SILENT AWAITING

Marble pieces lie about
burdened with century- old dust
and great deeds of the past,
polished with sweat and labour
AWAIT the return of
their counterparts, lost and gone
to faraway lands.
Handicapped the Parthenon stands
with a bright amputated sun
casting its light, always bright
on this axed colossal cradle.
The great Greek spirit immortal,
hovers restlessly above, seeking
the pieces of this great monument.
The parade of life-depicting figures,
so elaborately carved on marble,
are now sad, a vehicle of the past
they have now become.
The pilgrims to the gentle spirit
stand in awe before the Parthenon
and a sudden sadness fills their heart
when they see the Temple
handicapped and so brutally attacked.

Vasiliki Savvidou-Mihalarea
Teacher of English
Translator/Interpreter
Rhodes, Greece.

From:
The Times

May 4, 2010
London – a beacon of cultural resistution?

Plenty of people in Greece, Egypt, and Scotland might disagree but London, home of the Elgin marbles, the Rosetta Stone and the Lewis Chessmen, will today present itself as a beacon of enlightenment on the thorny subject of cultural restitution.

Delegates ranging from a lawyer with the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest to the Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures and the Director General of ICCROM (the International Organisation for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage) in Rome are attending a conference at the National Gallery this afternoon billed as Restitution – Where Now?

Julian Smith, a partner at Farrer & Co, the solicitor’s firm that has organised the conference, said that they had tried to put the broadest possible spectrum of views in one room. “This conference might be the dullest ever,” he said, “It might end in a fight. That’s what makes it interesting.” Certainly there are few more controversial or complex issues in the arts than what to do with cultural treasures taken from weak nations by stronger ones many years ago.

Worldwide the trend has been towards returning looted artefacts to their country of origin. In recent years the Americans have led the way with the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston all returning ancient artefacts to the countries they were taken from.

The Greeks have built a museum for the Parthenon Marbles that Lord Elgin spirited back to England. The Egyptians want the Rosetta Stone back from the British Museum and the bust of Nefertiti from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. The Iranian government has accused the British Museum of playing politics with the Cyrus Cylinder, a 2,500 year old Persian cuneiform text cited as the earliest declaration of human rights.

In the opposite corner are scholars and museum bosses like Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, who argue against a blanket drift towards restitution, in favour of a universal museum culture where institutions maintain diverse collections so that they can tell big stories.

“It’s only by comparing things from different places that you can understand them,” Mr MacGregor said yesterday.

“If you want to look at human achievement you’ve got to gather everything together. If you start breaking up these collections you end up with a series of disassociated narratives.” The proviso is that “you make them genuinely available to everybody. You have to put them on line, tour them and loan them.” His point of view is supported by Sir Norman Rosenthal, one of the speakers today. The former exhibitions secretary of the Royal Academy (and son of Jewish refugees) argued last year that returning art stolen by Nazis to descendants of their original Jewish owners was often the wrong course of action.

“I believe history is history and that you can’t turn the clock back or make things good again through art,” he wrote. “Ever since the beginning of recorded history, because of its value, art has been looted and as a result, arbitrarily distributed and disseminated throughout the world.”

It is also true, however, that most of the great collections of world objects are in big cities in wealthier countries. And while relatively influential countries like Egypt can run high profile restitution campaigns, poorer states such as Mali in West Africa tend not to be able to exert so much pressure.

Professor Jack Lohman, director of the Museum of London and former UK chairman of ICOM (the International Organisation of Museums) said that the National Gallery event was a groundbreaking occasion.

“It’s about not sweeping this important international issue under the carpet, about having the courage to talk about it, because this is so emotional for so many people,” he said. “You might find the sort of conversations that we are having [for this conference] around global warming or climate change but they haven’t really entered the art world. I really feel it’s a new global conversation.” Professor Lohman, who is introducing the conference, added that London is the right place to host it precisely because the controversies around its museums have forced its curators to engage with the arguments around cultural ownership.

“Actually we might now be leaders in this field. These very difficult cases have allowed us to work with partners and innovate – for instance the way the Lewis chessmen [900 year old chess figures discovered in the Western Isles of Scotland and claimed by the administration in Edinburgh] are travelling quite a bit at the moment. There’s a very positive angle to what we have always understood was a horrific nightmare of a problem. Dialogue brings understanding. You only get the shouting between countries where there aren’t relationships and there are now more conversations taking place. There is movement. Conversation allows you to move objects.”

FIVE CONTROVERSIAL OBJECTS HELD IN BRITAIN

Parthenon Marbles (claimed by Greece, held in the British Museum) Lewis Chessmen (Scotland; British Museum) Benin Bronzes (Nigeria; British Museum) Rosetta Stone (Egypt; British Museum) Golden Crown of Emperor Tewodros (Ethiopia; Victoria and Albert Museum)

AND THREE ELSEWHERE

Priam’s Gold from Troy (Turkey; Pushkin Museum, Moscow) Joseon-period royal manuscripts (South Korea; Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris) Treasures excavated by Hiram Bingham III from Machu Picchu (Peru; Yale Peabody Museum)

From:
Reuters

Egypt urges states to cooperate on artefact return
Wed Apr 7, 2010 5:49pm GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt and other states which say artefacts have been illegally taken abroad should work together and list items they want returned from Western museums, Egypt’s top archaeologist said on Wednesday.

Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, was speaking to representatives from 21 countries, some like Greece and Syria, seeking the return of artefacts and others like the United States which have returned stolen antiquities.

“Museums are the main source for stolen artefacts. If they stop (buying stolen artefacts) the theft will be less,” Hawass told delegates who also included representatives from China, Libya, Peru, Chile, Nigeria and Italy.

Hawass has been pushing to repatriate some major pharaonic treasures Egypt says were plundered by foreign powers, including the Rosetta Stone now in the British Museum and Queen Nefertiti’s bust from Berlin’s Neues Museum.

“We have good cooperation with other countries. We have had artefacts returned from Spain, Italy but the number one country that has returned artefacts is the United States,” Hawass told the two-day conference in Cairo.

One of the conference aims was to ensure implementation of a 1970 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) convention under which countries agreed measures to prevent the illegal export of national treasures.

“There is a real problem of antiquities trafficking through theft, colonialism and the negative role some foreign missions play,” Ayman Slaiman, from the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, told Reuters.

Greece is seeking the return of stone sculptures, inscriptions and architectural features taken from the Parthenon in Athens by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the 19th century during Ottoman rule, which now reside in the British Museum.

“It is not a question of legality but of goodwill and that cannot fall under a paragraph of law,” said Elena Korka, a delegate from Greece’s Culture Ministry.

From:
Bloomberg News

Egypt’s Hawass Sees ‘Miserable Life’ for Museums With Relics
By Daniel Williams

April 8 (Bloomberg) — Egypt’s chief antiquities administrator wrapped up a two-day conference among countries that want valuable relics held abroad returned by threatening to make “life miserable” for museums that keep them.

“We will decide together what to do,” said Zahi Hawass, who heads the Supreme Council of Antiquities, at the end of the Cairo conference that attracted 16 delegates and nine observers from abroad. “We will make life miserable for museums that refuse to repatriate.”

Hawass, 62, known for his television documentary appearances in which he unveils new Egyptian archaeological discoveries, later told reporters, “We’re not after anyone. The subject can be discussed, meaning we can negotiate.”

He has been lobbying to get the 3,300-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti from Berlin’s Neues Museum and the Rosetta Stone from London’s British Museum. Today he added a statue of Ramses II at Turin’s Museo Egizio.

Five other countries presented their own wish lists: Peru for items from Machu Picchu housed at Yale University and textiles at the Museum of World Cultures in Gothenburg, Sweden; Greece, for the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum; Nigeria, for bronzes spread out in several collections; Syria, items from the Louvre and Hermitage museums; and Libya, for a statue of Apollo in the Louvre.

Conflict History

International rules and treaties are of little use in getting key relics back because laws regarding their transfer don’t apply before the mid-20th century. Countries that hold them are reluctant to undo the history of conflicts and possession and to break up collections. For instance, Rome has many Egyptian obelisks taken by Roman emperors, scholars said.

Some artifacts were obtained legally, although Hawass referred to his conference as a gathering of “countries that have suffered from theft.” In any case, Hawass bases his demands not on law but on the idea that certain artifacts by right belong to the “motherland” where they were found.

The meeting provided an early glimpse of the difficulties inherent in Hawass’s campaign. The Italian government’s representative at the meeting, Jeanette Papadopoulos, described her country as a major victim of cultural expropriation.

When asked whether Italy is ready to return Ramses II to Egypt, she said, “it won’t be me who will bring it back.”

Last year, the Louvre repatriated frescoes removed from Egypt in the 1980s after Hawass threatened to ban its scholars from exploring in Egypt. The Louvre complied because “serious doubts” emerged about “the legality of their exit from Egyptian territory,” France’s Culture Ministry said at the time.

Hawass said he will organize another meeting next year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo

Last Updated: April 8, 2010 12:07 EDT

From:
Agence France Presse

Countries list relics they want back
# From correspondents in Cairo
# From: AFP
# April 09, 2010

A CONFERENCE of countries that want antiquities returned from abroad ended today with a wish list of priceless relics housed in Western museums, but it fell short of drafting an action plan.

The two-day conference in Cairo drew representatives from 25 countries, many of them former colonies, who say their heritage has been stolen.

Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said seven of the countries drew up a list of artefacts they wanted back, and the remaining countries were given one month to add items to the list.

“I consider today a historic conference for all the world’s countries that have lost artefacts,” he said.

“We agreed to fight together,” he said. “Cultural heritage has to return to its country.”

“Seven countries have made a wish list. Some have to go back to their governments; they have a period of one month,” he said.

