The Marbles Reunited campaign has an associated Facebook group which is open to all who support the campaign for reunification of the Elgin Marbles in Athens.

If you are a supporter & a member of Facebook, then you are encouraged to join the group. (Note that this is not the same as full membership of the Marbles Reunited campaign. Any who join the group are encouraged to become members, but it is not obligatory). If you join, please also encourage any friends you have who might be interested in it to also become members - the more people who join, the greater the awareness of the campaign.

The Facegroup group is located here.

Marbles Reunited’s website is located here.

The Marbles Reunited campaign is in the process of searching for a campaign director. This is an important full time role, with the potential to have a significant impact on the campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

For more details of this job, please download the outline brief for it here.

Please pass this on to others who you feel might be interested in the role.

If you have further queries on it, please contact Suzannah Ritch at the details given in the specification or contact me directly using the contact link on menus to the right of this page.

The Marbles Reunited campaign made a submission to the British Government’s DCMS consultation on the restitution of artefacts spoliated during the Nazi Era. Marbles Reunited’s response highlighted the inconsistencies of the current approach to these issues. Comments from their submission were included in the published summary of the consultation.

The original consultation paper can be read on the DCMS website. The summary of responses is also available to download.

The responses made by various organisations are all available to download separately. The full text of the submission by Marbles Reunited is quoted below.

From:
Department for Culture, Media & Sport

Consultation on Restitution of Objects Spoliated in the Nazi-Era
Thursday 02nd November 2006

On behalf of Marbles Reunited (Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles), I am submitting herewith the following comments on the Consultation Paper for consideration.

Whilst the general proposal of facilitating the restitution of looted artefacts is admirable from both a moral & legal viewpoint, we feel that the current limited terms of reference will lead to anomalous treatment of various cases in the future.

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The Department of Culture Media & Sport’s Select committee held a recent enquiry “Caring for Our Collections”, the remit of which included de-accessioning from Museums. The Marbles Reunited committee made a submission to this enquiry. The full results of the enquiry can be read on the UK parliament website here & here.

Below is a copy of the submission made by Marbles Reunited.

From:
British Parliament website

Memorandum submitted by Marbles Reunited: Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

1. About Us
Marbles Reunited: Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is a British organisation which lobbies for the reunification of all surviving Parthenon sculptures in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece. Our membership includes politicians, lawyers, archaeologists, museum professionals, architects, media figures and leading academics.

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Yesterday, the Marbles Reunited campaign completed a re-branding exercise with a relaunch event in the House of Commons. The committee is chaired by Eddie O’Hara MP & Speakers at the Event included Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, the president of the Organisation for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum, Dr Nigel Spivey of Cambridge University & David Hill, Chair of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Marbles Reunited was formerly also known as Parthenon 2004.

From:
The Times Blogs

March 23, 2007
Supping with the devil?

If anyone is following my Lenten abstinence, I must confess that yesterday I deemed the Irish Embassy (which was hosting a friend’s book launch) to be foreign soil and I allowed myself a couple of whiskies. It was the first alcohol that I have knowingly consumed in several weeks, unless you count some sherry sauce on a bowl of ice cream.

I’m not a regular at embassy parties, but – alcohol or not – this little piece of Ireland seemed an unusually jolly place, from the welcoming doorman to the cloakroom attendant and the generous barmen. The consequence, I suspect, of being a small nation which is doing very nicely thank you, and which (unlike us) no-one hates.

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This rather negative piece about the relaunch of the Marbles Reunited campaign. The writer seems to have missed the fact that the uncanny resemblance to another Marbles Reunited campaign was because it was a relaunch - as stated in all promotional material surrounding the event. Parthenon 2004 was essentially absorbed into Marbles Reunited, as the name was no longer relevant once the Athens Olympics had passed. The New Acropolis Museum is now far closer to opening by 2008 than it ever was in 2004 - it is well past the point of no return, where legal battles etc can no longer delay progress on it.

From:
CultureGrrl

March 21, 2007
Yet Another Campaign to Reunite the Parthenon Marbles

Speaking of losing battles that I have journalistically championed…

A new campaign was launched today in Great Britain, chaired by Parliament member Edward O’Hara, to return the British Museum’s portion of the Parthenon marbles to Greece. I’ve supported the rejoining of the marbles numerous times (most notably in this NY Times Op-Ed piece), on the grounds that the sculptural frieze is a single work, depicting a continuous procession. To split it in pieces violates the integrity of one of the great masterpieces of Western Civilization.

