An exhibition at Harvard University is showing full size reconstructions of how many Greek sculptures might once have looked originally when they were brightly painted.

From:
Harvard University Gazette

September 27, 2007
Scholars give us antiquity — the colorized version
By Ken Gewertz
Harvard News Office

For artists of the Renaissance, the key to truth and beauty lay in the past. Renaissance artists assiduously studied the sculptures and monuments of Greece and Rome and emulated them in their own work. The inspiration they found in those ancient models has echoed down the centuries, influencing the appearance of Western art and architecture to this day.

If those 15th and 16th century artists had looked more closely, however, they might have found something that would have changed their vision of ancient art and had a profound effect on their own practice. That element was color.
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A 13th century bible has been returned to Prague by Stockholm’s Royal Library, over 350 years after it was removed from the city.

From:
Eursoc

The Devil’s Bible
By EURSOC Four
Published: 27 September, 2007

A 13th century Bible once claimed to have been written with the aid of the Devil has been returned to Prague after 350 years.

At 92 cm tall, 50 cm wide and 22 cm thick, the Codex Gigas (“Giant Book”) is the largest extant Medieval document in the world. It was created in a Bohemian monastery in the early 13th century. Legend has it that a monk was sentenced to death by being walled up in the monastery. To escape punishment, he vowed to create something which would glorify the monastery for eternity. He is said to have sold his soul to the Devil, who helped him create the 75kg book in a single night.
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Socratis Mavromatis’s photos of the Parthenon & its sculptures are on display at Fairfield University.

From:
Fairfield Mirror (Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut)

‘Archaeology’ exhibit: Where the lens meets the marble
By: Marie Montgomery
Issue date: 9/27/07

“There is this irony right away, that a photograph is flat [but] you are looking at stunning sculpture, archeological sites, ancient temples, all of these things which occupy space and are three dimensional,” said Katherine Schwab, art history professor and organizer of the “Creative Photograph in Archaeology” exhibit.

The exhibit opens today at the Walsh Gallery in the Quick Center and features 76 black and white photographs depicting Greek antiquities that have been produced from high resolution scans of the original negatives.
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Repatriation / restitution cases don’t necessarily involve other countries. The Lewis Chessmen are currently in the British Museum’s collection – but the people of Stornoway want to be able to exhibit them locally.

From:
BBC News

Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 September 2007, 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK
Historic chessmen ‘should return’

The success of a major art exhibition at Stornoway Museum has proved that the town is capable of hosting the Lewis chessmen, a councillor has claimed.

Annie MacDonald said there had been “unprecedented co-operation” in creating the Fonn’s Duthchas exhibition at Stornoway’s museum.
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A look at some of the disputes surrounding artefacts illegally removed from Kenya in recent years. Many of these seemingly minor repatriations are of great importance to their original owners, in comparison with the lack of specific significance that these articles held for those who removed them.

From:
All Africa

Kenya: Search for Lost Artefacts That Unearth History
Business Daily (Nairobi)
25 September 2007
Posted to the web 25 September 2007
Wangui Maina

Four years ago, a Canadian national legally obtained a rare Samburu neck piece from Kenya.

The antique was made wholly of giraffe hair and upon reaching his home country customs officials seized it as it went against the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) convention on animal trade.
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Greece’s new Culture Minister Michalis Liapis has spoken publicly to re-iterate the requests of his predecessors that illegally acquired artefacts should be returned to Greece.

From:
Independent Online (Zaire)

Return our relics, says Greece minister
September 24 2007 at 03:37PM

Athens – Greece’s new culture minister Michalis Liapis on Monday cited a “historic debt” to reclaim the renowned Parthenon Marbles removed on the orders of a 19th century British ambassador.

“Now is the time for all of us, political leaders above all, to increase pressure for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum,” Liapis told reporters during a visit to Athens’ new Acropolis Museum, expected to open next year.
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More details on the transfer of artefacts to the New Acropolis Museum, so that it can open to visitors in 2008.

From:
Athens News Agency

09/25/2007
New Acropolis Museum to open in stages in 2008

The transfer of artifacts from the old Acropolis Museum — which stands atop the historic hill itself — to the new ultra-modern and spacious museum will begin on Oct.14, Greek Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis announced on Monday during a tour of the under-construction new venue, which is in the final stages of completion.