Many of the relics included in the list are in European and North American museums. Egypt demanded six items, including the Rosetta stone in the British Museum and the Dendara temple ceiling in France’s Louvre Museum.

Greece listed the Elgin Marbles, a collection of marble structures removed from the Parthenon in the beginning of the 19th century by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin and ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Syria demanded five relics, one of them in housed in the Louvre, and Libya listed a statue of Apollo in the British Museum and a marble statue of a woman in the Louvre, according to a copy of the list sent by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The other countries were Nigeria, Guatemala and Peru.

“We are waiting for the other countries to present their wish list. Then we can go and fight,” Mr Hawass said.

“It doesn’t mean that if you have a statue in the museum, you own the statue. No, it belongs to us,” he said.

But the conference, touted as the first of its kind, fell short by not laying out an action plan to retrieve the items.

Mr Hawass described international regulations on antiquities as “insufficient” but the conference did not call for an amendment to a UN convention on stolen antiquities that applied to thefts after 1970.

Mr Hawass said the countries had to confer again before drawing up steps they would take but warned of apparently drastic measures.

“I am not going to talk to you about what we are going to do; we have to decide together. Some of us will make the lives of some of those museums that have artefacts miserable,” he said.

It was not clear whether he was talking about museums that housed stolen goods or those that displayed relics long excavated from their countries of origin.

The flamboyant archaeologist, who says he has overseen the return of 5000 relics since he became head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2002, suspended ties with the Louvre last year to win the return of five fragments stolen from an ancient Egyptian tomb.

He said he hoped to reach agreements on such relics as the bust of Queen Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone through negotiations.

Both Berlin’s Neues Museum which has the bust on display and the British Museum have so far refused to even lend the artefacts to Egypt.

From:
ANSA (Italy)

ARCHAEOLOGY: EGYPT LAUNCHES STOLEN WORK RECOVERY

(ANSAmed) – ROME – The Rosetta Stone, the bust of Nefertiti, the Elgin marbles, Moctezumas feathered crown, and Inca treasures are just a few examples from the long list of works of art that departed from their country of origin, and whose owners would now like to see them returned. This thorny issue is at the centre of a two-day conference on the protection and return of cultural heritage organised by Cairos Supreme Council of Antiquities, which aims to analyse the current situation, draw up a thorough list of claims and decide on a common strategy. The man behind the event, which ended today, is the general secretary of the Egyptian organisation, Zahi Hawass, who since 2002 has become well-known for his contribution to the cause, namely the struggle to bring home the numerous items of Egyptian handiwork residing in all four corners of the globe, 31,000 of which have been returned to Egypt in the last eight years. He was at the centre of last years wrangling with the Louvre, and broke off relations with the Paris museum until it returned fragments of a fresco from an Egyptian tomb in Luxors Valley of the Kings. Relations are equally strained between Zawass and Berlins New Museum, the current guardian of the prestigious bust of Nefertiti, which Egypt wants to see returned, though the Germans, who claim to have legitimately purchased the item a century ago, are refusing to budge. Among the most famous disputes is the one surrounding the Rosetta Stone, which was found by the French in 1799 and handed over two years later to Great Britain. Other famous examples include the Statue of Hemiunu, which is also in Berlin, and the statue of Ramesses II in Italy. Zawass told the closing press conference that about thirty countries including China, Greece, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Spain and Italy had taken part in the event, each country having claims to present to the Council. Zawass said that the countries involved were sending a strong message to the world, showing that they are prepared to fight together for their lost heritage. Each country has suffered alone, especially Egypt, and we will fight together, he said. The representative for Greeces Ministry of Culture, Elena Korka, agreed, noting that this conference demonstrates the importance to many countries of joining forces. This is not a question of legality but rather one of good will, and this cannot be summed up in a paragraph of a legal document, she added. Greece has spent thirty years asking London for the return of marble from the Parthenon taken by Lord Elgin in 1800 and currently housed in the British Museum. During todays meeting, it was agreed that a conference is to be held every year and a list of countries involved in the initiative is to be drawn up and announced in about a month. A helping hand may come from a change to the Unesco Convention, which bans the export and the possession of antiquities stolen after 1970, although participants in the conference would like the date to be moved back, giving them a legal way of obtaining exhibits purloined earlier. Zawass strongly condemned the theft of these works, accusing museums and their role in the buying and selling of stolen handiworks. As part of the conference, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities has put on an exhibition of works recently repossessed by Cairo, including the limestone bust of Amenhotep III, which has been brought back from London, the statue of Nefer-Renpet and that of the priest of the god Monthu, returned from Germany and the Netherlands respectively. (ANSAmed).

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 23:31 GMT, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 00:31 UK
Egypt calls for antiquities unity

States which say artefacts have been stolen and displayed overseas should unite to recover their stolen heritage, Egypt’s top archaeologist has said.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), urged culture officials from around the world to draw up lists of missing items.

Some 20 countries are represented at the two-day conference in Cairo aimed at recovering artefacts from overseas.

The SCA wants many pharaonic items returned by Western museums.

