquisition of many other artefacts that we see as key to the collections of museums today.

From:
Register-Guard

DON KAHLE: Egypt’s loss of treasure began with early tourists
By Don Kahle
For The Register-Guard
Published: (Friday, Jun 3, 2011 12:28PM) Midnight, June 3

CAIRO — Any tourist traveling to Egypt should stop first at the British Museum in London. The museum contains many of Egypt’s most prized relics — and it also provides a primer on how tourism got off on the wrong foot.

The Brits’ version of our Smithsonian Museum starts with an exhibit about the Enlightenment ideals upon which this museum of antiquities was built. This signature exhibition elegantly summarizes how tourism’s roots led to a franchise of consumerism, objectification, bigotry and neocolonialist venturism.
Read the rest of this entry »

An anonymous art dealer, is trying to purchase an artefact, believed to have been looted from Afghanistan, with the sole aim of returning it. Interestingly, the British Museum is getting involved – clearly repatriation is much more important for recently taken artefacts than it is for older ones (that are already in their collection).

From:
Guardian

Prized Afghan antiquity is rescued by British art dealer
Gandharan Buddha will be on show at the British Museum until mid-July
Dalya Alberge
Sunday 29 May 2011 00.04 BST

An anonymous art dealer passionate about Afghan heritage has teamed up with the British Museum in an effort to buy and repatriate a spectacular antiquity believed to have been looted from the Afghan national museum in Kabul during the 1990s.

The British dealer, who said he had a “very strong emotional attachment” to Afghanistan, resolved to buy the 2nd-century Gandharan Buddha after he recognised it in a photograph sent by a colleague in Japan. The sculpture, which had disappeared in the bloody civil war, had been bought by a Japanese collector.
Read the rest of this entry »

Music concerts are going to be held in the New Acropolis Museum every Thursday evening in February.

From:
Athens News

Manos Hatzidakis musical soirees at Acropolis Museum
23 Jan 2012

Musical soirees featuring the work of Greek composers Manos Hatzidakis are to be held at the Acropolis Museum on Thursday evenings throughout February, as part of the museum’s “One Day at the Acropolis Museum” programme.

The performances, organised in collaboration with the Athens municipality’s Technopolis organisation, will take place at 5p.m. on February 2, 9, 16 and 23, on the second-floor terrace of the museum, with a view of the Archaic Sculpture gallery. (AMNA/Athens News)

Three new books present contrasting views on the purpose of museums today. The reality is that this is the kind of argument with no right or wrong answer, but all of the different voices merit consideration.

Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections: The Crisis of Cultural Authority (Routledge Research in Museum Studies)
Author: Tiffany Jenkins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415879604

The Best Art You’ve Never Seen: 101 Hidden Treasures From Around the World (Rough Guides Reference)
Author: Julian Spalding
Publisher: Rough Guides
ISBN: 1848362714

Under the Hammer: Iconoclasm in the Anglo-American Tradition (Clarendon Lectures in English)
Author: James Simpson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0199591652

From:
The Art Newspaper

What are museums for?
Three highly contrasting views reflecting current debates and controversies in policy and practice
By Maurice Davies | From issue 224, May 2011
Published online 24 May 11 (Books)

People hold strong opinions about museums. Some assert that their ­primary function should be scholarship, others insist that it’s more important to communicate with a wide audience. In pursuing either of these goals, should museums focus on exploring objects or investigating their contexts—are they about looking at things or telling stories? Adding to the debate, there’s lingering anxiety about relativism; some commentators (and probably many visitors) think museums should strive to be objective, others relish a variety of views.

It has become a cliché to say that museums are today’s churches—special places for contemplation, separate from day-to-day concerns; conversely, there’s an argument that museums should aim to be commonplace, part of normal life. It is intriguing that museums were once talked of as places that reinforced cultural hegemonies, but now they are more often seen as democratising access to art, and even as politically correct when they attempt to include groups formerly omitted from history. While some believe museums have changed far too much, others think they haven’t been transformed enough. The books reviewed here reveal differing views about the role of museums.
Read the rest of this entry »

Another review of the new children’s book by Anthony Horowitz, about a plot to return the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Athens.

Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider)
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Publisher: Walker
ISBN: 1406310492

From:
Guardian

Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz – review

Sunday 8 May 2011 11.00 BST

‘The detail is amazing, he drags you straight into the room’

The finale of the enthralling Alex Rider series, comes with a bang, and this time, the majority of the book is from the bad guy’s point of view. Alex returns this time with SCORPIA, the evil criminal organisation, on his tail. Jack Starbright, his new guardian is with him this time as Alex goes to Cairo, in Egypt, with him and Mr Smithers, Horowitz’s version of James Bond’s Q; the gadget man. At the beginning, we see the arch-villain: Zeljan Kurst, meeting a dying Greek millionaire in the British Museum. I recently visited the Museum myself and the detail is amazing, he drags you straight into the room. This book will see, a major twist, Smither’s final shocking gadget, and a new side of Alan Blunt. I would recommend this, to anyone between the ages of 10 to 13, because it’s a bit violent for under 10′s.

Zahi Hawass – the person in charge of Egyptian archaeology, insists that he will stay in his job, despite the change of regime in the country.

From:
Guardian

Egypt’s man from the past who insists he has a future
Jack Shenker in Cairo
Thursday 19 May 2011 15.29 BST

Zahi Hawass, appointed by Hosni Mubarak to oversee Egypt’s cultural riches, is the great survivor of the revolution

No one interviews Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s self-styled Indiana Jones of the east – he interviews himself, fist pounding on desk and spittle flying forth into the ether.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Acropolis in Athens is now going to be open for longer. It is already better than it used to be though, as I remember visiting it in the 1990s, when it seemed that it was barely open in the afternoons during the winter months.

From:
The Independent

Longer opening hours for Athens Acropolis
AFP
Saturday, 21 May 2011

Greece is to extend the opening hours of the Acropolis in Athens due to public demand, Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanosin announced Thursday.

The site will open from 8:00 am (0500 GMT) to 19:00 pm (1600 GMT) year-round after staffing changes prompted by a restructure of the country’s public bodies.
Read the rest of this entry »

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles have published a tribute to the journalist & author Christopher Hitchens, who was a long standing supporter of the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Athens.

From:
Sourcewire

Tribute to the late Christopher Hitchens from the BCRPM
Friday, 16 December 2011

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) today paid tribute to the late Christopher Hitchens who died earlier this week, for his keen support for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

Eleni Cubitt, Honorary Secretary for the Committee said: “We are all deeply saddened by the news of Christopher’s death and we send our sincere condolences to his family at this time. Christopher’s contribution and belief in our cause was a great strength to me personally and he will be sorely missed as one of our key supporters.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Following Christopher Hitchens death, Stephen Fry talks about why he now thinks that the time is now right for the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum to return to Athens.

From:
StephenFry.com

A Modest Proposal
By Stephen Fry
December 19th, 2011

Greece is the Word

I have a modest proposal that might simultaneously celebrate the life of Christopher Hitchens, strengthen Britain’s low stock in Europe and allow us to help a dear friend in terrible trouble.

Perhaps the most beautiful and famous monument in the world is the Doric masterpiece atop the citadel, or Acropolis, of Athens. It is called the Parthenon, the Virgin Temple dedicated to Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom who gave the Greek capital its name.
Read the rest of this entry »

The authors of Chasing Aphrodite, Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino are taking part in an event in Washington to discuss looted antiquities and transparency in American museums.

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum
Author: Ralph Frammolino
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
ISBN: 0151015015

From:
National Press Club

Chasing Aphrodite: Investigative Journalists Track Down Looted Antiquities
January 24, 2012 6:00 PM

This is a ticketed event. Click here to jump to the ticket form.

Investigative journalists to analyze looted antiquities, and museum transparency

Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, investigative journalists and authors of “Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum” will join Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum and Arthur Houghton, a former curator at the Getty Museum, to discuss looted antiquities and transparency in American museums at 6 p.m. Jan. 24 in the National Press Club ballroom.
Read the rest of this entry »