A newly released documentary features the story of the Elgin Marbles.

From:
NewswireToday

March 30, 2007
The ‘Elgin Marbles’ Featured in New Documentary on Athens
NewswireToday – /newswire/ – Hemel Hempstead, Herts, United Kingdom, 03/30/2007 – The heavily debated “Elgin Marbles” are featured in a one hour documentary “Source of Ancient Pathways” newly released by Harvest Fields Commissioning International and OLI Productions.

The Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Maramanlis, as featured in CNN News, has expressed new desire that the Parthenon Marbles or “Elgin Marbles” be returned to Athens and exhibited in the new Acropolis Museum there. Currently housed in the British Museum in London and featured in the newly released documentary “Source of Ancient Pathways” the frieze has been the subject of much controversy. The fresh hopes of the Prime Minister follow the release of two artefacts previously held in the Getty Museum in the U.S.
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The Pope has rejected a request by the Archbishop of Athens last year that the Vatican returns a fragment of the Parthenon sculptures which is held in its museum.

From:
The Guardian

Greece talks tough on Parthenon marbles
PM says UK has run out of ‘feeble excuses’ over return
Helena Smith and John Hooper
Friday March 30, 2007
The Guardian

The Greek prime minister, deploying the strongest language yet for the return of the Parthenon marbles, yesterday said that Britain had run out of “feeble excuses” to retain the treasures.

At a ceremony to mark the return to Athens of two art works Greece has long claimed from the Getty Museum – and the imminent completion of a £94m Acropolis museum – Costas Karamanlis said it was only a matter of time before the sculptures’ repatriation.
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More coverage of Greece’s renewed requests that Britain returns the Parthenon Sculptures.

From:
The Scotsman

Fri 30 Mar 2007
Greece piles on pressure over Elgin Marbles
DEREK GATOPOULOS IN ATHENS

THE British Museum’s case for keeping the Elgin Marbles has “evaporated” after other major museums agreed to return ancient artefacts to Greece, the country’s prime minister said yesterday.

Costas Karamanlis was speaking at a ceremony in Athens’ National Archaeological Museum, where two ancient treasures that had been returned by the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles – a 4th century BC gold wreath and a 6th century BC marble statue of a young woman’s torso – were put on display.
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Further coverage of the return to Greece of a gold wreath believed to have been looted. Greece also used this occasion to re-iterate its requests for the return of the Elgin Marbles, currently held in the British Museum in London.

From:
Athens News Agency

03/29/2007
Artifacts returned by Getty, PM lauds efforts for repatriation of Parthenon Marbles

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Thursday praised the culture ministry’s systematic work aimed at the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, as well as the return of all antiquities illegally excavated or smuggled out of Greece, part of efforts to safeguard the country’s cultural heritage.

Karamanlis was speaking to reporters after a handover ceremony marking the return of two important ancient Greek artifacts from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, held at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, where the artifacts will be on display.
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Many news stories are speculating that the return by the Getty of a gold wreath to Greece make the Elgin Marbles a step closer to being returned.

From:
Reuters

Greece eyes Elgin marbles after Getty returns objects
Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:16AM EDT
By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece displayed two ancient, looted artifacts on Thursday that had been returned from the J.P Getty Museum and said the recovery of its most famous antiquities — the Elgin Marbles — was only a matter of time.

The Los Angeles-based Getty gave back a 4th century BC Macedonian gold wreath and a 6th century BC marble statue of a woman as part of their deal with Greece to return four objects from their collection that were the result of smuggling and illegal sale.
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A gold wreath illegally looted from Greece has been returned by Los Angeles’s Getty museum, as agreed at the end of last year.

From:
BBC News

Last Updated: Thursday, 29 March 2007, 10:28 GMT 11:28 UK
Ancient wreath returns to Greece
By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens

A spectacular golden wreath dating back to the 4th Century BC is due to go on display at the National Archaeology Museum in Greece.

The Macedonian wreath was returned to Athens at the weekend by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
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The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford seems to be expressing doubt on the ethics of the display of some of their exhibits that involve human remains. This is interesting in that the consideration of this issue is coming from the staff of the museum, rather than having their hand forced by pressure from an outside party.

From:
Spiked Culture (London)

Wednesday 28 March 2007
Maria Grasso
A shrunken view of Truth and Knowledge
What’s behind the latest bout of handwringing over the display of shrunken human heads in a museum in Oxford?