“Museums are the main source for stolen artefacts,” he told delegates from countries including Libya, Greece, Italy, China and Peru.

“If they stop (buying stolen artefacts) the theft will be less.”

Stepped-up efforts

Mr Hawass told the delegates their nations needed to work together to recover their heritage.

“Every country is fighting alone, every country suffered alone, especially Egypt,” he said. “We will battle together.”

Representatives are also considering calling on the United Nations cultural body, Unesco, to amend a convention banning export and ownership of antiquities stolen after 1970 – so that they can pursue items that were snatched earlier, says the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo.

In recent years, the Egyptian authorities have stepped up their efforts to recover stolen artefacts, with the head of the SCA, Zahi Hawass, attracting international attention for his efforts.

Last year, he broke off ties with the Louvre museum until France returned fragments chipped from a wall painting in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

He has repeatedly asked for the Rosetta Stone – which has been kept in the British Museum for more than 200 years – and a 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display in Berlin, to be given back to Egypt.

Greece has long demanded that the Parthenon Marbles should be given back by the British Museum, while Peru is taking legal action to try to reclaim Inca treasures from Yale University in the United States.

From:
Hurriyet (Turkey)

Monday, May 10 2010 15:36 GMT+2
Countries seek return of looted antiquities
Thursday, April 8, 2010
LONDON – Daily News with wires

An international conference on recovering illicitly acquired antiquities began in Cairo with the participation of antiquities officials and deputy culture ministers from 16 countries, not including Turkey, daily Radikal reported Thursday, citing the BBC.

Egypt, the host of the two-day conference, aims to retrieve several precious artifacts dating back to the era of the pharaohs from Western museums.

Representatives from Greece, Syria, Iraq, Italy, Mexico and China are also seeking to devise strategies for recovering artifacts that are part of their cultural heritage from famous museums in Berlin, London and Paris.

A major objective of the conference is to call on the United Nations cultural body UNESCO to amend a 1970 convention banning the export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after that date, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday. The convention prohibits the illicit import, export and sale of cultural property, but stipulates there will be no retroactive measures applied to artifacts acquired before the convention was signed.

Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and the leading figure at the Cairo conference, urged delegates to draw up lists of artifacts missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad.

Since becoming head of antiquities in 2002, Hawass has helped Egypt reclaim 31,000 relics from other countries. Last year, he insisted that “what has been stolen from us must be returned.” Egypt continues to seek the repatriation of the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

“This conference shows the importance many countries place in joining forces,” said Elena Korka, who is in charge of protecting Greece’s cultural heritage.

Korka confirmed that the return of the Elgin Marbles is Greece’s top priority. Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve them from the British Museum.

Turkey sent no representative to the conference.

From:
Daily Telegraph

British Museum under pressure to give up leading treasures
by Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published: 7:39PM BST 07 Apr 2010

The British museum is to come under renewed pressure to give up leading treasures as 16 countries plan to sign a declaration that demands the return of artefacts sent overseas generations ago.

The demand, issued in Cairo at the end of a two-day conference, is addressed to every country that holds ancient relics.

Western museum hold most of the items listed by countries ranging from China to Mexico. The British museum is the principal target because of the prominence of the artefacts it owns.

Egypt wants returned include the Rosetta stone in the British Museum and the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin’s Neues Museum. Both the British and Neues Museum have rejected the demand.

The conference was hosted by Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, who has been an outspoken campaigner for the return of lost treasures.

Mr Hawass acknowledged that there was no international legal basis for the demands but said a united stand between affected nations would bolster the claims.

“Instead of Egypt fighting on its own, let’s all fight together. let’s all come out with a wishlist,” he said. “We need to co-operate all of us especially with that wish list. we need all of us to come with one list and fight until we return this artefacts back.

“Forget the legal issue,” he said. “Important icons should be in their motherland, period.”

A spokeswoman said the British museum had not received an official request from Egypt.

“The British Museum has not received an official request for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone,” she said. “The Museum has received a request from the Supreme Council of Antiquities requesting the short term loan of the stone for the opening of the new museum in Giza in 2012 or 2013. The Trustees of the British Museum will consider this request in due course.”

It has faced a long running campaign by the Greek government for the return of the Elgin Marbles which were taken from the Parthenon at the outset of the 19th century.

Elana Korka, a Greek culture ministry official said the marbles were its prime concern. “We would like to see some good faith,” she said. “They are the Parthenon marbles and that is where they belong.”

International conventions written since 1954 prohibited wartime looting, theft and resale of artefacts but the agreements don’t apply to items taken abroad before national or global laws were in force.

Nigeria has listed its claims for the Benin bronzes, which are also housed from the British Museum. Mexico has demanded the return of a feathered headdress of a tribal warrior and China has sought the handover of astrological items looted from the Summer Palace in Beijing during the Second Opuim War.

