The British Government has stated that their stance on the issue of the Elgin Marbles will not be altered by the launch today of the Marbles Reunited campaign in London.

From:
The Scotsman

Wed 14 Jan 2004
3:56pm (UK)
Elgin Marbles: UK Unmoved by Latest Appeal
By Anita Singh and Jamie Lyons, PA News

A new campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece was launched today but was met with indifference by the British Government.

Organisers of the Marbles Reunited campaign want to see the 2,500-year-old treasures returned in time for this year’s Olympic Games in Athens.
Read the rest of this entry »

Campaigners suggest that the Olympics in Athens later this year may well act as a catalyst to help speed the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece.

From:
Reuters

Games may force move on Elgin Marbles
Wed 14 January, 2004 18:06
By Peter Apps

LONDON (Reuters) – This summer’s Olympics in Athens will deliver a huge boost to efforts to persuade Britain to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece, campaigners say.

Public support in Britain for the sculptures to be returned is growing anyway, a poll showed this week, and August’s games can only intensify the pressure at a time when Britain is also aiming to gain support for its own Olympic bid.
Read the rest of this entry »

More coverage of the launch of the Marbles Reunited campaign in London today. One of the main points of this campaign is that it unites the various existing organisations in the UK fighting for the return of the marbles under one common name.

From:
BBC News

Last Updated: Wednesday, 14 January, 2004, 09:06 GMT
Elgin marbles campaign launches

A campaign to return the Elgin marbles to Greece is launched on Wednesday.

Run by umbrella organisation Marbles Reunited, it is based on research suggesting three out of every four British people want them returned.
Read the rest of this entry »

One of the key features of the launch of Marbles Reunited was the strong expresion of support for the issue by Robin Cook MP.

From:
Macedonian Press Agency

WEDNESDAY, 14 JANUARY 2004
ROBIN COOK IN FAVOR OF THE RETURN OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES
London, 14 January 2004 (16:56 UTC+2)

British former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in an article signed by him and published on London’s newspaper “Evening Standard” calls on the British government to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

The article is published in view of the opinion poll publicized today according to which, 80% of the British agree with the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Marbles Reunited campaign, launched today in London, sets out a clear agenda for why the marbles should be reunified in Athens.

From:
The Scotsman

Wed 14 Jan 2004
6:25pm (UK)
Battle Renewed over Disputed Elgin Marbles
By Nell Raven, PA Features

Branded the “theft of the century” in some quarters, the Elgin Marbles controversy has created friction between Britain and Greece for almost 200 years.

Now the flames of the age-old dispute are being fanned again with the launch of a new campaign to return the 2,500-year-old relics to Greece.
Read the rest of this entry »

Predictably, the Daily Telegraph suggests that the Parthenon Marbles only exist because of the selfless actions of Lord Elgin in rescuing them. I’m not sure how the surviving sculptures in Athens fit into this theory however.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Tuesday 13 January 2004
Give Elgin his due and Athens the Marbles
By Jim White
(Filed: 12/01/2004)

The woman in the information centre when I was in Athens recently was very keen to know my nationality.

“Are you British?” she said, after I asked her in English for a tourist map. I said I was.

“In that case,” she said, “we have special ones for you.”

And she pulled from a pile under her desk a publication similar in every way to that offered to American, Australian and Canadian visitors to her wonderful city. Except, instead of a picture of the Acropolis on the front cover, the version for Brits had a lengthy essay which was no more than a vituperative assault on our nation.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Marbles Reunited campaign is due to launch in London in the next few days.

From:
The Scotsman

Mon 12 Jan 2004
Shea’s sympathy for William and Harry
BOSWELL’S DIARY
Edited by Edward Black

[…]

It’s all Greek – unless you’ve lost your marbles

AN ADMIRABLE campaign to reunite the marble sculptures removed from Greece by Lord Elgin over 200 years ago is currently passing through Edinburgh in the shape of a virtual exhibition at the Dundas Street Gallery.

The display was organised by British campaigners who believe that the Elgin Marbles, housed at the British Museum, in London, should be returned to the Acropolis Museum, in Athens, especially as it hosts the 2004 Olympics. The reconstruction, called Marbles Reunited, shows the marbles in London in colour while those in Athens, where they adorned the temple of Athena 2,500 years ago, are in white.
Read the rest of this entry »

A new poll commissioned by the Marbles Reunited campaign highlights the ever increasing level of support by the British public for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Monday January 12, 2004
Poll finds UK support on Marbles

Stepping up its bid for the return of the Elgin, or Parthenon, marbles from the British Museum to Athens before the Summer Olympics, Greece has hired the world’s fourth biggest public relations firm, reports from London said yesterday, adding that a first poll commissioned by the company found that some 80 percent of Britons backs the Greek campaign.

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos expressed “joy” at the findings of the poll published in the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Elgin Marbles are far from the only purloined artefact in the British Museum. Many people in India, want the Saraswati idol to be returned to Bhojshala.

From:
Central Chronicle

Tuesday January 13, 2004
Jyoti at Bhoshala fuels tension

BHOPAL: Will Bhojshala site spark a fresh row? A team of 60 devotees from Hindu Jagran Manch left Dhar (Bhojshala) for Maihar from where they are expected to bring Akhand Jyoti (eternal flame) to be installed in a temple site near the controversial venue of Bhojshala in Dhar distict.

The team, which started on Monday morning from Dhar, will reach Maihar on Tuesday and will ‘walk’ back to Dhar again and will reach Dhar on 20 January to install the Jyoti. Hindu Jagran Manch has already performed puja near the Bhojshala shrine on Saturday for the purpose.
Read the rest of this entry »

A new poll shows that the vast majority of people in Britain now feel that the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Athens.

From:
The Times

January 11, 2004
Public shows huge support for return of Elgin marbles
Richard Brooks, Arts Editor

NEARLY three-quarters of people believe the Elgin marbles, which have been in the British Museum since 1816, should be returned to Greece, according to a poll to be published this week.

Support rises to more than 80% for a suggestion that they be loaned to Athens with the museum retaining ownership, the survey by ICM shows.
Read the rest of this entry »

The delays & difficulties with the New Acropolis Museum continue. In this instance though, there is a small delay to the legal proceedings to allow time for the correct documents to be supplied.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Saturday January 3, 2004
In Brief
ACROPOLIS MUSEUM

Court suspends ruling on appeal, asks for details of risk to antiquities

The Council of State yesterday suspended for six days its ruling on an appeal for a halt to the construction of the new Acropolis Museum, to give the Culture Ministry time to provide documents clarifying the risk to nearby antiquities. The court wants to know if a construction permit has been issued, if a contractor has been appointed and when works are due to begin in the part of the plot where antiquities have been found. The appeal has been lodged by the Greek branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites and by residents of Makriyianni.