More on the proposed return of the Heidelberg fragment of the Parthenon Frieze.

From:
Chicago Tribune

AROUND THE WORLD
German university returning art piece
Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published January 10, 2006

ATHENS, GREECE — A German university plans to give back a fragment of the Parthenon sculptures, marking the first time any piece of the statues held outside Greece has been returned to Athens, the Culture Ministry said Monday.

The vice rector of Heidelberg University, Angelos Chaniotis, informed Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis of the decision during a meeting Monday in Athens, the ministry said.
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Italy has been demanding the Getty & other US museums return artefacts that they allege were acquired illegally. However, how do these claims sit with the extensive delays that Italy created when restoring the Axum Obelisk to Ethiopia?

From:
The Standard (China)

Reluctantly parting with art
Elias Wondimu has heard that Italian leaders want North American museums to hand back dozens of artifacts that came from Italian soil, and he’s not ready to argue about that.
Christopher Reynolds
Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Elias Wondimu has heard that Italian leaders want North American museums to hand back dozens of artifacts that came from Italian soil, and he’s not ready to argue about that.

But, says Wondimu, a 32-year-old Ethiopian expatriate in Hollywood and publisher of history books, if there’s going to be a global debate over Italy and cultural patrimony, he has three words to contribute: Obelisk of Axum.
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In addition to the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum and the pieces that remain in Athens, there are a number of much smaller elements distributed across a range of other museum in Europe. Now, for the first time, the holders of one of these pieces of the frieze have agreed to return their piece to Athens. If all the holders of small fragments were to follow this example, then it would remove yet another of the British Museum’s arguments for retention, that they are not the only ones holding parts of the sculptures.

From:
Pravda (Russia)

Greece says German university to return fragment of Parthenon
22:51 2006-01-09

Germany’s Heidelberg University is planning to return to Greece a small piece of the 5th-century B.C. Parthenon sculptures from the ancient Acropolis, Greece’s Culture Ministry said Monday.

If the handover goes ahead, it would be the first piece of the sculptures held outside Greece to be returned to Athens.

A ministry announcement said the university’s vice-rector, Angelos Chaniotis, informed Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis of the decision during a meeting Monday in Athens.
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Dorothy King has talked about her book on the Elgin Marbles for some time now. The publishers’ comments on it say that it was timed to coincide with the Olympics, but clearly they missed that deadline. Bookstores still don’t have copies of it in stock, although it has been available to pre-order for over eighteen months now. This book has been considerably hyped, as the British Museum’s best defense for their retention of the marbles. Archaeologists & historians that I have spoken to seem distinctly unexcited about its impending publication, based on their previous dealings with Ms King.

From:
The Observer

Hands off our Marbles
Dorothy King defends the British Museum in her breezy history of the Parthenon sculptures, The Elgin Marbles, says David Smith
Sunday January 8, 2006
The Observer

The Elgin Marbles
by Dorothy King
Hutchinson £18.99, pp352

Blonde, glamorous and a fearless hunter of treasures, archaeologist Dr Dorothy King would perhaps inevitably be dubbed the ‘female Indiana Jones’. Such sobriquets can be both a blessing and curse. Invitations to academic conferences and TV programmes have dropped through the letterbox, but so, too, has a request to pose in Playboy (she refused).

Thankfully, the publisher of King’s first book, The Elgin Marbles, has resisted a front cover picturing her draped over the torso of Poseidon and declined to make much of her headline-grabbing exploits as scourge of the Greek government’s application to reclaim the marbles from the British Museum.
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Various museums (including the British Museum) are lending artefacts from Iran that are in their collection for an exhibition to be held at the National Museum of Iran. As I have mentioned before though, with similar stories, it is sad that countries have to request & negotiate for the temporary loan of what originally belonged to them. In this instance, the only reason for the British Museum’s loan appears to be that it is reciprocating the loan by Iran of many objects for an exhibition there last year.

From:
Persian Journal (Iran)

Jan 3rd, 2006 – 14:28:14
Most Precious Iranian Artifact Coming Back Home
Jan 3, 2006

A unique collection of Iranian artifacts kept in museums throughout the world will be gathered and displayed at the National Museum of Iran (NMI).

NMI curator Mohammadreza Kargar said that after the recent exhibition “Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia” opened in Britain, the NMI arranged to display a collection of Iranian treasures kept in the British Museum, the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

According to Kargar, the Oxus treasure, including outstanding and characteristic examples of Achaemenid metalwork as well as the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay cylinder of a decree issued by Cyrus the Great after he conquered Babylon that is regarded as the first human rights charter, which are both kept in the British Museum, will be loaned to the National Museum.
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A list has been drawn up of monument and buildings around the world, which may be included in a list of today’s Seven Wonders of the World. The eventual winners will be announced in January 2007.

From:
The Guardian

Vote for seven wonders
Jon Henley
Monday January 2, 2006
The Guardian

The Acropolis in Athens made it, as did Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, China’s Great Wall, the Colosseum in Rome, the Inca temple of Machu Picchu in Peru, Stonehenge and the Moai – the Easter Island statues.

Less immediately obvious choices in a final shortlist of 21 contenders for the New Seven Wonders of the World, announced in Switzerland yesterday, included the Kremlin in Moscow, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.
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This article looks at (amongst other things) the way in which cultural disputes such as the Elgin Marbles might be resolved, or how the situation can be progressed positively.

From:
National Post (Canada)

Keeping the peace to earn your keep
Sadly enough, dispute resolution is an area of expertise that is still very much in demand
Laura Lind
National Post
Monday, January 02, 2006

In Inner Peace, World Peace, Kenneth Kraft writes, “One need not wait until war is declared and bullets are flying to work for peace. A more constant and equally urgent battle must be waged each day against the forces of one’s own anger, carelessness and self-absorption.

“A person should strive to be at peace when interacting with a child, vacuuming a carpet or waiting in line.

“This sort of peace work is important,” he continues, “because if we don’t practise it, if we separate ourselves from a situation through inattentiveness, negative judgments or impatience, we ‘kill’ something valuable.
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