Artefacts that are on the looted list:

1 Elgin Marbles (British Museum) Greece has long fought to reclaim the frieze stripped from the Parthenon at the behest of the 7th Earl of Elgin in 1801

2 Rosetta Stone (British Museum) Egypt demands the return of the 2,200-year-old stone tablet that holds the key to translating ancient hieroglyphs

3 Summer Palace bronzes (private French owner) China claims bronze heads from a zodiac clock were stolen during the Second Opium War in 1860

4 Benin Bronzes (British Museum) Nigeria lays claim to the royal treasures of Benin, saying that they were seized by British troops in 1897

5 Queen Nefertiti (Berlin Neues Museum) Egypt wants the 3,500-year-old bust of the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten returned

From:
America Blog

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Bring back the Elgin Marbles
by John Aravosis (DC)

Back around 1800, when Greece was still suffering from 400 years of Turkish occupation, the British ambassador, Lord Elgin, got permission from the Turks to remove a good chunk of the Parthenon and bring it back to London, for display in the British Museum. Now that the Turks are gone, the Greeks would like their Parthenon back.

It’s an interesting issue. I can sympathize with the argument that you can’t ask that ever piece of antiquity from everywhere around the world be returned to its nation or origin, or you’d empty every museum in the world. Having said that, how does this story differ from the Nazi’s pilfering the Louvre? While I’m sympathetic to the notion that not every artifact should go home, the Parthenon is a big deal. And taking massive chunks of it during a foreign occupation is, well, tacky. Now that the Greeks have a new modern museum to house the “Elgin Marbles,” the British lose their number one argument – that the antiquities were better preserved in England than in Greece, where they could be better cared for. Not anymore.

Below is a cute video that demonstrates the problem. It’s tied to a Web site called “Bring them back.”

From:
Daily Express

UK NEWS
GENERAL ELECTION 2010: EU ZEALOT NICK CLEGG’S BID TO RETURN ELGIN MARBLES

DOUBTS over Nick Clegg’s commitment to British interests in the EU intensified last night after it emerged he once led a campaign to return the historic Elgin Marbles to his friends in Greece.

As an MEP, the Lib Dem leader berated the British Museum for guarding the statues, saying it was like displaying Big Ben’s clock in the Louvre. He told a Tory MEP who dared to criticise his campaign: “you appear to have lost your marbles.”

The issue highlights his strident pro-European views and helps shatter his attempt in Thursday’s leaders’ debate to portray his party as moderate on EU affairs.

GENERAL ELECTION 2010: GET THE LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS HERE…

A Sunday Express survey of his 12 MEPs’ voting records reveals them to be among the most fanatically pro-EU politicians in Europe. They have consistently spearheaded efforts to transfer sovereignty away from Britain and boost a bureaucratic superstate.

They have voted against reforming MEPs’ expenses and against holding a sleaze inquiry into a ­senior official but they have voted for the promotion of the grand EU project in British schools.

Mr Clegg, who is married to a Spaniard and whose father is half-Russian, was a Euro MP for the East Midlands between 1999 and 2004. In 2002, he helped organise the Marbles In Exile conference in the Strasbourg parliament where he demanded Britain return them to the Parthenon in Athens.

The statues were taken with the permission of the Ottoman Empire by the Earl of Elgin in 1801.

When Tory MEP Roger Helmer objected to EU resources being used to promote the campaign, Mr Clegg wrote back: “During the opening of the Marbles In Exile exhibition yesterday, I took the opportunity to read out your message. Everyone agreed that you appear to have lost your marbles.”

In a bid to appeal to floating Eurosceptic voters, Mr Clegg tried to portray a more ­moderate stance during Thursday’s leaders’ debate, saying he would offer a referendum on future major transfers of powers to the EU, such as were contained in the Lisbon Treaty.

His shift was branded “opportunistic” and came as he tried to soften his previously ardent ­support for the euro.

He now says he is glad Britain did not join the single ­currency but as an MEP in 2002 he tried to justify giving up the pound by saying blind and partially sighted people would find the euro easier to use.

In March last year all Lib Dems voted to exclude details about MEPs’ allowances and expenses from a new law designed to imp­rove transparency.

In 2008 they tried to give Brussels more powers over taxation by voting for a single rate of corporation tax throughout the continent.

The year before they voted to end Britain’s £4billion annual budget rebate and last November they supported moves by Brussels to force countries to share Europe’s asylum seeker problem.

The Sunday Express has also learned that in 2002 Mr Clegg and Lib Dem MEPs signed a European parliament resolution calling on the EU to legalise drugs.

The resolution “strongly” urged policy makers to de-criminalise “certain substances”, partially de- criminalise cannabis and make heroin “available under medical supervision”. They believed it would help fight drug traffickers.

Following the recent General Election, a Dissolution honours list has been released (as happens every time there is a new Parliament), of new Peers & Life Peers. Richard Allan has been named as one of the new Life Peers who will be entering the House of Lords, where he will hopefully be able to resume some of his efforts in lobbying for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.

