ABC’s Big Ideas has re-broadcast June’s debate on the Parthenon Marbles organised by Intelligence Squared.

From:
ABC (Australia)

Published 23 July 2012
IQ2 Debate: ‘Send Them Back’ The Parthenon Marbles Should Be Returned to Athens

The proposition for this IQ2 debate from the UK is ‘Send Them Back: The Parthenon Marbles Should Be Returned to Athens’. These marbles, also known as the Elgin marbles, were removed by Lord Elgin (British Ambassador to Constantinople 1799-1803, Greece was under Turkish rule until the 1830’s War of Independence) and shipped back to London in the early part of the 19th century.

The Parthenon sculpture included a large amount of 5th century BC sculptured freize (about 75 metres) that once ran around the Parthenon and life size sculpted figures.
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Following the elections in June, Greece now has a new Culture Minister, Costas Tzavaras. In the first interview I have seen with him since he took on the job, he speaks about various topics, including the importance of the campaign to secure the return of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum to Athens.

From:
Greek Reporter

Greek Minister of Culture On Parthenon Marbles and Greek Cultural Crisis
By Anastasios Papapostolou on July 26, 2012

Costas Tzavaras, in an exclusive interview with the Greek Reporter talks about his new priorities as Minister of Culture, sends a message to attract foreign film productions to Greece and comments on Greece’s new coalition government.

Costas Tzavaras assumed the position of the deputy Minister of Education, responsible for cultural affairs, a few weeks ago and since then he has been working hard to bring back to crisis-hit Greece what he says the country is missing: cultural prosperity. The new minister, which practically filled in what previously was the position of Minister of Culture, believes that the Greek crisis is a product of a cultural crisis that the country had been facing over the past few years and he hopes to change it.
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