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In the run up to the Athens Olympics in 2004, the Parthenon 2004 campaign in Britain played a prominent role in publicising the case for the reunification of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum with the surviving Parthenon Sculptures in Athens. While the Parthenon 2004’s parent organisation, the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles dealt with academia & the museums world, through lectures & conferences etc, Parthenon 2004 aimed their campaign towards a wider audience, specifically focusing on politicians and the general public. Through presenting the case in a more exoteric way & highlighting it in ways that appealed to people who had not previously thought about it, the campaign raised awareness of the issue throughout Britain.
Since the 2004 Olympics, a name change was clearly required for the organisation, along with a rethink of strategies so that their campaign could continue to look forward to the future of the Elgin Marbles. Last week the decision was taken that the organisation would be change its name to Marbles Reunited : Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles although generally it will be know by its abbreviated form as: Marbles Reunited. The previous website at www.parthenon2004.com has been replaced with a new website at www.marblesreunited.org.uk, the details of which will be updated as the efforts of the campaign are refocused and new events are announced.
If you would like further information about the Marbles Reunited campaign, please contact them using the details given on their website.

Debate on the Parthenon Marbles continues - with many different opinions.

From:
Star Ledger (New Jersey)

Crusade calls for art’s return
Amid Olympic fervor, Britain entreated to give back Greek masterpieces
Sunday, February 29, 2004
BY REBECCA GOLDSMITH
For the Star-Ledger

LONDON — When a British ambassador pried some 70 tons of sculpture from the walls of the Parthenon in the early 1800s to decorate his Scottish estate, Athens was a remote outpost of the Ottoman Empire.

Greece did not exist as an independent country. And ancient treasures around the world belonged to anyone important and rich enough to cart them away.

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An exchange of artefacts in return for the Restitution of the Elgin Marbles could be beneficial beyond the context of the British Museum.

From:
The Scotsman

Saturday, 28th February 2004
Elgin Marbles plan to aid museums
JOHN ROSS

SCOTTISH museums could benefit from a plan to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece, it has been claimed.

The Scottish launch of the Marbles Reunited campaign is being held in Inverness tonight, with the aim of persuading the government and the British Museum in London to agree to release the marbles on long-term loan in time for the Olympic Games in Athens.

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The Marbles Reunited campaign has organised an exhibition about the Elgin Marbles that is currently on display at the Athens Concert Hall.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Saturday February 28, 2004
‘The Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles: A Cultural Imperative’
HELBI

Nothing can stop an idea when it’s time has come, and now that 80 percent of the British people have agreed in a poll that it is time for the British Museum to give the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece, the process has been set in motion. The decision is up to the British government. The British Museum is the cultural body charged with guarding and exhibiting the “Elgin” Marbles — that is, the Parthenon Marbles, taken down and taken away by Lord Elgin, who was then the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. However, the cause can be helped by the presence of someone with the stature of the president of Greece, Costis Stephanopoulos, a personage who can achieve as much as a dozen exhibitions, petitions and speeches.

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Liverpool’s Walker art gallery has decided not to allow the exhibiting of an exhibition on the Parthenon Sculptures following controversy in the local press. This is a great shame, as it appears that similar changes of mind take place all to often when certain elements of the museums establishment put pressure on others who dare to stick their heads above the parapet without permission.
There are however, still many other exhibitions planned around the country by the Marbles Reunited campaign, which are still taking place as planned.

From:
The Guardian

Gallery’s u-turn over Marbles
David Ward
Thursday February 5, 2004
The Guardian

One of the country’s leading galleries has changed its mind and decided not to hire out a room to campaigners who want the Elgin marbles to be returned to Greece.

The Marbles Reunited campaign chose Liverpool for one of its regional launches next week because the city’s Walker art gallery has casts from some of the marbles.

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Scotland’s Museums may be among institutions to benefit if a reciprocal loan agreement is made with Greece when the Elgin Marbles are returned.

From:
Evening Times (Glasgow)

Trade bid to return the Elgin Marbles
5th February 2004
Gordon Thomson

GLASGOW’S museums may be chosen to display priceless antiquities if a campaign to re-home the Elgin Marbles succeeds.

The news comes ahead of a campaign to return the ancient sculptures to Greece.

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