A number of other former MPs who were strong supporters of the campaign for reunification of the Parthenon Marbles are also due to enter the House of Lords.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Dissolution honours: the full list of new peers
This is the full list of the new members of the House of Lords created in the Dissolution Honours.
Published: 8:00AM BST 29 May 2010

Labour life peers:

Hilary Armstrong, chief whip under Tony Blair, stood down as MP for Durham North West at general election.

Des Browne, former defence secretary, stood down as MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun at general election.

Quentin Davies, Ex-Conservative MP who defected to Labour and became a defence minister but lost seat of Grantham and Stamford at general election.

Beverley Hughes, former children’s minister, stood down as MP for Stretford and Urmston at general election.

John Hutton, former defence secretary, stood down as MP for Barrow and Furness at general election.

Jim Knight, former schools and employment minister who lost his Dorset South seat to the Conservatives this month.

Tommy McAvoy, former whip, stood down as MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West at general election.

John McFall, former chairman of the Treasury select committee, stood down as MP for West Dunbartonshire at general election.

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, stood down as MP for Hull East at general election.

John Reid, former home secretary, stood down as MP for Airdre and Shotts at general election.

Angela E Smith, Parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown and former Cabinet Office minister, lost seat of Basildon at general election.

Michael Wills, former junior minister in the Ministry of Justice who stood down from his North Swindon seat at the election.

Labour working peers:

Sir Jeremy Beecham, first Chairman of the Local Government Association and former Labour council leader in Newcastle.

Paul Boateng, former MP for Brent South, ex-minister and British High Commissioner to South Africa 2005-2009.

Rita Donaghy, former Chairman of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service who led Labour inquiry into safety in the construction industry.

Jeannie Drake, former Deputy General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union.

Dr Dianne Hayter, Chairman of the Legal Services Consumer Panel and former Labour Party chairman and Fabian Society leader.

Anna Healy, chief of staff for Harriet Harman, married to Jon Cruddas, the Left-wing MP and former deputy leadership candidate.

Roy Kennedy, Director of Finance and Compliance for the Labour Party.

Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland.

Roger Liddle, chairman of Policy Network think tank, former adviser on Europe to Tony Blair and to the European Commission.

Jack McConnell, former First Minister of Scotland.

John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trades Union Confederation.

Sue Nye, long-time aide to Gordon Brown, she was blamed by him for the encounter with a pensioner in Rochdale, who he was later overheard calling a “bigot”.

Maeve Sherlock, Equality and Human Rights Commissioner, former chief executive of the Refugee Council and former adviser to Gordon .

Wilf Stevenson, friend of Gordon Brown since university and former head of the Smith Institute.

Margaret Wheeler, Director of Organisation and Staff Development for the public service union Unison.

Michael Williams, former Special Adviser on Foreign Affairs.

Conservative life peers:

Tim Boswell, former agriculture minister, stood down as MP for Daventry at the general election.

Angela Browning, former agriculture minister, stood down at MP for Tiverton and Honiton at the general election.

John Gummer, former agriculture secretary, stood down as MP for Suffolk Coastal at the general election.

Michael Howard, former Conservative leader and home secretary, stood down as MP for Folkestone and Hythe at the general election.

John Maples, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, stood down as MP for Stratford-on-Avon at the general election.

Sir Michael Spicer, former chairman of the 1922 Committee, stood down as MP for West Worcestershire at the general election.

Conservative working peers:

Guy Black, Executive Director of Telegraph Media Group, former director of the Press Complaints Commission and former press secretary to Michael Howard.

Dame Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association.

Edward Faulks, QC, barrister specialising in crime and personal injuries cases.

John Gardiner, Deputy Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance.

Helen Newlove, campaigner against crime and antisocial behaviour whose husband, Garry, was murdered after confronting a gang of drunken youths.

Dolar Popat, millionaire care home and hotel company owner and Conservative adviser.

Shireen Ritchie, councillor in Kensington & Chelsea and step-mother of Guy Ritchie, the film director.

Deborah Stedman-Scott, Chief Executive of Tomorrow’s People, an employment charity that works in deprived areas.

Nat Wei, founder of Teach First, an educational charity, who advises the new Government on the Big Society strategy.

Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next and Conservative donor.

Liberal Democrat life peers:

Richard Allan, Nick Clegg’s predecessor in Sheffield Hallam and Chairman of the Information Select Committee.

Matthew Taylor, Chairman of the National Housing Federation and former MP for Truro and St Austell.

Phil Willis, former MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough who chaired the Science and Technology Select Committee.

Liberal Democrat working peers:

Floella Benjamin, Charity worker and former presenter of children’s television programmes.

Mike German, former Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Assembly.

Meral Ece, councillor in Islington and Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Sir Ken Macdonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions.

Kate Parminter, former director Campaign to Protect Rural England and Trustee of the Institute for Public Policy Research.

John Shipley, Leader of Newcastle city council.

Democratic Unionist Party life peers:

Ian Paisley, former Northern Ireland first minister, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, stood down as MP for North Antrim at general election.