The transfer is expected to take three months, as the new museum will be opened to visitors in stages — beginning in early 2008 — and starting with the third floor. It will be fully open to the public after roughly one year, the minister added.
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A timescale has now been released, for the transfer of the contents of the existing Acropolis Museum in Athens to the New Acropolis Museum.

From:
Earthtimes

Transfer of antiquities to new Acropolis museum to begin next month
Posted : Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:51:11 GMT

Athens – The process of transferring priceless artefacts currently housed in a small museum atop the Acropolis in Athens to a new state-of-the art Acropolis Museum will begin next month, Greece’s culture minister said Monday. Mihalis Liapis said it would take three months for all of the 340 priceless artefacts to be loaded onto three special cranes from atop the Acropolis and to make the 400-metre journey to the new modern glass and steel structure.

The entire operation, at a cost of 2.5 million euros (3.5 million dollars), is expected to start on October 14 and last until the end of the year, as the new Acropolis museum is scheduled to open in early 2008.
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More coverage of the implications of the controversial recovery of a Spanish warship from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal.

From:
Donga (Korea)

Countries Racing to Retrieve Plundered Relics
SEPTEMBER 22, 2007 08:45

In October 1804, off the coast of Portugal, the Spanish warship “Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes” was attacked by a British warship and sunk. Last May, an American deep-sea exploration company “Odyssey Marine Exploration” found the Spanish ship. Odyssey announced that it salvaged the ship in the open sea in the Atlantic and that it found $500 million (app. 467 billion KRW) in treasure aboard the ship, which makes it the most valuable find of its kind.

Spain immediately claimed ownership of the ship and filed a lawsuit with a federal court in Tampa, Florida, U.S., where the ship was found. The case is attracting worldwide attention as it may trigger a race to claim ownership of underwater artifacts and could affect return negotiations of relics between countries.
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A look at the importance of the original context when viewing artefacts such as the Elgin Marbles.

From:
Indiana Daily Student

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Letters from Abroad
Out of ‘situ’, out of mind
Lindsey Landis | IDS | 9/18/2007

BOLOGNA, Italy – I am the biggest art history dweeb ever. I will freely admit it. This week, I finally made some time to start exploring the local art and culture (other than the bars and nightlife). So, I started out by doing some research on Guido Reni, my favorite Baroque painter who was born and died in this city. I made a map of the different locations, and set out one day after class to find all of it.

Just for fun.

My trek lead me to the Pinacoteca, the city art museum, where Reni had an entire gallery to himself. The pieces were luminous and larger than I had ever imagined, and the museum was enormous. I only had time to visit the one gallery, and I know that I will probably have to set aside an entire week to see everything else.
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Following the elections in mid September, Greece has a new Culture Minister – Michael Liapis. One of his first public appearances since taking over the job has been to announce the arrival back in Greece of two sculptures, voluntarily returned by their owners in the US. The number of similar cases has been growing in recent years. Each time that something such as this happens represents a further shift in accepted practise from retention to restitution.

From:
The Guardian

Greek Antiquities Returned From U.S.
Wednesday September 19, 2007 7:16 PM

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – An ancient stone coffin and sculpture of a lion’s head have been returned to Greece after being handed over by private owners in the United States, the Culture Ministry said Wednesday.

The artifacts were presented by new Culture Minister Michalis Liapis. Both had been voluntarily turned over to the Greek consulate in Boston and brought back to Greece in July.
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A Russian Billionaire has paid for an entire art collection to be returned to Russia. This highlights the efforts that some countries are now going to to secure the repatriation of key artefacts that they feel are important to their cultural identity.

From:
The Guardian

Russia Reveals Rostropovich Art Deal
Tuesday September 18, 2007 8:31 PM
By MIKE ECKEL
Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW (AP) – The art collection of famed cellist Mstislav Rostropovich is being returned to Russia after a politically connected billionaire paid more than 25 percent above the estimated price in a surprise deal announced on the eve of its auction, a top cultural official said Tuesday.

The unusual move has again shone the spotlight on the immense wealth accumulated by some Russian tycoons since the Soviet collapse. But with the Russian government apparently playing a significant role in the deal, it also highlights efforts undertaken in many European capitals to get prized artwork or artifacts returned to their homelands.
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