Recent reports suggest that some of the staff at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, are feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the museum’s famous ‘shrunken heads’ exhibit. They’re planning a review of the exhibit with an eye for making it more ‘respectful’, and there are even rumours of the heads being repatriated to South America. How true is this? And who do the shrunken heads really belong to? I visited the Museum to find out.

The Pitt Rivers Museum, located in the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, was founded in 1884, when General Augustus Pitt Rivers donated a collection of more than 18,000 archaeological and ethnographic objects from all around the world. The present-day collection is made up of more than half a million artefacts, including the remains of around 2,000 humans.
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On Monday, the Acropolis was formally proclaimed as the pre-eminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list of monuments. Culture Minister George Voulgarakis took the opportunity to mention the Parthenon Marbles, reflecting that it presents Britain with a unique opportunity to put right a “historical error”.

From:
Athens News Agency

03/27/2007
Acropolis proclaimed top European Cultural Heritage Monument

The Acropolis was formally proclaimed as the pre-eminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list of monuments during a special ceremony atop the celebrated hill in the heart of Athens on Monday, in the presence of Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis.

Culture Minister George Voulgarakis and his French counterpart Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres also unveiled a plaque bearing the special distinction.
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Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles has held an event to raise awareness for the issues surrounding the Parthenon Marbles.

From:
Athens News Agency

03/24/2007
LMU event on Parthenon Marbles

An event on the Parthenon Marbles was held Sunday at the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles.

The event included a photography exhibition titled “Marbles” by photographer A. Papapostolou, addresses by Dr. Matthew Dillon, professor of Classics and Archaeology at LMU on the Parthenon and journalst Christos Constantopoulos on Greece’s campaign for the return of the Marbles from Britain, the restoration works ongoing on the Acropolis site and the new Acropolis Museum, and the screening of a 35-minute documentary “The Pheidias Legacy” which was a co-production with ANA-MPA.

On Friday, the Hellenic Cultural Centre will organise a second screening of the documentary, with an address by Constantopoulos, in the Cypress Room at St. Spyridon Church in San Diego.

In the UK, historic artefacts that are found by members of the public are subject to the rules of the Treasure Act regarding who the find must be reported to & the financial compensation given to the finder etc. Changes to the way the act is administered give the British Museum a key role in assessing the value of rewards. This seems to go completely against the British Museum’s assertions that it is independent of the government when it suits itself to be so – yet in this instance seems to have the power to act as though it was an arm of the government. Not necessarily a problem per-se, but they need to think hard about the regular passing of responsibility that seems to occur in both directions when they are asked awkward questions.

From:
Media-Newswire

The way the Treasure Act 1996 is administered is changing
From today the British Museum will provide certain services to the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport in relation to the performance of her functions under the Treasure Act. These services will include the valuation of treasure finds, the invoicing of museums, the payment of rewards and supporting the Treasure Valuation Committee.

(Media-Newswire.com) – From today the British Museum will provide certain services to the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport in relation to the performance of her functions under the Treasure Act. These services will include the valuation of treasure finds, the invoicing of museums, the payment of rewards and supporting the Treasure Valuation Committee.
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More information on the dispute between the Louvre & Greece, that officials from the museum claim are linked to the Elgin Marbles. I’m still unclear where the connection is, unless some significant facts or information from of-the-record discussions has been left out from the article.

From:
Alarab Online (UK)

ALARAB ONLINE
Row over Elgin Marbles

Greece has refused to lend France’s world-famous Louvre museum an ancient bronze sculpture for its first exhibition dedicated to ancient Greek sculpture – allegedly because the work is too fragile to move.

The Louvre says it is “stupefied” at Greece’s “more than belated” decision not to loan the sculpture after having promised to do so more than two year’s ago – a claim denied by the Greek authorities.
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India’s culture ministry is consulting the Central Bureau of Investigation in the country over ways in which they can cut down on the level of looting of antiquities in the country.

From:
Earthtimes.org

Culture ministry consults CBI to curb antique theft
Posted on : Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:18:00 GMT
Author : Indo Asian News Service

New Delhi, March 19 Concerned over increasing theft of country’s priceless antiques, the culture ministry is consulting the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for effective preventive measures and planning to amend the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, to make punishment for offenders stringent.

‘We know the number of theft cases, be it idols or artefacts, are increasing. Our ministry is really concerned about it and we are consulting the CBI to devise ways to curb it,’ Culture Secretary Badal K. Das said Monday.
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