Crossbench life peers:

Sir Ian Blair, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who stood down in 2008.

From:
Zawya (UAE)

Egypt forum on looted antiquities opens with call for unity
By Christophe de Roquefeuil

CAIRO, Apr 07, 2010 (AFP) – Egyptian antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass on Wednesday opened an international conference on recovering ancient artefacts from abroad, saying countries must unite to recover their stolen heritage.

“We need to cooperate, we need a unification between our countries,” Hawass told antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 21 countries at the two-day Cairo meeting.

“Every country is fighting alone, every country suffered alone, especially Egypt,” Hawass told the delegates from countries that have seen their national heritage looted over the centuries.

“We will battle together,” he said, adding that “maybe we will not succeed in a lifetime (but) we have to open the subject.”

Hawass, who heads Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), urged delegates to draw up lists of artefacts missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad.

“This conference shows the importance many countries place in joining forces,” said Elena Korka, who is in charge of protecting Greece’s cultural heritage.

Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum, and Egypt has been fighting for the Rosetta stone from Britain and a bust of Nefertiti from Germany.

A major aim of the conference is to call on the United Nations cultural body UNESCO to amend a 1970 convention banning the export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after that date.

The convention prohibits the illicit import, export and sale of cultural property, but stipulates there will be no “retroactive” measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed.

Over the years, Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artefacts the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25,000 ancient artefacts, including a stone axe dating back 200,000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

But Hawass is still eyeing the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The iconic Rosetta stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was found by French forces in Egypt in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.

Its discovery led to a breakthrough in deciphering hieroglyphics, as it gives the same text in the ancient Egyptian script, plus the demotic Egyptian that was the common language and Greek, which was the language of officialdom.

As for the Nefertiti bust, Germany has repeatedly rebuffed Egyptian claims to the rightful ownership of it and says the priceless sculpture was acquired legally nearly a century ago. Egypt says it was spirited out of the country.

Last year Egypt broke off relations with the Louvre Museum until France finally returns stolen steles chipped off a wall painting in the ancient tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Since becoming head of antiquities in 2002, Hawass has helped Egypt reclaim 31,000 relics from abroad. Last year he insisted that “what has been stolen from us must be returned.”

Thirty countries were invited to attend but only 21 have sent delegates: Austria, Bolivia, Chili, China, Cyprus, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria and the United States.

Britain, France and Germany which have been repeatedly accused by Egypt of holding Pharaonic artefacts are not attending.

From:
Designslinger

Sculpturally Alive

I hadn’t visited the blog, eternallycool, in awhile and found this stunning artwork in one of
their recent postings. Spanish photographer, Eugenio Recuenco, along with art director assistance by Eric Dover, and make-up artist Lewis Amarante, photographed live models and created his interpretation of Greek classical sculpture, inspired by the marble figures of the Parthenon.

We have included only a portion of the entire panel, but you’d have to agree that it is a
stunning reinterpretation of the sculpture found in the pediments and friezes of the Athenian temple. The tonal quality he has chosen and his use of chiaroscuro lighting effects, gives us the opportunity to look at the well-known marble figures with a new, dynamic perspective.

You can see the real thing up close and personal at the British Museum, or in Athens, at the
old Acropolis Museum. On our first visit to London several years ago, we visited the Duveen Gallery, where the infamous Elgin/Parthenon Marbles are housed, but I haven’t seen the statuary at the Acropolis Museum, or the few remaining fragments still attached to the Parthenon itself. I was surprised at how moved I was by this collection of sculpture as we wandered around the crowded gallery. It was a pretty intense experience, though I wonder what the impact would be seeing those last remnants high up in the pediment, and frieze, of the actual building in their original location. As the viewer, you are so far removed from them, since they are ten stories above you, can you entirely appreciate their power without the more intimate, eye level museum experience?

It is one of many arguments made in relation to the Elgin Marbles. Should they be in Britain at all,
or should they be returned to Athens, even if on their return they would still be housed in a museum. One of the reasons sited for keeping them in London, is that there was no place to display them in the old Acropolis Museum. Well, the Greeks have sought to rectify that issue in constructing a brand new museum with the intent of providing a gallery dedicated to the Marbles just as they British did with the Duveen. It is a debate that has been going on since the marble figures were removed from Athens 207 years ago.

If you have never seen the actual Parthenon sculptures, the Recuenco figures are not a substitute,
but they will elicit a response that is in keeping with the spirit of the originals.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 01:23 GMT, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 02:23 UK
Egypt hosts meeting on recovery of ’stolen treasures’

Global culture officials are to meet to discuss how to recover ancient treasures which they say have been stolen and displayed overseas.

Sixteen countries will be represented at the two-day conference in Cairo.

It has been organised by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), which wants many pharaonic items returned by Western museums.

The SCA said the forum would discuss “the protection and restitution of cultural heritage.”

Representatives will include cultural officials from Greece, Italy and China, all of which have lost ancient artefacts over the centuries which that they now want back.

Stolen artefacts

At the conference, representatives will announce their wish-lists and consider strategies to persuade museums overseas to respond to their demands.

They are also expected to call on the United Nations cultural body, Unesco, to amend a convention banning export and ownership of antiquities stolen after 1970 – so that they can pursue items that were snatched earlier, says the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo.

In recent years, the Egyptian authorities have stepped up their efforts to recover stolen artefacts, with the head of the SCA, Zahi Hawass, attracting international attention for his efforts.

Last year, he broke off ties with the Louvre museum until France returned fragments chipped from a wall painting in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

He has repeatedly asked for the Rosetta Stone – which has been kept in the British Museum for more than 200 years – and a 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display in Berlin, to be given back to Egypt.

From:
Al Jazeera

UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Egypt hosts antiquities meeting

Antiquities officials from around the world have gathered in Cairo to map out a strategy to bring back artefacts they say have been taken away from their countries and displayed abroad.

Antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 16 countries are attending the two-day meeting.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said the forum will discuss “the protection and restitution of cultural heritage”.

Delegates will also draw up lists of artefact’s missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad, treasures they have been demanding be returned, the SCA said.

The conference will also call on the United Nations cultural body Unesco to amend a convention that bans export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after 1970.

The convention deals with the “means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property”, but stipulates there will be no “retroactive” measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed in 1970.

Retrieving ‘loot’

Over the years, Egypt’s antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artefact’s the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

Thirty countries were invited to attend but only 16 are attending: Bolivia, China, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korean, Spain, Sri Lanka and Syria.

Officials from Iraq, whose national museum saw one of the biggest lootings in modern history following the US-led invasion in 2003, will attend the conference.

al-Atroshi, Iraq’s deputy culture minister, told Al Jazeera: “The number of antiquities stolen from the Iraqi national museum in 2003 is estimated at 15,000 pieces. Many of them date back to the third millennium BC.

“We have recovered around 7,000 pieces and we are still chasing the rest in neighbouring countries, Europe, Americas and Israel. The Israelis were interested in antiquities written in Hebrew.”

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25,000 ancient artefacts, including a stone axe dating back 200,000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

Egyptian efforts

But Hawass is still eyeing two high profile objects: the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The iconic Rosetta stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was found by French forces in Egypt in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.

As for the Nefertiti bust, Germany has repeatedly rebuffed Egyptian claims to the rightful ownership of it and says the priceless sculpture was acquired legally nearly a century ago. Egypt says it was spirited out of the country.

Last year Egypt broke off relations with the Louvre Museum until France finally returns stolen steles chipped off a wall painting in the ancient tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Greece, one of the countries attending the conference, will chair a session devoted to “problems facing the countries in their attempt to retrieve their antiquities,” Hawass has said.

Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.

From:
News 24 (South Africa)

Egypt hosts stolen artefact meet
2010-04-06 22:51
Ines Bel Aiba

Cairo – Antiquities officials from around the world gather in Cairo on Wednesday to map out a strategy to recover ancient loot they say has been pillaged from their countries and displayed abroad.

The two-day conference will be attended by antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 16 countries that have seen some of their national heritage stolen over the centuries.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said the forum will discuss “the protection and restitution of cultural heritage”.

Delegates will also draw up lists of artefacts missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad, treasures they have been demanding be returned, the SCA said.

The conference will also call on the UN cultural body Unesco to amend a convention that bans export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after 1970.

The convention deals with the “means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property”, but stipulates there will be no “retro-active” measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed in 1970.

Crusader Hawass

Over the years, Egypt’s antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artefacts the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25 000 ancient artefacts, including a stone axe dating back 200 000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

But Hawass is still eyeing two high profile objects: the Rosetta stone held by the British Museum for more than 200 years and the 3 400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The iconic Rosetta stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was found by French forces in Egypt in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.

Its discovery led to a breakthrough in deciphering hieroglyphics, as it gives the same text in the ancient Egyptian script, plus the demotic Egyptian that was the common language and Greek, which was the language of officialdom.

Luxor and the Louvre

As for the Nefertiti bust, Germany has repeatedly rebuffed Egyptian claims to the rightful ownership of it and says the priceless sculpture was acquired legally nearly a century ago. Egypt says it was spirited out of the country.

Last year Egypt broke off relations with the Louvre Museum until France finally returns stolen steles chipped off a wall painting in the ancient tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Greece, one of the countries attending the conference, will chair a session devoted to “problems facing the countries in their attempt to retrieve their antiquities,” Hawass has said.

Athens has been locked in a 30-year antiquities “war” with London to retrieve the Elgin Marbles from the British Musuem.

Since becoming head of antiquities in 2002, Hawass has helped Egypt reclaim 31 000 relics from abroad. Last year he insisted that “what has been stolen from us must be returned”.

Thirty countries were invited to attend but only 16 are sending representatives: Bolivia, China, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korean, Spain, Sri Lanka and Syria.

- SAPA